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EXCURSIONS
TO
CAIRO, JERUSALEM,
DAMASCUS AND
BALBEC,
FROM THE
UNITED STATES SHIP DELAWARE,
DURING HER RECENT CRUISE.

WITH AN
ATTEMPT TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN TRUTH AND ERROR IN
REGARD TO THE SACRED PLACES OF THE
HOLY CITY.

BY GEORGE JONES, A. M.
CHAPLAIN U. S. NAVY; AUTHOR OF SKETCHES OF NAVAL LIFE.

NEW-YORK:
VAN NOSTRAND AND DWIGHT.
1836.

Entered according to the Act of Congress of the United States of America, in the year 1836, by Van Nostrand and Dwight, in the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New-York.

SCATCHERD AND ADAMS,
PRINTERS,
38 Gold Street.

TO
COMMODORE D. T. PATTERSON,
U. S. NAVY,
THIS MEMORIAL
OF SOME INCIDENTS IN A VERY AGREEABLE CRUISE
UNDER HIS COMMAND,
IS INSCRIBED,
WITH THE RESPECTFUL AND GRATEFUL REGARDS OF
THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

The Author had no intention during the cruise of writing such a book. His reasons for now engaging in it are, in addition to those common on such occasions, a belief that the public take a very deep interest in the countries which he has visited, and would be pleased to have further means of information respecting them. The circumstances under which his excursions into Egypt and Syria were made, though limiting his observations to a few cities, gave him some unusual advantages in examining those to which he was allowed access.

The reader, he believes, will be surprised to see the changes which the energetic government of Mohammed Ali has wrought in Egypt and Syria; and these are only the beginning of changes. The whole East seems destined before long to a wonderful revolution, if not political, at least mental and moral. It is pleasing to see the present dawnings of light upon two countries the most celebrated in the world; the one for its ancient science, the other for its religion. The night appears to be past, and the day-spring at hand.

The Author has given a [chapter on Jerusalem, which may appear to some of his readers better suited to a book of romance than of travels]. His object was to place vividly before the reader the ancient city, which he believes to have had a splendor and a beauty of which few persons are aware. Though the scene is supposed to be raised up by a spell of fancy, yet there is nothing presented in the picture for which there is not authority in ancient writers, with the single exception of the arrangement of the hymns at the Paschal sacrifice.

The author, for reasons not necessary to be stated here, kept no journal during this cruise; but the events and scenes occurring in these visits made an impression so deep that the memory has kept a record of them sufficiently faithful. At the commencement of his attempt to put them on paper, he wrote to Commodore Patterson to ascertain whether such a design would meet with his approbation; and the Commodore, in a very kind letter in reply, was good enough to offer him the use of his own private journal and of his official letters. From these he has drawn much valuable statistical matter as well as hints on other subjects; and he takes this mode of publicly making his acknowledgments for the favor.

Through oversight, the year of these visits has not been mentioned in the body of the work; they were made in the year 1834.

INDEX.

ERRATA.

The Reader is requested to make the following corrections:

[Page 105], line 12, for “ten” substitute one hundred.
[106],“14,““case”“cause.
[111],“13,““are”“were.
[114],“2,““water”“lake.
[153],“22,““extensive” extreme.
[155],“26, strike out “thirty miles from Jerusalem.”
[159],“27, for “whirling” read wheeling.
[311],“29,““filled” read piled.

EGYPT.

EXCURSIONS
TO
CAIRO, JERUSALEM, &c.

CHAPTER I.

Approach to Egypt. Plague in Alexandria. Determination to visit Cairo and the Pyramids. Boghaz Bey. Canal of Mahmoudieh. Policy of Mohammed Ali. The abject state of his subjects, and his apology for it. Night on the Canal. First view of the Nile. Angelina’s opinion of it. Ex-Dey of Algiers.

“Land O!” was cried from our mast-head on the morning of the 13th of July; and at the end of an hour, a dim yellow line, resting on the southern horizon, might be discovered from our elevated decks. When another hour had expired, a high misty object, that had drawn our attention, had taken distinctness of outline, and was known to be Pompey’s Pillar. By this time also the narrow strip of sand forming the coast had begun to be ruffled, and soon after the city of Alexandria, its domes, minarets, palaces, and shipping, came into view. Notwithstanding the evidence of life and activity that had now presented itself, the scene was a melancholy one. Far off on either side stretched the low, sandy coast, its uniform outline unbroken except by a few insignificant ruins; not a tree or shrub, not a speck of verdure, was to be anywhere seen; while back from the coast the atmosphere seemed to be on fire; a deep red glare, covering all the land, and ascending far up towards the zenith.

This was our first impression with regard to Egypt, and the second was by no means a more favorable one. Our ship was anchored about three miles from the shore, and the schooner Shark, our consort on this occasion, was directed to proceed into the harbor, with an invitation to the U. S. consul, Mr. J. Gliddon, to come on board. When he arrived, he informed us that two cases of what seemed to be the plague had appeared eight days previously in the Greek convent, and had excited some alarm: he added, however, that the building had been put in strict quarantine, and as the disease had extended no further, and the symptoms were not of a decided character, their fears had subsided, and that they were in hopes of enjoying their usual health. Their expectations were encouraged by the fact that the country had for many years been exempted from this dreadful disease.[1] Mohammed Ali was at this time in Syria, whither he had been called to assist in putting down a rebellion, which had suddenly burst out there. Mr. Gliddon strongly urged the Commodore to await his return; and informed us, that in the mean time we could visit Cairo and the Pyramids with perfect safety, as that city and the intermediate country were free from sickness, and our route would not carry us through Alexandria or expose us to contact with its inhabitants.

It was with the most sincere pleasure that we learned that Commodore Patterson had decided in favor of this excursion. Dim land of embalmed and faded greatness, that, from the searments of the tomb, dost murmur to us in solemn and mystic language, we should see thee then! we should stand on the banks of the Nile, where even Nature herself is shrouded in unusual obscurity: we should look down from the summits of the Pyramids, those monuments on which all ages have gazed with wonder, and where they have speculated in vain. I had myself just been living in a squatter’s cabin in Indiana, and anticipated with keen relish the strong contrast that would here be presented. I had come from witnessing the first elements of society forming into order, to see the monuments of a people ancient even in the most ancient times; from watching the conflicts of separate individual interests, to behold the “vast expanse of ages and nations;” from wandering amid the primeval solitudes of nature, to wander amid the solitudes of deserted cities; and from witnessing the first efforts for human greatness to contemplate its end.

Mohammed Ali had left as his representative, Boghaz Bey, an Armenian of talent and energy, who enjoys his highest confidence; and while preparations were making for our journey, the Commodore, with Capt. Nicolson and Mr. Gliddon, went to pay him a visit of ceremony. On application being made to him for passports to Cairo, he replied, that they would be unnecessary; that he would consider Com. Patterson as the guest of the Pasha, and, as soon as we should start, would forward orders by telegraph to the river, to have boats provided, and to Cairo to have the party treated with every attention.

On the 16th we transferred ourselves, together with conveniences for cooking and sleeping, to the decks of the schooner, and were landed towards evening near the mouth of the great canal of Mahmoudieh. This canal was the first of the many proofs which our journey led us to witness of the wonderful enterprize and energy of Mohammed Ali, whom the reader, when he has followed us further, will, I think, agree with us in considering one of the greatest sovereigns of the age. In some respects we must also allow his government to be marked by singular short-sightedness and weakness; but on this point it is only fair to let him speak for himself, which we shall presently allow him to do.

The traveller through Egypt is constantly struck with two things: one, the high state of improvement in all public institutions, and the energy with which they are conducted; and the other, the vassalage, the extremely abject state of the people. No subjects in the world are in such a wretched condition as those of the Egyptian Pasha. They have the appearance of freedom, but throughout the whole country every man is a slave to the royal master. They till the land and may call the produce theirs; but when it is gathered in, he compels them to carry it to his store-houses, and there he purchases it at his own prices, which are just sufficient to keep them from a miserable death. The stores thus accumulated he sells all over Europe, wherever a good market can be procured; the money is laid out chiefly in the support of his army and navy, and thus the avails of their labor are returned to the poor wretches in the shape of the “nezzam,” or soldiers to keep them in subjection. Of course they hate both the Pasha and all his armed forces most cordially; but for this he cares nought, and thus we have the spectacle of a nation apparently prosperous, but in reality extremely miserable. He is so severe in his exactions, that if a cultivator wishes to plant a tree, he must provide an equivalent for the ground it may occupy, and in one village up the Nile, where we stopped to get vegetables, they informed us that they had none for themselves. The last season their grounds, they said, had not yielded the quantity of grain required, and this year they had been compelled to convert their gardens into wheat fields, in order to make up the deficiency.

The annual revenue of the Pasha from all these sources amounts in ordinary seasons to twenty-five, and in very fruitful years to thirty millions of dollars. In his own personal expenses he may be considered very moderate; and nearly the whole of this immense income is expended in public improvements, and in the pay and equipment of his army and navy. The former consists of 80,000 men, well disciplined, and efficient, and strongly attached to their duties and to the Pasha; the navy at present consists of 11 one hundred gun ships and as many frigates, afloat, and is to be increased to 40 vessels, chiefly of the largest class. The public improvements throughout the country evince an enlargement of mind and an energy of character that in an eastern sovereign is wonderful, especially when we consider that in most of his operations the Pasha has no one to second him, but devises and executes by the force of his own individual energy; and very often has to give a personal superintendence to his operations. With regard to the abject state of his subjects, he says it is a necessary one, and is lamented by himself as much as by any other person. His power is unstable; he has lately gained a kind of slippery independence, is closely watched by his former master, the Sultan, and, without a large army and navy, his throne would soon slide from under him. His improvements, too, he says, must be carried on with untiring assiduity, or they will result in little good. His own life will probably not be continued much longer, and if they are not well advanced towards completion before his death, they will all be an abortion, and the country will retrograde to its late state of inferiority, and be again behind the character of the age. And in this he is correct; for his step-son, Ibrahim Pasha, who will doubtless be his successor, is altogether devoted to military affairs, and cares little for manufactories, unless they be of arms and munitions of war. “Therefore,” argues the Pasha, (or thus at least argued the governor of Cairo for him at our first interview,) “therefore I must drive matters with the utmost speed, and to do this I must have a large revenue, and to obtain this I must lay heavy burdens on my subjects.” He says, however, that as soon as the cause of these exactions is removed, and his power secured, and his improvements sufficiently advanced to fear no relapse, he will make his people comfortable; and that in the interval, by means of schools and his own example, he is endeavoring to inform them, and to stimulate them to higher views of things than they have hitherto had, and greatly to increase the resources of the country. Thus speaks the new monarch of Egypt, and I have thought it best to give the reader at once an insight into his views, in order that he may be able the better to judge of them as we proceed through the country.

We now return to the canal of Mahmoudieh. Fifteen years ago there was a scarcity of grain in Europe, but a great abundance in Egypt, and the merchant-sovereign had an opportunity of realizing an extremely handsome profit on the products of his soil; but the Nile happened at that season to be unusually low, and vessels found it so difficult to load at the mouth of the river, that his harvest of gain was in a great measure lost. He then conceived the idea of a canal to unite the river with the secure and excellent harbor of Alexandria. With him there is but a short interval between planning and executing. He sent his soldiers into the country with requisitions on the various governors for men, according to the size of their villages or districts. The poor natives were hunted up, and being fastened to long poles by iron collars around the neck, forty to a pole, were thus driven down to the line marked out by his engineer, and there set to work. Mr. Gliddon, who saw the work in progress, informed me that there were 150,000 men employed upon it at one time. In six months the canal was completed, with the exception of a little masonry, and was opened for use. It is sixty miles in length, ninety feet wide, and eighteen in depth, including six feet of water. The workmen had no tools, except a few hoes to break the hard upper crust: when this had been done, they scraped the earth together with their fingers, formed it into balls, and passed them by hand to the sides of the canal, a large portion of the wet mass often escaping between their hands while on the way. Exposed to the sun, and without shelter at night, and probably without sufficient food, disease crept in among them; and I was credibly informed that during the digging, 30,000 of the workmen perished: their bodies, as soon as life was extinct, were tossed upon the growing heaps of earth at the side, and this was their burial. The canal follows the line of that dug by Alexander the Great, till near Damanhour, when it unaccountably makes a great bend to the south. The engineer has made another blunder in the grading, in consequence of which it is too shallow to be navigable during the two months when the river is at the lowest.

Mr. Gliddon, whose kindness on this and other occasions has placed us under many obligations, had secured boats for us, and towards sunset our arrangements for the inland voyage were completed. We then hoisted the American ensign at the peaks of our little flotilla, and dropping the large sails to a fresh and favorable breeze, the city and its shipping soon glided from our sight. After passing near the elevated ground on which stands Pompey’s Pillar, and then by a few country-seats of the nobles of Alexandria, we entered upon an open, dreary waste, and night began soon after to sink around us, and upon the still and melancholy scene; for, except our rushing boats, not a sight nor a sound met the senses, which soon became actually oppressed by the solitude. A dim moon threw a flickering and uncertain light upon the banks, and it required but little effort of the imagination, as we watched them flitting by, to make out shadowy forms, and cover the place with the phantoms of the many poor victims sacrificed and buried there.

But had they actually risen up, the whole 30,000, and pointed their bony fingers and gibbered at us as we passed, they would scarcely have exceeded in numbers or terror the blood-thirsty tormentors that soon after this assailed us in the little cabins in our boats. We had extinguished our lights and laid down for repose, but repose there was none for us. The reader must excuse me if I draw such a nauseous picture; it is not fair that he should travel without sharing some of the pains of travelling, nor can he otherwise get a correct idea of the country. We soon found ourselves literally covered with vermin, whose bite, though dreadfully annoying, left us uncertain whether they were the animal that sometimes chooses our beds for their residence, or those that constituted the third plague of Egypt; and during the long night, while stung almost to madness, we were left to weigh the evidence in this agreeable query. The latter insects are, at certain seasons, common in every part of Egypt; and Sir Sidney Smith, having removed his tent to the desert, in order to escape from them, found them even among its sands. It was really quite a relief to us, when morning came, to find that our clothes were thickly sprinkled over with only the former less terrible insect. It was a long and wearisome night. I climbed the mast once or twice to cool my blood and seek for relief by gazing around; but only a flat, and utterly deserted country met the sight, and the ear could not detect a single sound; the hooting of an owl would have been a pleasant relief.

Morning did come at last; and as the sun began to throw its welcome beams over the landscape, if landscape it may be called, the banks of mud bordering the canal grew higher, and receded on either side, until presently we found ourselves in a kind of basin, and soon after amid a multitude of boats. We had arrived at its termination. Casting our eyes on the left bank, where there seemed to be something in motion, we were able, by and by, to detect a village stuck into its side; the houses, or rather the single small chamber forming each house, being made partly by digging into the bank, and partly by building up a low wall of mud, with an opening in its front for a door. They were covered with reeds, and these again with mud. Creeping in and out, were a swarm of natives, in soiled habiliments, as dark looking as the houses themselves. This, together with some store-houses of the Pasha at the gate of the canal, and a few more decent dwellings on the banks of the river, form the village of Atf. On the right bank of the canal was a well paved quay, lined with boats, and covered with heaps of grain.

We ascended the steep, high banks on the right of this quay,—and had before us the Nile.

I believe we shall not soon forget the impression it made on us; for it is, there, a beautiful river, and its effect was heightened by contrast with the dull, monotonous scene presented by the black sides of the canal and the deserted country around. The Nile is about as wide as the Connecticut at Hartford or the Ohio at Cincinnati; it flowed here at our feet in graceful and beautiful curves. In front of us was an island, low and flat, but covered with millet, and with shrubs and plants of the most intense verdure. A little higher up, on the opposite bank, from amid a mass of houses, towered the domes and picturesque minarets of Atfour, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, with a large building like a palace at its upper edge. Just above this was another island covered with trees, which were dipping their foliage into the waters, and behind which the river was lost to our sight. On our own side the view was less interesting. Only a few trees dotted the banks, and in the interior, the dreary stretch of flat, waste land was interrupted only by the deceitful mirage or imitation of water.

While some of the party were looking down on the river in high admiration of its modern beauties, or lost in meditations on its ancient fame, old Catalina, the Mahonese woman who attended on the Commodore’s family, approached. Catalina had never seen any thing larger than the rivulet which flows near her native city, and is much frequented by the Mahonese washerwomen. The company watched her in order to enjoy her surprise. She was, indeed, surprised. When she had a little recovered from her astonishment, one of the party said to her, “Well, Catalina, what do you think of the Nile?” “Oh,” she replied, with sincerity and earnestness, “it is very grand—if it was only at Mahon, what a fine place it would be to wash clothes in!”

EGYPT.

CHAPTER II.

Boats on the Nile. Our enjoyments on the river. Water of the Nile. Villages. Ovens for hatching chickens. Egyptian bricks and case of the Israelites. Singular costume of the females. Thievish boatmen. First view of the Pyramids. Stupendous undertaking of Mohammed Ali at the Barage. Approach to Cairo. Moonlight scene.

The boats of the canal are confined exclusively to its waters, and we here found it necessary to look out for other conveyances, a necessity to which our last night’s experience made us very gladly submit; nor had we at any time occasion to find fault with the comfort or cleanliness of the boats on the Nile. Those which we engaged had about three fourths of the length of one of our canal boats, and about twice the breadth, and drew from three to four feet water; near the stern were a forward and an after cabin, the former of sufficient height to allow us to stand upright. In front of it we spread awnings above, and at the sides, so as to make a cool verandah or vestibule for eating and sitting during the day; and, with the aid of curtains, a pleasant sleeping apartment for the night. Towards the bow the deck ceased, and gave place to an open area filled with sand, where our excellent cook erected his throne, and chopped off as many heads as might have satisfied even Mohammed Ali himself.

Our party, consisting of twenty-six persons exclusive of attendants, engaged three of these boats. The Commodore and his family, and, by invitation, ——, and the writer of this, occupied one of them; a second was engaged by a party principally of lieutenants; and a third by midshipmen from the two ships. We had on board of each boat a person called a Cavass, an officer appointed by government to attend on travellers; he goes well armed, and bears in addition, as a badge of office, a long cane capped with silver or gold, to which dangle chains of the same material. His presence places the party under the protection of government, and gives it access to all public places to which he may choose to lead.

We were all a happy party on that river. Our steward had laid in abundantly, and provisions along the Nile were plentiful and cheap; we had books and musical instruments, and chessmen and society. We changed back and forward among the boats, and sometimes gave tea-parties; and often landed for a stroll along the river banks, or among the palm-groves of the villages. The officers unanimously voted that it was far preferable to keeping watch on shipboard. Nor must I forget another source of real and actual pleasure, in drinking the Nile water. It is a delicious fluid, and the natives have a saying handed down from father to son, “that if Mahomet had ever tasted the waters of the Nile, he would have placed his Paradise along its banks.” An earthern vessel, that would hold twenty or twenty-five gallons, was lashed at the stern of our boat, and kept filled, so as to allow the sediment to subside. The river, when we were ascending, was about one fourth advanced in the yearly flood, and the waters were of a light yellow color; on being allowed to rest in the jar, they took the color of lemonade, and were the most agreeable we had ever tasted. We drank prodigious quantities, but without having our health at all affected by them. The wind at this season blows constantly up stream during the day, but subsides a little after sunset, when we were obliged to come to and secure ourselves to the shore for the night. Descending boats take advantage of this interval of calm to drop down with the current.

We stopped first at Atfour, the city noticed above, where we found that what had seemed to us a palace was a large manufactory of Egyptian caps belonging to the Pasha. Thence we glided up the stream, the American ensign at the peak of each of our high lateen yards, fluttering, and seeming to rejoice as much as we at being on the Egyptian river. The banks, villages, islands, and groves, slipped along by our sides, presenting views sometimes highly picturesque, and always of a strikingly oriental character. The country, however, is generally at this season of the year tame and monotonous. The crops had been gathered in, and the open plains (for there are no enclosures, except occasionally to a garden) were burnt to a cinder by the fierce raging sun; the earth was gaping, and seemed to pant under its fury; and, except the neighborhood of the villages, and now and then a garden watered by artificial means, there was not a speck of verdure to be seen. The villages also, when we came to inspect them, we found to be miserable in the extreme. They consist of one or two hundred houses, made of bricks hardened in the sun and covered with domes of the same material. The bricks retain the original color of the muddy deposite, and the villages have a dull, gloomy appearance. Whitewash is never used within; but on the outside a mottled appearance is sometimes given to the houses by the custom of sticking cakes of camels’ ordure against their front and sides to dry; this being the only fuel used in the country. It is said to burn very well, and when thus prepared, to have no disagreeable odour. If the reader will imagine a collection of houses thus daubed on the outside, with earthern floors and bare walls of mud, a small hole for a window, excessively filthy within, and abounding in vermin; he will have an idea of an Egyptian village. He must add also now and then a large, well-filled granary of the Pasha in the neighborhood of the villages; and in the villages themselves a number of dwellings in ruins; for the bricks often yield to the operation of the weather, and the badly constructed domes tumble in. As we sailed along, our attention was very often drawn to the houses for hatching chickens, one or more of which may be seen in each of their villages. They are formed by taking a number of pots, of the capacity of about a gallon, contracted at the neck, which is turned towards the exterior. About fifty or sixty of these are built up with bricks and mud into an edifice like an elongated bee-hive, twelve or fifteen feet in height. The eggs are small and the fowls diminutive, but of a very pleasant flavor.

I examined the Egyptian bricks with reference to the complaint of the Hebrews, that straw was not allowed them in the manufacture. A few here have straw mixed up with them, and it will doubtless check the process of disintegration to which they are exposed, but it does not seem at present to be considered a necessary ingredient. But it is universally employed in the process of manufacturing, or rather in drying the bricks. They are in size like our bricks, and are cut with a spade from the earth when moistened by the yearly floods. Fine straw is then scattered on the adjoining grounds, and the bricks are spread over this to dry; and were this precaution not used, the bricks in drying would adhere to the earth and be spoiled. I conclude, then, that here was occasioned the dilemma in which the Israelites soon found themselves; they could make the tale of bricks, but when they came to remove them at the close of their labors, they found them attached to the soil and their labors lost. I frequently saw bricks exposed for drying, but never without a layer of fine straw beneath.

Their villages occur at intervals of five or six miles; generally they are on the river bank, but are often scattered over the interior, and with the groves of the graceful palm-tree often formed pretty groupings in the landscape. The natives are of a light ash color; and the men, though rather slender, are remarkably well-formed, light, and active, and capable of enduring fatigue. Their dress is sometimes like that of the Turks, but often simply a long piece of white cloth, like the Roman toga, wrapped around the body, with the ends thrown across the shoulders or supported under the arm; it is a graceful, but not very modest dress. But the women! How strange are the caprices of fashion, and often how extravagant and silly! In Turkey a woman is not allowed to show her face at all; a handkerchief drawn across the forehead, and another just below this, so as to cover all the face, and leave room only for the eyes to fall bashfully on the ground and pick out the lady’s way, secures their modesty. In Egypt a lady may expose all her face except the nose and mouth: these it would be the height of indelicacy to exhibit, and she protects them by a strip of black cotton stuff (black, think you!) about three feet in length and four inches wide. One end of this is fastened by a string passing across her forehead and tied at the back of her head; the cloth falls down over her nose and mouth, and the lady’s modesty is secure. It would be well for them to cover all the face, for a more ugly set of ladies I have never met with in any country. The Turkish costume has at least the advantage of making us imagine beauty; and many a stranger is put in raptures of love by a pair of flashing eyes glancing on him from beneath the jealous muslins, when, if the covering was removed from the face, he would be ungallant enough to turn with disgust from both face and eyes. The Egyptian ladies show a want of taste in not adopting the Turkish fashion.

At one of the villages, called Negila, we saw some of the dancing girls of the country. They were dressed in the national costume, but were decked off with beads and a great variety of tawdry ornaments, and were disgusting objects. Here is a large granary belonging to the Pasha, with vast stores of every kind; in our way to and from it we were beset with beggars, whose appearance exhibited the utmost wretchedness.

The breeze was fresh and our boats were comfortable, and the banks and the hours glided swiftly along. We had music, we played chess, we read, we chatted, we dozed when we preferred doing so. When meal-time came we slipped the leather trunks together for a table, and brought good appetites to the repast. Cleopatra herself had not a more cheerful party than ours.

Our boatmen often amused us by their agility. The sand banks at the bends of the river are planted with water-melons, and as the flood was beginning to reach the fruit, the inhabitants were busy gathering it in, though it was not yet fully ripe. The Arabs of our boat would often make a dash at these melons, and would have just time to select the best when the owners would rush with cries to the scene of plunder. Down they would all go together into the river, flouncing and tugging; the one for revenge, the other, amid so many witnesses of his exploit, struggling for fame as well as for the water-melon, and pushing it before him with all his might. Sometimes they would grapple, and in the consequent struggle of fierce passions the melon would escape from both, and glide quietly down the river: but generally the boatman succeeded in depositing it safely under the wing of the Cavass.

Towards evening of the 17th we came to a range of sand hills stretching along on our right; they are the commencement of the chain that higher up assists in forming the valley of the Nile. Up to this point our view on either side took in an unbroken level as far as the eye could reach.

The Pyramids.—It was with a thrill of joy that, on the morning of the 18th, as we sat at breakfast, at an exclamation from one of our party, we looked up, and saw before us the Pyramids. We were then twenty-four miles distant, but, though thin and airy-like, they were very distinct. These monuments are most impressive when the spectator is either close beneath them or at a distance like this. On the present occasion they produced a very powerful effect. Their regularity of outline kept their impression clear on the mind as works of art; their shadowy appearance showed them to be very distant, while their great elevation at so remote a point affected the mind strongly with their astonishing vastness. They were in sight, with brief intervals, during the whole day, and to the last were grand and sublime objects.

About noon we found ourselves approaching a spot, in which, from the representations of our Cavass, we had become highly interested. We were near the head of the Delta, a place which Mohammed Ali has selected for a work, which, if successful, will place him far above the constructors of the Pyramids, and make him one of the greatest benefactors that Egypt has ever known. The place opened upon us at length, but on looking up our first impression was one of deep and unqualified disgust. Before us was a busy scene. On the high bank at our left men were appearing in great numbers, with baskets of earth in their hands, and after discharging it down the bank, were retiring to give place for others; but as they stood out in strong relief against the sky, we could see others with whips, which they were using freely upon the poor wretches, whose writhings and accelerated movements gave proof of the smart.

We stopped on this occasion only to take a glance at the Barage, for so this place is called; but on our return from Cairo gave it a careful examination, and, by the politeness of the chief engineer, M. Lenon, were furnished with plans and explanations.

The traveller along the Nile is everywhere struck with the great value of irrigation to these lands. Water is frequently raised from the river by wheels turned by oxen or camels, and sometimes by buckets swung at the end of a pole and worked by men; and wherever this is done, we found, even at midsummer, gardens of the most intense verdure and of extreme luxuriance. It may be doubted, indeed, whether the annual floods do not benefit the country quite as much by the irrigation as by their muddy deposites. The object of the Pasha is, by means of dams, to raise the waters of the river to the surface of the adjoining country, and enable the cultivators to carry it by canals to any part, and to irrigate the whole region freely, wherever they may choose, and the place we were now at is the one which he has selected for this great undertaking. The idea of this is not quite a novel one, but was first grasped by the capacious mind of Buonaparte, between whose character and that of the Egyptian monarch, there is, by the way, quite a strong resemblance.

The reader will remember, that of the seven mouths by which the Nile formerly discharged itself, only two remain; one, the eastern, passing into the sea at Damietta; while the other, or western, discharges itself in a similar way near Rosetta. The Delta, lying between them, is of extreme fertility. Should he succeed, not only will the productions of this be greatly increased, but, by leading the waters off east and west of it, he will be able to redeem from the encroaching deserts an immense extent of country now quite abandoned. But difficulties of an alarming kind present themselves. The bottom of the river is loose and unstable; and the shores are so friable, that if an attempt is made to build a dam across it at once, the water will, in the mean time, be working out for itself new channels along the sides. Minds like that of Mohammed Ali, however, are only stimulated, not discouraged, by serious obstacles. He has employed M. Lenon, a French gentleman, and self-taught, but an engineer of superior abilities; and trusting the whole matter to him, has given him, as a nominal superior, Mahmoud Bey, the late governor of Cairo, one of the most wealthy men of the country, and apparently an agreeable coadjutor in this great undertaking. The [subjoined plan] is copied from one drawn for us by M. Lenon, and the measurements were also furnished by him.

In this A represents the river before branching, B B the Rosetta, and C C the Damietta branch. It is proposed to build a dam across at E and e, sufficiently high to elevate the waters nearly to the level of the banks, which are here about thirty feet above the usual surface of the river. The engineer commences with cutting the canals F F and f f, each thirteen hundred feet wide and thirty-two in depth, leaving cross strips at L and l, until the canal is ready for use. Across these canals at G and g dams are to be constructed forty-one feet in height, including the foundation, and a hundred and twenty-eight in thickness; and in them are to be left sluices of sufficient capacity to allow the passage of the entire river. When these are completed, the sluices are left open, and the cross slips at L and l being cut away, the river seeks the more direct passage, and leaves the old channels M and m nearly dry. Piles are now to be driven into the bottom of the river, and in these the dams E and e are to be constructed; the former one thousand, and the latter eight hundred and twenty feet in length, each thirty-four feet in height. These being completed, the sluices are to be closed, and the water is thus carried to the required height. By means of the canals I, I and K, it is to be carried over the Delta, and in a similar manner is also led off to the east and west, as far as they may desire. In this latter operation they will be assisted by the nature of the ground; for here, as along the Mississippi and the Ganges, the ground immediately adjoining the stream is higher than at places more remote. At K will be a gate for checking the flow of water, and at H and h small canals, with locks, for boats passing up and down the river. An immense water power will be thus created at the Barage; and it is in contemplation to erect there mills and manufactories of every species; and also to lay out a city after the European plan. Cairo will probably find here a formidable rival.

This is a great undertaking, whether we consider the advantages which it promises or the startling boldness of the design; for in our country we can scarcely form an idea of the difficulties that beset it on every side. Every thing, even the most trifling kind of tool necessary in the operation, has first to be made. Mons. Lenon informed us that he could not have found things less prepared for his hands, if he had commenced operations in the midst of the African deserts. And, in addition, both he and the sovereign have to encounter the ignorance and the prejudices of the jealous officers of the court. They came once to Mohammed Ali, complaining that the engineer was going to needless expense in importing wood for piles when they had trees enough at home, which, if spliced, would answer just as well. “Say you so,” replied the Pasha, “the experiment shall be made forthwith;” and looking out into his garden, he ordered trees at once to be cut down, and sent the complainants to see them spliced and arranged to their own satisfaction. This was done; the pile-driver was applied to them, and at the first stroke they flew into shivers. Since that time they have been more cautious in making complaints.

We found 10,000 men at work digging the canals; 6,000 on the Rosetta side and the balance on the Darietta branch. Mons. Lenon says, that if he can get men enough, he will finish it in three years: but at the present mode of working, it will require six or seven. They broke ground three months previous to our visit. One hundred great dredging machines are to be employed, thirty of which are already on the ground. These, as well as most of the tools, have to be imported from Europe. In the latter they are yet very badly provided. The ground is broken by hoes, and worked into baskets with shovels or fingers, as the case may be: these are carried on the head to the side of the river, and there emptied down its banks. The men are divided into companies of from thirty to fifty each, with one or two drivers, who hasten their operations by a free use of whips.

This inhumanity must not be laid to the charge of the engineer, who has in several ways endeavored to soften the hardships of their condition. We found him erecting hospitals, and conveniences for grinding corn and cooking; and he has prevailed on the Pasha to allow them wages, a thing heretofore quite unknown. They receive each thirty-six paras, or four and a half cents per day, from which six paras are deducted for their board. This in Egypt may be considered pretty handsome wages.

At our second visit we stopped at the tent of Mahmoud Bey, whom we found to be a fine specimen of the Turkish gentleman. He is a venerable looking man, with a splendid white beard falling over his breast. The tent was of mammoth dimensions, carpeted, and ornamented within with stripes of cotton or silken stuffs of gay colors, producing a rich and pleasing effect. His attendants brought fruits, coffee, and pipes with mouth-pieces set in diamonds. At Mons. Lenon’s tent we found the chief of the St. Simonians, who had lately been banished from France, and had taken refuge in this country.

Before dismissing the Barage, I should add a fact mentioned to us by Mons. Lenon, that in digging here they have come to bricks at the depth of sixty feet from the present surface of the ground.

But our boat is once more out upon the stream, and we are gazing upward, expecting each moment to see Cairo open to our view. Instead of the city however, came a hurricane, sweeping across from the western desert, and filling the air with a blood-red color and our eyes with sand. We took refuge under one of the high banks, and hugged the shore closely till it had passed. Again a little after sunset we gained the channel, and by the light of a dim moon glided onward towards the city. On our left soon appeared a mass of white houses, forming the Pasha’s summer palace of Shubra: it is surrounded by a garden forming a perfect fairy scene, and is connected with Cairo, three miles distant, by an avenue of noble trees. Of all this on the present occasion we got but an imperfect view; soon after several other large white edifices came in sight, and our imaginations, excited by the glimpses of splendor which we had caught, by the time, and the country, worked each into a scene of eastern enchantment, and we pictured in each of them fair captives from other countries, gazing through the lattice, and sighing for their distant native hills. The boat glided on, and presently our sympathies were interrupted by the glancing lights of the busy little town of Boulac, the port of Cairo. This city, as the reader is perhaps aware, is not situated on the river, but about a mile and a half from it on the west, and has at Boulac a landing-place and store-houses for all goods coming from the north; Old Cairo, a few miles higher up, answering a similar purpose for all vessels coming from up the river.

As it was too late to proceed to the city, we ran our boats across to the shore opposite Boulac, and made fast for the night near a summer palace and gardens. After tea we climbed the high bank over our boats to get once more a view of the Pyramids, now about eight miles distant on the west, but in the moonlight quite distinct.

There was something pleasing in being made to get our first impressions of this ancient region by moonlight. We were now amid the scenes of the earliest grandeur of Egypt. On one side of us, and but a few miles distant, had once stood the great city of Heliopolis; and on the other Memphis. Dim land of shadows and mystery, the pall of death hath been laid upon thee; but instead of concealing, it only makes thy features more solemn and more awful.

What a scene of life and bustle was once upon this now silent plain.

Ye buried ages, whose monuments stand yonder in the glimmering light, I have received the wizard’s spell, by which the entombed are brought to life once more; and lo, I spread it over you. Arise!

Ha, this is Memphis! And see how it stretches across, and covers all the plain. Towering aloft, is many a grave but magnificent temple; there stretches the deep shadowed and interminable colonade; here frowns the massive tower for defence; and there lies concealed the luxurious bower of the gay. Dwellings of the simple and the astute, the noble and the lowly serf stretch around, far as the eye can reach, and countless multitudes flock along thy streets; while here, closer to us, in the city of mummies, lie an equally countless number in the searments of the grave. City of many centuries and of stately grandeur, we yield thee the reverence—but what noise is that? the buzz of the multitude has suddenly changed, and now comes the sound of wailing on the ear; and mark, how it increases in intensity, and spreads; and now all the land is filled with woe. The cause—I have it now—their god Apis is dead. A white bull, fed solemnly and reverently in their temples, and to which all the land bowed down in worship, has suddenly expired, and the houses are all filled with alarm and woe.—And here comes a long procession, sweeping onward from one of the gates; these, too, are mourners, and they seem to be touched with even deeper grief. They are carrying a dozen singed cats to the place for solemn embalming, previous to interment, with sacred rites. These animals had been their peculiar household gods, and were kept in a sacred edifice, well fed and carefully tended; but the building took fire, on which the alarmed worshippers rushed into the flames, regardless of themselves, and desirous only of extricating their gods. But the bewildered animals in their fright escaped back to the fire, and numbers were burnt to death; and the procession is now carrying their bodies to be embalmed. And there is another procession passing onward along the streets; they carry in solemn state a dog, their god, now dead, and which they are transporting to the place for sacred washing, preparatory to its removal in state to the city of Busiris for interment. Here, from out the water gate, comes another crowd in the habiliments of woe, and with sounds of grief. They are transporting, perhaps, a great benefactor to their city, some one whose bounties have flowed largely upon the poor, for such the mourners seem to be? No—these are two companies, one carrying a dead shrew-mouse, and the other a dead hawk, to the place of sacred burial. But see, here comes a couple of hogs, hooted at and bewildered; and mark the alarm of the mourners as the animals become entangled among their ranks; and see how they rush to the river, and with their clothes on, plunge in to cleanse their souls from the pollution caused by the swinish contact.[2]

Ancient Memphis! our spell has been too potent, and wrought too effectually for the safety of our enthusiasm; and so we bid thee good night. Thou art well where thou art—laid low in the dust and almost forgotten.

CHAPTER III.

Cross to Boulac. Splendid hospitality of the government. Our cavalcade. Kindness of Mr. Gliddon. Description of his house. The Baldac.

On the morning of the 20th, the U. S. Consul at Cairo, Mr. Gliddon, Jun., came over, and our boats were soon after removed to the opposite side of the river. And here commenced a series of hospitable attentions on the part of the government, which contributed most materially to our comfort during the time that we remained at Cairo. On the bank we found waiting a European-built carriage, with four white horses, for the ladies; and for each of the officers a superb horse, with saddles of purple or black silk velvet, richly embroidered in gold, and with housings to correspond. Each horse had a groom, who kept constantly in attendance. These were all furnished from the Pasha’s stables in obedience to orders from Alexandria, and each morning, during our stay in the city, were brought to our house, and also during the day whenever we required them. The Commodore’s horse was a spirited charger from Tyre, the saddle and housings of purple velvet embroidered in gold, and stirrups of massive silver. About thirty of these were paraded on the bank at our landing; we looked at their flashing eyes and their powerful frame as they pawed the earth, with certain misgivings with regard to ourselves; but concealing these as well as we could, with the help of the grooms we soon found ourselves in the saddles; and then, having for a while measured with our eyes the distance between us and the ground, we turned to look at our cavalcade. It was a very pretty sight; and as we rode on, the natives stopped to gaze at us with that look of wonder and admiration which is so agreeable to a good horseman. The horses, after all, though spirited, were easily managed; and, except a bad habit of using their hinder legs against their neighbor’s legs or bodies, were generally peaceable enough. They are taught a singular gait when in rapid motion, which to the natives may seem admirable, but to us was any thing but agreeable; it is as if the animal were to leap up with the whole four feet at once.

Preceded by a Master of Horse, and accompanied by two Chaouishes and five Cavasses, with the grooms, each in the fanciful eastern costume, we wound onward through the streets of Boulac, and, on looking around, felt pleased each with himself, with his horse, and with the world. The suburbs of Boulac and Cairo straggle off so near to each other as to leave but a short interval between; but there is little of note on the way, except the garden where Kleber was basely assassinated. It is elevated above, and faces an open area or parade ground, which we crossed just before entering the gates of the city.

After winding through a great labyrinth of streets, we drew up at length before the house of Mr. Gliddon, Jun. How greatly are we all indebted to the hospitality and the very kind attentions of this gentleman. As soon as he had learnt we were coming, he sent down his large boat for the Commodore and family, and it had reached Atf only an hour after our departure: he now had broken up his bachelor establishment, and threw open his house to us. He planned our visits so that each day brought with it some object of pleasing and useful curiosity; and when our excursions were distant, took upon himself all the trouble of preparation for them. We thanked him warmly at parting, but our hearts continue to thank him more warmly than words can do.

We entered his mansion, and freely took possession of what had been so freely and kindly offered, and then prevailed on Mr. Gliddon to become our guest.

While resting here, I will briefly describe the mansion, as it is a good specimen of the better kind of houses in Cairo. Entering from the street, we found ourselves in a passage with seats on either side, a stopping-place for attendants, porter, or servants, who may come on business. This opened into one angle of a court, enclosed on three sides by the house; and on the fourth by a wall separating it from an outer yard or garden. Turning here to the left, we came presently to a stairway leading to the second story of the edifice. The lower part is occupied by servants, and as store rooms or for similar purposes. At the head of the stairs on the right was a chamber opening into the kitchen and its offices, and on the left a vestibule conducting to the dining-room, a lofty and very airy apartment. The walls and ceiling were ornamented with a variety of carved work in wood, and for windows were lattices in a great variety of handsome patterns: at one side of the room were two large recesses, adjoining projecting lattices; the floors in these were raised about two feet, and furnished with carpets and cushions. And here, after dinner, our company retired to enjoy their Turkish pipes. Ascending to the third story, and turning to the end of the building opposite the dining-room, we came first to a vestibule, the most striking object in which is several mammoth jars of earthenware, filled with Nile water. Through this vestibule we are admitted into the principal apartment of the house. It is about fifty feet in length, and airy and lofty; and raising our eyes to the ceiling, we have here explained to us an object which is apt to puzzle a traveller on his first approach to an Egyptian city. He sees on each of the flat roofs of the town before him something like a low shed, closed at the sides but open in front, and with a very long slanting roof. Here we discover its use, for the elevated ceiling of this room, instead of being flat throughout, towards one end begins to ascend, and rising high above the roof of the house, a large opening is thus made for the admission of air from above. This opening is covered with fanciful lattice-work. Its utility must be evident in a city where the houses are three or four stories high, and the streets usually not more than four feet in width. Entering this long room, the visitor finds each end of it occupied by a platform about a foot in height, covered with Turkey carpets, and lined with broad, luxurious ottomans. These platforms are separated at the centre of the room by a strip of marble pavement about twelve feet wide; at one end of which, opposite to us as we enter, is a recess with marble shelves for confectionary, pipes, and for supporting the priceless and most tempting Baldac. The Baldac, the reader, after this encomium, will be surprised to hear is only an earthen drinking vessel, in shape of a Florence flask, though about three times as large; it is unglazed, and the water oozing through its thin sides, evaporates, and produces a delicious coolness. I do not know any piece of furniture that, if taken from the inhabitants, would be so much regretted as the Baldac. Each one, as he needs, drinks at once from the Baldac, five or six of them being always kept ready for use. Water for the whole city is brought from the Nile on the backs of camels or mules.

We return to our description of the house, which, however, is nearly completed. The remainder of the third tier is appropriated to sleeping apartments, and a fourth range over them is devoted to a similar purpose. The roof is flat, but irregular. Nearly all the windows in this building look into the court: but in most of the buildings there are latticed windows looking into the narrow streets; sometimes they project a little, so as to give the fair inmates an opportunity of seeing all that is passing below, without being seen themselves. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of a dark eye or a jewelled hand, through the openings of the fanciful but jealous lattice.

CHAPTER IV.

Visit to the Governor of Cairo. Court of the Mamelukes. Their massacre. Schools in the Citadel. Court of Justice. Palace of the Pasha. View from it. The “City of Tombs.” A human monster. Plain of Memphis. Heliopolis. Mosque of the bloody baptism. Joseph’s Well. Mint. Manufactory of Arms. The Citadel. “The Lions.”

Early in the morning of the 21st we found the grooms with our horses in the court below, and after breakfast mounted for a visit of ceremony to the Abdi Effendi, the governor of the city. The carriage was waiting in an adjoining bazaar, where it had been compelled to stop by the narrowness of the streets; and here our cavalcade was formed in the following order: 1. Two Cavasses; 2. The carriage; 3. Eight Cavasses; 4. Two Chaouishes; 5. A Master of the Horse; 6. Dragoman; next the Commodore and Consul, and after them the remaining officers of the party. Having traversed the whole length of the city, we began, near its southern outskirts, to ascend, and presently found ourselves before the frowning walls of the citadel of Cairo. Here, in this strong eyrie, well guarded both by nature and art, the Pasha of Egypt has built his palace, and gathered his treasures, and formed his arsenal for arms. The citadel stands on a spur from the range of Kebel Mokattam, the mountains that, stretching along on the East, help to form the valley of the Nile. Here they make a bend and stretch off far to the eastward; and at the angle, on an irregular platform thrown off from it, the citadel was built, or at least enlarged to its present dimensions, in the 12th century, by the famous Saladin. It is a place of great strength, and may be considered as the key of all the upper parts of Egypt. On passing the heavy exterior gateway, we found ourselves in the court, where, twenty-five years ago, by order of Mohammed Ali, was perpetrated the bloody massacre of the Mamelukes. It is of irregular shape, with high walls on one side, and on the others steep ascents or precipices, surmounted by ramparts, above which again are heavy buildings, and among them the ruins of Saladin’s palace. It was a place well chosen for such a butchery, and the whole plan of operations was strikingly characteristic of the man.

It will, perhaps, be recollected by the reader that the Mamelukes, as a distinct body, owed their origin to Saladin, who, distrusting his native troops, formed a body-guard of slaves, procured by purchase or capture from the countries bordering on the Caspian. They rose gradually under successive sultans, and all the fortresses at length being trusted to them, they concluded to turn the power to their own use, and through their Beys became the governors of Egypt. Various, after this, were their changes of fortune; the hardy soldiers, being generally successful in the field, but circumvented by their cunning adversaries in the council-room. The French found in them most obstinate and determined opposers; and when, at the close of this war, the British arms were triumphant, Lord Hutchinson demanded of the Sultan of Constantinople, to whom the country was yielded, the restitution of the Mamelukes to their former privileges. He promised compliance, but had determined on the extinction of this race of dangerous subjects. The Turkish admiral, who was sent for this purpose, first enticed a great number of them to a pleasure excursion in boats off Aboukir, and his ships opening fire upon them, the greater portion were destroyed. War with their race being thus declared, Mohammed Ali, then first rising into notice, was sent with a force against them, but was defeated and compelled to retreat. This was the origin of the inveteracy of Mohammed Ali towards the Mamelukes.

On the invasion of Egypt by the English in 1807, the Beys united with the rising Pasha; but it was only a momentary truce; and the defeat of the English, giving him secure possession of Egypt, sealed at the same time the fate of his too trustful allies. He immediately formed a plan for the total destruction of the Mamelukes. His son Tousson was about this time preparing to lead an army against the Wahabees, and as this was a religious war, it was determined to invest him with the command under circumstances of unusual splendor. The Mameluke Beys were invited to the ceremony, which was to commence in the citadel. They came, led by their chief, Chahyn Bey; and a more splendid cavalcade never filed in through the portals of this fortress. They amounted to 470 men, on horseback, together with about an equal number of attendants of the same race on foot. Their reception was flattering. The Pasha addressed them individually, and with a bland aspect and smiles, welcomed them to the festivities. At length it was necessary to form a procession, and the Mamelukes were honored by being put in a body near the head of it: they filed down and entered this rocky court; but when their whole body had gained it, the gates were suddenly shut both in front and rear, and they found themselves cruelly entrapped. The heights above were in a moment covered with the Pasha’s soldiers, and a deadly fire was poured down on them. Rage and execration were in vain: they were coolly shot down till not an individual remained alive. One of the Beys escaped by spurring his horse up the steep outer wall; in the descent the animal was dashed to pieces, but the rider was unhurt.

This was the end of the Mamelukes. On the following day the soldiers rushed into the city, and under pretext of searching for more victims, plundered a large part of it before the Pasha and his son durst venture out to repress their fury.

Our horses, on reaching this bloody court, seemed themselves to be seized with the very spirit of violence; for pricking their ears, they rushed up the steep ascent with headlong speed, and, whirling through Saladin’s court, and then through a larger one, brought us up at length in front of the governor’s palace. It is a long building and spacious, but is otherwise by no means remarkable. Abdi Effendi has been in England and France, and speaks the language of the latter country fluently. He received us with great politeness, and entertained us with the usual eastern hospitalities. His questions with regard to our own country were pertinent, and evinced a good knowledge of its laws and institutions. He spoke in terms of high admiration of his own sovereign; and indeed Mohammed Ali seems to have the faculty of creating a strong attachment for himself in all his officers. The governor said that if the Pasha could live twenty years longer, he would make Egypt more civilized and more prosperous than it has ever yet been; but added, that he stood all alone, and greatly needed some one who could be a second self to him.

From the audience-hall we were taken to visit a number of schools in the same building; they occupy a number of rooms, and contained altogether four hundred youths, preparing for public employments in the country. As far as I could judge, they seemed to be awkwardly conducted. At the extreme end of the building we came to the Hall of Justice, where, on an ottoman and all alone, sat the judge, a man of prodigious corporeal dimensions. He was at this time unemployed, but our attention was drawn to a new mat with which the floor was covered. It had just been put down in place of one that, a few days before, had been worn through by the writhings of a poor wretch, who had been bastinadoed here; the punishment having followed close on the heels, if not of justice, at least of the culprit.

The adjoining side of the court into which this palace looks, is formed by a large palace of Mohammed Ali, to which, in the course of sight-seeing, we were next conducted. It is quite new, and in some parts not quite finished; and is more remarkable for the airy and spacious character of the rooms than for any beauties of architecture. Indeed, all the palaces which we visited in Egypt, though cool and spacious, are marked by great simplicity. A hall of great width passes across at the centre of the building, and is intersected by another of somewhat narrower dimensions, running lengthwise; and thus at each angle a chamber is formed. These chambers are carpeted, and have the most luxurious ottomans passing quite around. These, with sometimes a glass lustre suspended from the lofty ceiling, constitute the only furniture. In the palace, which we were now visiting, the ottomans were covered with the richest French silks, with raised figures in beautiful patterns worked on them. In front of the seats hung down an impenetrable veil of silken tassels.

And now let us rest ourselves for a while on these tempting seats, here by these lofty windows, from which we may look down over all the wide-spread landscape. The ladies of the Commodore’s family have gone to visit the Sultana, and it will be some time before they return; and a better place for a view over all the city and the country beyond, we could not desire. The palace is built on the highest part of the citadel, and enjoys, indeed, a very extensive prospect, and even at this sultry hour we are here fanned by a delightful breeze.

There, look below where the mountains of Mokattam turn off towards the east, you see between them and the city a great number of buildings of remarkable and light Saracenic architecture, standing alone on the sandy waste. This is “The city of Tombs;” the burying-place of the nobles of modern Cairo. Many of these edifices, consisting, as you perceive, of domes supported, by tall slender columns, are the tombs of the Mamelukes when their race was in power; but there you observe one larger than all the rest, surmounted by three domes, and remarkable for its light but rich style of architecture; that is the Mausoleum belonging to the family of Mohammed Ali. Its three chambers are enriched with tombs of Italian marble, and their marble floors are covered with Persian or Turkey carpets. Some of his wives and two of his children are buried here; and every Friday (the Moslem sabbath) their tombs are covered with Cashmere shawls. Here lies also buried the infant daughter of Ibrahim Pasha, taken off in innocent childhood; and close by is the recently interred body of Defterden Bey, a very tiger in cruelty, and as vile a monster as has ever lived. He was sent to this country when it was still subject to the Sultan, to watch the Pasha and collect the revenue of his master at Constantinople: but it is supposed that a large part of it went no further than his own pockets; for in a short time he grew immensely rich. He was, indeed, at length inferior in wealth only to the Pasha himself. He owned the garden in which the brave Kleber was assassinated. He was often in power; and his favorite mode of punishment was to bury the criminal up to his neck in quick-lime, and thus leave him to perish. On one occasion, his farrier having neglected to shoe a favorite horse according to his directions, he ordered the shoes to be nailed to the feet of the smith himself. The man died in a few hours in the greatest agonies.

On another occasion, when the Pasha’s son Ishmael had been treacherously burnt in his tent in upper Egypt, Defterden Bey was sent to examine into the affair and punish the culprits. He called the inhabitants of the district together, to the number of 10,000, and in revenge burnt them all to death, including women and children; and then plundered the country.

He kept a pet lion, which by some means or other he had attached or awed into gentleness to himself; and one of his amusements consisted in throwing meat to the animal, and then ordering his attendants to take it away; on which the animal often flew at them and tore them to pieces.

This is only a portion of the inhuman acts, of which he was guilty; but, the earth at last grew weary of the monster; and his royal master seems to have grown weary of him also; for one day, after drinking coffee with the Pasha, he went home, was immediately taken sick, and died. Mohammed Ali seized on his immense property, and then honored the body by a burial place in his own tomb.

But observe now that river, how peacefully it glides along, unceasing in its flow, and ever distributing comfort and happiness to the dense population along its banks. Such are Heaven’s dealings to us. What a contrast to this has ever been presented here in men’s dealings towards each other. Say, is man still in the image of his maker?

Our eyes glance on the other side of the river, over the site of Memphis. The western mountains there recede about eight miles from the stream, and it is supposed that the whole of this was covered by its magnificent temples and its dwellings; now the very site of it is disputed by some persons; at all events its ruin is so complete, that objects can no longer be distinguished. Just below it is the Plain of Mummies, still tenanted, as it has been for ages, by forms of human beings that move not and speak not. Men there are at peace with each other. Over this well-peopled but silent city of the dead, we see the small Pyramids of Sakhara: and further down, at a distance of six or eight miles, arise the stupendous structures, the Pyramids of Ghizeh. I have never looked at them without a feeling of awe.

Between us and them, on the western bank of the river, is the little village of Ghizeh, from which they take their modern name; and still nearer to us, on the eastern bank, is the village of Old Cairo, now worthy of note only as the port for boats from upper Egypt. Between it and the larger city of its name you are noticing some hillocks, that seem remarkable objects on this level plain. They are composed of pottery and other rubbish from the city; and your memory will supply you with another example of such hillocks in the neighborhood of Rome. In the latter city the merchants have dug into the base, and formed wine-cellars, which are said to answer admirably well. Near these of old Cairo is also an ancient aqueduct, a fine looking object on the landscape, but useless, as it is now in ruins.

And now look directly north, about eight miles, and you see—no, you cannot see a solitary pillar standing on the open and deserted plain. There is not even a vestige of a ruin near it; and yet there stood in ancient times the great and the learned, as well as the splendid, city of Heliopolis, or “The City of the Sun.” It was of vast extent, and had many large temples; among them one dedicated to the sun, with a mirror so disposed as, during the whole day, to reflect the rays of that luminary into the body of the edifice. Thither came the scholars of ancient times to drink from the streams of knowledge; there Herodotus acquired his lore; and, above all, there Plato studied; and there, too, it is supposed that Moses “was taught in all the learning of the Egyptians.” But neither grandeur nor knowledge itself could avail to save it; and of its many splendid structures, but a single column remains to mark its site.

But here at our feet is Cairo, teeming with life, and with the human passions all at work; and yet it seems like a city of the dead. We hear no sound, no cry; life seems to be stagnant there; but it is not. The surface is not greatly ruffled, but beneath it the passions are fermenting: who shall follow them in their various changes and their devious windings? But we will not philosophise. Here, just below us, is the mosque of Sultan Hassan; and, as our time is short, we will hasten to occupy ourselves with its singular history; a history that has a strong dash of the Arabian Nights, and yet is solemn truth, that may be told in open day. This is the largest, and in its architecture the most imposing mosque in Cairo. It is massy, and ornamented with heavy mouldings; and though of the Saracenic style, is a solid and substantial building. And now for its history.

About two centuries ago lived Sultan Hassan, a sovereign prosperous and beloved, but withal somewhat eccentric. He had every thing to make him contented, but there rose up in him, by and by, a strong desire to travel. He longed to see foreign lands; to study the living world; to hear the sages of other climes; and, if possible, to turn philosopher himself. The royalty that acted as a barrier to the gratification of his wishes, became at length odious to him, and he determined for a while to lay it aside, and to travel as a private individual. He sent, therefore, for his prime minister or Vizier, and after a confidential interview, delivered to him in trust, during the sovereign’s absence, the sceptre of honor and the throne of state. He himself left the kingdom, and all traces of him were speedily lost. He now assumed the appearance of a merchant, and under this character travelled through many and far distant lands. He went wherever curiosity enticed him, toiling on from place to place, in hopes that at each it would still its unquiet yearnings and be satisfied; he studied man in every variety of character; he conversed with the wise men of every country, and at length he became a wise man himself, which was evinced by a resolution to return forthwith and be contented at home. Curiosity, he found, only gathered strength by each gratification; the world and its notions were a greater puzzle to him than at the beginning; and what little he knew of them, made him afraid to examine further; and as to wisdom itself, he found it every where less valued than money, and was astonished to see even himself, by and by, deserting the pursuit of it for the pursuit of wealth. He was rapidly successful in his dealings, and grew very rich; and now, ending where he had begun in his boyhood, with believing that Egypt was the best and happiest country in the world, he set out forthwith on his return.

But a disappointment awaited him. His faithless Vizier, concluding that the power which he found so agreeable for a short time, would be agreeable through life, had established himself firmly on the throne; and the old Sultan, on reaching the confines of his country, found that the very name of Hassan had been interdicted to his people, and that he was apparently forgotten. He kept his disguise, and, safe in the changes which time and exposure, and a long beard had wrought on his face, he travelled on, and found himself at length once more in Cairo. The wealthy merchant soon had many friends, and his business continuing to prosper, he applied by and by for permission to erect a mosque, as an act of thanksgiving to Allah for his numerous favors. The request was granted, and the foundations of this mosque, closely adjoining the citadel, were laid with the usual ceremonies. Under pretext of strengthening the edifice in so unstable a soil, he laid the groundwork strong and deep, and secured it moreover with numerous arches or vaults. The building rose, and the populace came in multitudes to look at the huge edifice and praise the piety of the liberal-handed merchant, who before long found that he had established a throne, at least in the hearts of the people. He was aiming, however, at a more substantial throne. He had by this time filled the deep vaults with men, whom by liberal pay he had engaged to wait there for his bidding, and whom he daily practised with the scimitar, till there was not one among them who could not at a blow sever without disarranging the light tuft of down, the acme of a Turkish swordsman’s ambition. The edifice was finished, and a grand building, as you perceive, it really is; and the new courtiers, in their way back and forth between the palace and the city, stopped to applaud the zeal of the pious merchant; nor dreamed for a moment of the pandemonium beneath. It is customary when a mosque is consecrated to give it also a name; and this having now been finished, a day was appointed for these ceremonies; and as the edifice was so highly ornamental to the city, the Sultan himself consented to grace the occasion with his presence. He came with a great retinue of courtiers and a line of guards; and splendid indeed was the scene within the proud and stately edifice. The merchant himself was placed in a conspicuous and an honorable station. The ceremony commenced, and the prayers were said; and the Mufti at length, turning to the merchant, bade him pronounce the name by which his pious offering to Allah should be known. He rose from his seat, and while all leaned forward to catch the sound, he replied, “Call it Sultan Hassan.” The multitude started as if each had been bitten by a serpent, and the Mufti grew pale; but recovering himself, demanded if he had heard him aright. “Yes,” he cried, as a curtain rose at one end and disclosed the name in large letters of gold: “call it by my name, by that of your sovereign, Sultan Hassan;” and at the words, his myrmidons, who had been led up from the vaults and distributed through the church, falling on the astonished usurper and his train, put them all to the sword. From thence they rushed to the citadel, of which they got possession; and before the sun went down, Sultan Hassan was once more proclaimed sovereign of Egypt.

Such was the history of this building, as it was narrated to us on the spot. One of the Cavasses offered to show me the interior if I would disguise myself like a Turk; but as I felt no disposition to put my own neck to hazard in this mosque of the bloody baptism, I satisfied myself with looking at the outer walls.

Close adjoining it are some lions, however, which are worthy of a visit. They are just from the deserts, and are very different from the abused and broken-spirited animals exhibited in our country and in Europe. They are confined in a room of no great dimensions, and are fastened only by a chain attached to the wall; and if any man, who calls himself one of the lords of creation, would meditate on the justice of his vaunted title, I would advise him to go and do it in this den of lions.

The ladies of our party returned, after an absence of about an hour, greatly delighted with their visit; they were, I believe, the first foreign ladies ever permitted to enter this part of the palace, and were allowed to depart only on the promise of a longer visit as soon as circumstances would admit.

From the Pasha’s palace we proceeded to visit “Joseph’s Well,” a deep pit for supplying the citadel with water, dug, however, not by the Joseph of our Scriptures, but by Saladin, whose name, I believe, was also Yousef or Joseph. It consists of two shafts, the upper about 150 feet in depth and 45 in diameter, with a winding gallery around, separated from the shaft by a wall pierced with openings for the admission of light. This is all cut out of the solid rock. The lower shaft is about 120 feet in depth, making altogether 270 feet. The water is raised to the top of the first shaft by means of oxen, and poured into a reservoir, whence it is carried up in a similar manner to a reservoir in the citadel; but it is brackish, and used for drinking only in times of siege.

Mounting our horses once more, we returned through the court of the Mamelukes, and at its further extremity, within the citadel, alighted to examine an extensive manufactory of fire-arms. They first took us to a foundry of brass cannon in active operation, and thence to a suite of rooms where some hundreds of native workmen were employed manufacturing muskets, pistols, swords, and gun-carriages, &c., in rolling sheet copper for the navy, and in making bolts and sheathing nails. They manufacture here 36,000 muskets annually, with pistols and sabres to correspond. The various parts of the musket are made exactly of the same size, so that if any part is injured, it can be immediately replaced. The different branches are superintended by foreigners, mostly from France; but the master workmen are all natives of the country, many of them having been sent abroad to qualify them for these stations.

The mint is also kept in the citadel, and on a subsequent visit they took us over every part, explaining the whole process of money-making, and striking for us impressions on paper of all their coins. The machinery is old and clumsy, but they had just imported a new set made of cast iron from England, which they were about putting into operation. We found the superintendent of the mint, an old man with a superb white beard, poring over a great atlas just printed at Constantinople, and sadly puzzled with its labyrinths. He seemed quite grateful for a little assistance we were able to give him in comprehending them.

CHAPTER V.

Visit to the Cotton factories. Iron foundries. Palace of Ibrahim Pasha. English garden on an island in the Nile. Stables of Ibrahim Pasha. Arabian horses. Bazaars. Slave market. Madhouse. The maniac butcher.

The Egyptian monarch is fond of having his improvements inspected by foreigners, and our own inclinations being in no wise averse to this, we gave the 22d to an examination of a variety of objects of this kind bordering on the Nile. Leaving the city by the Boulac gate, we turned soon after down the avenue leading to Shubra, and, after, pursuing it for a mile and a half, crossed some open gardens, and were then shown into a large inclosure containing the summer palace and grounds of a nephew of Mohammed Ali, and one of the officers of his court. It is a pretty place, and as the day was growing hot, we particularly enjoyed a marble kiosk, with fountains tossing their delicious waters into the air. From this we proceeded to one of those large edifices that in our moonlight sail up the river had fixed themselves so strongly on our fancy; but in the broad daylight, instead of a magnificent palace, with a scene of Eastern enchantment spread all around it, we found a steam cotton factory, puffing and blowing, and sending jets of smoke from every one of its numerous tall chimnies. But as we all called ourselves philanthropists, we considered it, or tried to consider it, a very pleasing sight; and our gratification was really great, as we proceeded through the establishment and inspected its very extensive operations. The principal building is for spinning and weaving, and I counted here more than one hundred looms of cast iron, just imported from England; in this they were just putting into operation a steam engine of twenty horse power, also of English manufacture; the floor of the second story in this edifice is supported by cast iron columns, and every part is not only neat and convenient, but also substantial. It is superintended by a Scottish gentleman, Mr. Galloway. Attached to this is a yard for bleaching, a machine manufactory, and a long building for printing the cottons. The printing is all done by blocks, both made and worked by the natives, who in this business, we were informed, show great aptitude and skill. The patterns, copied mostly from the French, are handsome; and the colors are said to be enduring. The price of labor here is almost nothing, and the Egyptian Pasha has only to persevere, in order to succeed in all the Eastern markets. A difficulty presented itself in the expense of fuel for his steam engines, but his enterprise seems to be in a fair way to surmount even this. Some explorations on Mount Lebanon, conducted by his orders, have lately resulted in the discovery of a mine of bituminous coal, at a place called Carnayl, on the western side of the mountain, about four miles from the sea, and twelve northward from Beirout. Where the stratum first presented itself, it was three feet three inches in thickness, and the coal was too much mixed with impurities to be fit for steam power; but when we left Beirout, there were indications that it would increase both in quantity and purity. Mr. Brattell, an English gentleman employed by the Pasha in these investigations, thinks there is coal also on the eastern side of Mount Lebanon, and is sanguine also in expectations of discovering lead and iron ores. There can be no doubt that the latter is very abundant in that mountain.

From the manufactory we returned to rest ourselves in the cool kiosk, where we were hospitably served also with fruits and other refreshments.

Returning from this along the banks of the river, we were conducted, near the outskirts of Boulac, to a large foundry for iron cannon and other castings; it contains, I believe, three furnaces; but at midday on the 22d of July, in Egypt, we felt little disposition to be sticking our heads among iron furnaces; and instead of this useful curiosity, hastened to put all the Baldacs we could find in requisition, declaring unanimously that we had never met with any fluid so delicious as the water of the Nile. At Boulac are also manufactories for cotton handkerchiefs, and for clothing for the army and navy, as well as store-houses filled with their productions, which we were invited to visit; but the heat had become so oppressive, as to leave little disposition to bodily effort, and, mounting our steeds, we passed through Boulac, and hastened to deposite our persons in the large and cool palace of Ibrahim Pasha.

This palace, quite a new building, is situated on the outskirts of Old Cairo, about two miles above Boulac, and a few hundred yards from the banks of the river, from which it is separated by well-shaded pleasure-grounds. The halls or passages by which it is crossed in the manner already described, are here unusually spacious; and the stairway being also wide, it has an air not only of magnificence, but of delicious coolness. In the Audience hall a fountain gushes out of the wall, about six feet above the pavement, and forming a succession of small cascades at length reaches the floor, where it is received into a large marble basin; from this it meanders in a marble channel to the centre of the hall, and spreads out into a small lake about three feet in depth. Along the channel are numerous fish, sculptured in marble, in various attitudes.

The usual hospitable refreshment of sherbet, pipes, and coffee, was presented us here, and, seated on the luxurious ottomans at the end of the longitudinal hall, enveloped in odorous fumes, and listening to the waterfall, or watching the natives, who, in their picturesque costumes, were passing back or forward, we spent the time till the heat of the day had passed.

About two hundred yards from this is the island at the head of which, in an edifice erected for it, is situated the celebrated Nilometer, or graduated column, for measuring the depth of the river, and from which report is made when the river has attained an elevation sufficient to ensure a favorable season. When this is done, the banks which restrain the water from flowing into the canal leading to Cairo, are cut down, the water flows in, floods the squares of the city, and then ensues a season of hilarity and merry-making throughout the whole city.

The island contains about seven or eight acres, and, until lately, presented nothing remarkable; but it is now a very fascinating spot. About four years since, Mohammed Ali employed an English horticulturist, Mr. Trail, to put it in order. He built a stone wall around it, reaching from below low watermark, to a height above the greatest elevation of the floods, and had machinery constructed for irrigating it by means of canals, at all seasons of the year. It is laid out partly in regular plots, but chiefly in the English garden style, with winding walks, serpentine streams, lakes, grottoes, rustic bridges, glades, and lawns; and, what in Egypt is rather curious, in one place is ornamented with artificial ruins of temples and similar objects. The size of the trees here are a proof of the astonishing fecundity of the soil when irrigation is well supplied; for, although the time has been so short, the ground is covered with trees thirty and forty feet in height; the shrubbery is luxuriant, and embosoms many delicious retreats from the sultry sun. They have collected here all the plants natural to the country, together with many of foreign origin. Egypt, however, does not produce a great variety of flowers or useful shrubs. Mr. Trail has a house at one side of the garden, in which we were hospitably entertained.

On returning to the palace some of our party returned home, while the rest of us proceeded to visit the stables of Ibrahim Pasha. This warrior chief is a great lover of horses; and in the course of his expeditions into Syria and Arabia, has had the best opportunities of making a collection; and he appears to have profited by them.

The Master of Horse, who came to receive us, informed us that the whole collection amounts to eight hundred, among which are many of pure Arabian blood; but that the best were either out at pasture, or with the Pasha’s army in Syria. At our visit there were about four hundred animals of various breeds in the stables; and on entering we were presented with a spectacle of ferocity bordering on the terribly sublime. Whether it is a matter of instinct or education I cannot say, but they no sooner caught sight of our foreign dress, and heard our language, than each animal seemed changed into a fury; their eyes flashed, their manes seemed to rise, they kicked, and writhed, and tried every means to break loose; snorting, and showing in every part of their distorted features the most savage rage. Their keepers went among them, and succeeded in establishing a little more quiet; but it was really curious to see the malice which they seemed to bear towards us to the last.

Among them were eight full blooded Arabs of a superior breed; and I suppose I shall suffer in the opinion of all amateurs of horses, when I say that I was disappointed in them. Their limbs are well formed for activity, but their necks appeared to me too short and heavy for the highest kind of beauty; but I will add that I am no great judge of such matters, and ought to offer an opinion with diffidence. We saw here the horse that had carried Ibrahim in all his wars with the Wahabees; it is a gray, and is a handsome animal; but is now thirty years old, and, though well fed and kindly treated, is never used. There were one or two others in the collection similarly situated; one I noticed, so old as to be scarcely able to stand, and the picture of decrepitude. Some horses from Dongola, in Upper Egypt, were striking animals; they were large and very powerful, with glossy coats of pure jet black. The Arabians were of various colors: white, bay, and brown. Among them were numerous colts and some mules; we saw also a donkey, of a white color, for which the Pasha had been offered $600. It was the largest animal of this description that I have ever seen. A mule by an Arab mare was also a beautiful object, it had legs like those of an antelope, and an eye of fire. They informed us that two strong men were required to manage it.

July 23d. Most of this day was spent in lounging among the bazaars. Some of these are wide, and the roof or covering being elevated to a height of forty or fifty feet, they are not only airy, but the effect on the eye is good; but most of them are not at all remarkable, while the generality of the streets in Cairo are, I think, narrower than usual, even in Turkish cities. Provisions are abundant in them, and very cheap. Passing one day along the bazaars, we turned into a court adjoining them to take a look at the depository and market for slaves. The court is not large, but is surrounded with houses of irregular shape, swarming with slaves, tier back of tier, as far as our eyes could reach. They were all of a jet black, with smooth glossy skins; and the hair of the females was worked up by a greasy substance into long ringlets, which fell on either side of the head. Their cheeks were in some instances marked by scars in regular figures, evidently designed to be an addition to their charms. As we passed among them, they put on their best looks, and by smiles and gestures invited us to become their purchasers; to which, I believe, we felt not the least inclined, though their price was extremely low.

Taking a Cavass on another occasion, I went off to visit the madhouse, of which I had heard some singular accounts. After threading a great labyrinth of streets, he told me that we were approaching it, and that it would be necessary for him to take them some provisions as a kind of admittance fee. So I furnished him with money, and he filled his arms with the cakes, somewhat like a thick pancake, which are the common food of the lower classes in Cairo. On this introduction the keeper admitted us, and I found myself in an open square or court, surrounded by a stone edifice in which were the cells of the maniacs. It was a sight not only mortifying to the pride of man, but adapted to harrow up all his feelings of sympathy. The cells were not more than seven or eight feet square, with uneven floors of stone or earth, and were grated on the side towards the court. Their inmates were sometimes fastened with chains, but sometimes at liberty to make the most of the narrow precincts of their cells. They were quite in a state of nature, filthy, and often covered with sores; and seemed, poor creatures, to be badly fed. On seeing the cakes, their countenances brightened; they stretched out their emaciated arms between the iron bars, and on being supplied, began to devour rather than eat, till in a short time our supply was exhausted. I turned, saddened and sickened, from the sight.

A short time before our visit, a butcher was brought and shut up here in a state of complete and dangerous madness. After some time he grew more gentle, and by and by was sometimes permitted by the keeper to leave his cell and to go at large through the court. One morning the latter, on returning to his duty, was met at the gate by this man, with an expression of joy on his face, and invited to come in and make a purchase of his meat, which he said he could highly recommend. The keeper, on entering, found, to his surprise, in one corner of the court a rude imitation of shambles, well furnished with meat cut up in a variety of forms. He gazed with astonishment, and a horrible idea now suddenly crossing his mind, he began a hasty examination of the cells. He was right. The half-starved wretch had murdered one of the other maniacs, and dragged the body piecemeal through the bars; and it was the dismembered carcass of his comrade that was suspended on the shambles.

CHAPTER VI.

Preparations to visit the Pyramids. Audience of leave with the Governor of Cairo. Visit of the ladies of our party to the Sultana. Description of the Harem.

The 24th was a day of bustle, a large portion of it being spent at home, superintending the storing of wines and fruits, the cooking of fowls and eggs, and the preparation of all the et ceteras that would be required by a few days’ residence on the desert.

The plan, as formed by our good friend, Mr. Gliddon, was to make an early start on the morrow, to the great Pyramids of Ghizeh, thence proceed to the Pyramids of Sakhara, sleep in tents in their neighborhood; on the following morning examine the site of Memphis, and then going on board his boat, which would be directed to meet us there, to drop down the river, stopping by the way at the military and naval school at Toura.

As it was the Commodore’s intention, after this excursion, to start immediately on his return to the ship, he had sent on the 23d, to the governor of Cairo, to say that he would this day have an audience of leave; and the ladies of his family also had despatched a messenger to the Sultana, stating that they would make the visit which, on the previous occasion, they had promised her.

Accordingly, at 9 A. M. the party proceeded to the citadel in the same order as before, where the officers were received by the governor in a larger and more magnificent hall than at the former visit. While the usual compliments of pipes, coffee, and sherbet were offered, the Commodore made the governor his acknowledgments “for the honor and great attention shown him as an American officer, and to the officers with him; stating that their civilities had left us nothing to desire, and that, individually, he felt under great obligations to his Excellency the Pasha, a lively remembrance of whose kindness he should ever retain.” To this the governor replied, that he acted only according to his instructions, and was happy in being the instrument of carrying them into effect; the American commander was considered the guest of the Pasha, who, if he had been present, would have been able to do more, and would doubtless have ordered a palace for our accommodation. To this there was added much on both sides that was complimentary, if that can be called compliment on our part, which proceeded from real admiration and truly grateful feeling.

From the governor’s hall, the party retired to the palace of Mohammed Ali, and were again served with coffee, &c.; the mouth-pieces of the pipes served on this occasion being richly set with diamonds; the coffee cups were set in fillagree work of gold, enriched also with the same precious stones. Some hours were spent in smoking, and in visiting the interesting objects in and about the citadel not seen before; while, in the mean time, the ladies of the Commodore’s family were making their visit to those of the Harem.

I am allowed to insert here an account of this visit from a letter, written without the least idea of publication, but which places before us, in graphic language, scenes which strangers were never before allowed to witness. Our interest in reading it takes a melancholy character from the reflection that the accomplished youthful writer is now an inmate of the tomb.

“We are the only Christians who have ever been admitted into the Pasha’s Harem. We were there twice. The first time was a mere visit, but the second was to spend the day. I must endeavor to describe it for you. At the gate we were received by a dozen male attendants, who led us to the garden gate, where we found three girls playing upon different Arab instruments, while two others were singing and two dancing, magnificently dressed in crimson and blue cloth, embroidered in gold—the full pantaloons hanging over the foot, just allowing an embroidered slipper to be seen—a jacket, tight to the shape, without sleeves, open a little upon the chest, where appeared a chemise of blue or white gauze, closely spangled, sleeves of the same, hanging large and full to the elbow, and down behind in a dozen plaits; and on the side and top of the head, large sprigs of diamonds. A sash of gold tissue, with a deep gold fringe, finished the dress. These pretty creatures preceded us to the palace door, where we were met like old friends by the Sultana, her maids of honor and attendants, to the number of a hundred at least. The great hall of state into which we were ushered, was an immense one, lined and floored with white marble; in the centre a basin fifteen feet square, and a large fountain, from which the clearest water was playing; the ceiling richly painted and gilt; one side of the hall lined with ottomans of white silk, embroidered in gold, and a beautiful Persian carpet spread in front of them. As soon as we were seated, coffee and pipes were handed to us. The Sultana is about 35 years old, with a fine face, though the eye is stern—dignified and affable in her manners. Her dress was a chali, made in Turkish style, only more closed over the neck. On the head was a sort of skull cap, formed entirely of diamonds. Around this was twisted an embroidered kerchief, and on the left side, down near the ear, was placed a sprig of flowers, made of enormous diamonds: earrings, a single pair, shaped like a drop, as large as the end of my little finger, and on her little finger was a most superb diamond ring. Around us stood the hundred attendants, dressed in colored silks; and every one, even of the lowest rank, with heads covered with diamonds. The pipe stems and sockets of the coffee cups were also covered with these precious stones. Such a glitter I never saw before. An Armenian woman, who spoke Italian, was there as our interpretess. Our gloves and buckles excited their admiration, indeed our whole dress. I don’t know that I was ever so hauled and pulled about as I was that day.

“We were taken all over the palace, and it vied throughout in elegance with the great hall. At half past 12, we were led by the Sultana down to the reception room to dinner. As we entered, girls bearing silver basins approached; others with pitchers poured water over our hands; others again presented us towels. On the centre of the Persian carpet was placed a small table, about a foot square, covered with a cloth of gold tissue. On that was a circular glass waiter, about three feet in diameter. In the centre was a dish of roast mutton. The Sultana sat down, with my mother and self on either side of her; then E——, and G——, and a lady of the court, formerly a slave of the Pasha’s, now married to a colonel. The interpretess stood and carved for us. The china was French and handsome—silver knives and forks, &c., which the Sultana knew not how to use. She punched at the meat in the most unmerciful manner. When we sat down, a napkin was placed on each of our laps; another, embroidered in gold, laid over the right shoulder; and a third, and a finer one, laid upon the lap, to wipe the mouth with. Some of the slaves fanned us—some held the different dishes—others salvers of knives, and others again silver pitchers, and so on. What with the beautiful dresses, the glitter of gold and diamonds, the divan, the spacious hall and fountain, it seemed that the scenes of the Arabian Nights were realized before me. I wish you could have seen it. Our only regret was that this beautiful scene could not be enjoyed by some of our friends.

“It is said there is no pleasure without pain. Truly it was so in this case. The dinner was almost too much for us. We counted thirty-nine different dishes, served one at a time, and of each we were obliged to eat a little. And so strangely served as they were! The first five dishes were of mutton, rice, &c.,—then a sweet dish—then fried fish and fried lemons—then meat—then another sweet dish—next fried fish and nuts—and so on till the thirty-ninth, which was stewed rice and bonny-clabber. The glass salver was then taken away, and a silver one, with melons, peaches, grapes, &c., replaced it. When we rose from the table, the girls with the basins knelt before us, and hands were washed as before, when pipes and coffee were given us to finish off with. While we smoked, the Sultana retired to prayers, which she does five times a day. Then if you could have witnessed the scene, you would have imagined us amongst a parcel of great children. Oh! how we were dragged about, patted and pulled; each woman declaring we belonged to her, and should not speak to the others. At 3 o’clock we were sent for to depart, as the gentlemen were satiated with smoking, and could wait no longer. They had been with the Governor all this time. The Sultana held us tight, and said the Capidan Pasha had no business to send for us; and it was 4 o’clock before we could get away. We made a great procession through the garden. First went the musical, dancing, and singing girls; then the Sultana and ourselves, slaves bearing fans of peacock’s feathers over our heads; and then came the attendants. At the garden gate, sherbet was handed, when we took a kind farewell of our hospitable Sultana, and were consigned to the care of the male attendants, and at the carriage found the gentlemen impatient to hear all about what we had seen.”

CHAPTER VII.

Visit to the Pyramids. Their diminutive appearance as we approached. Effect when we reached the base. Pyramid of Cheops. Visit to the interior. Pyramid of Cephrenes. Belzoni’s forced passage. His successful researches. Large stone enclosure east of this Pyramid. Tombs adjoining on the west. Dine in one of them.

Earliest dawn on the 25th found us up, and our court filled with animals of all shapes and sizes, from the towering dromedary to the wee bit of a donkey; and each one was allowed to choose his mode of travelling for himself. In the end, I believe, the largest of us were found on the donkeys, and the smallest perched on the backs of dromedaries; and as I was among the former, I amused myself along the streets with watching my more ambitious companions, in danger of being caught up, as was Absalom, if not by their hair at least by the clothes, and left dangling at the end of the beams that every where project from the sides of a Turkish bazaar. The gait of the dromedary is also extremely uncomfortable; the rider, unless accustomed to it, being tossed from side to side at each of the long steps of the animal. I believe when we reached the Pyramids every one of our ambitious comrades selected some more humble animal for the rest of the journey.

And here I may be allowed to give a tribute of just praise to the Egyptian donkeys. They are extremely small, but beautifully formed, and are of a mouse color, with a streak of black running along the back, and intersected by another crossing it at right angles, and passing down the fore shoulders. These black lines are believed, by the superstitious of the Eastern countries, to be copied from the cross, and to be here in consequence of our Saviour’s having selected this animal for his entry into Jerusalem. The Egyptian donkey is very gentle and tractable; and for riding, is the most agreeable of the donkey tribe that I have ever seen.

Thanks to the tact of Mr. Gliddon, and of our caterer, Lieut. S., the preparations for our excursion were admirably made, and we got off without confusion; although, as we had provisions for two days, tents, &c., our train consisted of seventy animals; and our company, amounting to about as many persons, comprised a singular variety of nations and languages. Preceded by torches, we marshalled ourselves in the dark and narrow streets, and the word being given, at length we put ourselves in motion.

“Get out of my way, there,” cries an aspirant after high places to one of more humble elevation; and the way being cleared, on sweeps the dromedary at a rapid pace, the saucy occupant of his back now beginning to bob up and down, and trying in vain to find something by which he may steady himself and in his efforts to check his beast, only making it go the faster. “Which is the way?” cry at once half a dozen travellers, lost in the mazes of the streets, and each, advising a different course, only heightening the embarrassment; till at last they yield the reins to their more sensible mules, which in a brief space succeed in extricating them. “Johnny Turk, here, lengthen this stirrup for me,” says another; when the Arab groom, understanding only the gesture, and his eyes already offended by its unwonted and ungraceful length, draws it up still higher, till he brings the rider in the graceful attitude of the Turkish horseman, with the knees up almost to the chin. “What an unsightly attitude,” the Arab murmurs to himself, “with the legs sprawling about, when he can bring them close up to the breast.” To our great satisfaction we emerged at length from the narrow streets, and had the pleasure of riding on without incessant danger of scaling our ancles and knees.

Arriving at Old Cairo, we were ferried across the river, passing in our course the head of the island already noticed, and by the edifice with the famous Nilometer. Opposite to Old Cairo, as I have elsewhere remarked, is the village of Ghizeh, from which the largest Pyramids, which we were now about to visit, take their distinctive name; Ghizeh is celebrated also for its ovens for hatching chickens.

Passing this, we had now the Pyramids in full view before us, nine miles distant, but separated from us only by the level plain. The morning air was cool and pleasant, our animals travelled well, and we left the ground rapidly behind us. But as we journeyed on, disappointment took possession of every one of us. The fabrics of which we had been reading with wonder and admiration from our childhood, were before us; there were the Pyramids; but how diminutive!

Still, as we approached them, we watched to see whether they would not at last appear in that magnitude and grandeur which we had always connected with them; but it was all in vain. Each one indulged in some epithet of dissatisfaction, and even of contempt; and thus we reached the bottom of the eminence on which they stand. But when we had wound up its sides, and reached the piece of table land on which they are erected; when we checked our animals at the foot of the first of them, the Pyramid of Cheops, and looked up; there, they were again the Pyramids, and grander far than our fancy had ever pictured them. The effect, indeed, is almost overpowering. Their simplicity contributes to this as well as their vastness. There is nothing to break up and confuse the attention. The mind, without effort, embraces the whole object; one single idea occupies the attention; a single impression is made, but it is astounding; and we feel all the sublimity of the object, because by this single impression so great an effect is produced. We cast our eyes upward; we look again at ourselves, and we wonder that we are so diminutive; we who just now were passing sentence of condemnation, and looking with contempt on this mighty work! We sink into nothingness beside it, and wish to dismount and get yet lower, and from an humbler place yield it the deep homage that the mind willingly pays to greatness. “This is great, this is very grand,” was the language from the lips of many, and I believe from the hearts of all, as we passed along the base of these stupendous monuments.

There are three of them at this place, called, after their reputed founders, the Pyramids of Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus. They stand on a natural platform, or piece of table land, one hundred and fifty feet in height, projected from the adjoining range of mountains. That of Cheops is the largest, and has been repeatedly measured; but on account of the rubbish that has accumulated along the sides, it is difficult to do this correctly; and there is great discrepancy in the results.

English feet.Feet.
Herodotus makes its height 800, and length of each side 800.
Strabo 625,600.
Le Brun 616,704.
Thevenot 520,612.
Davison 461,746.
French Sçavans 470,704.

As the angles are exposed to view quite down to the foundation, there is less difficulty in ascertaining the number of layers, which is said to be two hundred and six; each layer being of smaller dimensions than the next lower. A series of steps is thus formed, each about thirty inches in height and twenty in width. The Pyramid of Cheops is truncated, terminating above in a platform of about twenty feet square; that of Cephrenes is continued up to a sharp point, and is coated from this about one fifth of the way down, with triangular blocks, so as to present, at this part, a perfectly smooth surface. It is supposed that the whole of this Pyramid was originally coated in this manner; and that it was covered with hieroglyphics. I ascended to the smooth portion of its surface, but could discover no traces of such inscriptions. The three Pyramids stand nearly in a straight line, running north and south, and face exactly the four cardinal points. Belzoni measured that of Cephrenes, and found it to be six hundred and eighty-four feet on each side at the base, and four hundred and fifty-six in height; that of Mycerinus is much smaller, and has been mutilated so as to be rather an unsightly object. They are composed chiefly of secondary limestone taken from the adjoining mountains. As the angles of the Pyramids have suffered from the weather, and probably also from human violence, and have thus been broken into smaller steps, we were able, without much difficulty, to ascend to the summit of that of Cheops. The natives, many of whom had been attracted from a neighboring village by the sight of strangers, when seen from this elevation appeared dwindled into the merest pigmies. A visit into the interior was a matter of greater difficulty. I had been over to examine the Pyramid of Cephrenes, and on returning to that of Cheops, found that the party had entered, carrying with them all the candles; so that I had to choose between remaining without or groping my way along in the dark. Taking a couple of Arabs, who professed to know the way, I clambered over a quantity of rubbish, rolled down from the upper portions of the Pyramid, and reaching to the entrance. This is on the northern side, about thirty feet above the base, and at an equal distance from each of the angles. We here entered a square passage, three and a half feet on each side; and inclining at an angle of 26°, which, it is worthy of remark, is the inclination of the entrance passage in each of the Pyramids yet explored. This passage was lined quite around with polished granite; and the descent would have been dangerous, but for rude steps or holes for the feet, cut in the lower flags in more modern times. This passage is about one hundred feet in length; and by the time we reached its extremity, daylight had quite deserted us. I found myself now in a place where I could stand upright; and after stumbling over some rocks, was brought to a stand by a rough wall, where the hand of violence had been at work, probably endeavoring to force a passage into some of the chambers. Here an Arab got before to drag, and another behind to push me, and by their good help I soon found myself swinging in mid air, in the blackness of darkness; but presently reached a ledge about eighteen inches wide, regularly formed, and ascending at the angle already noticed. Following this up, I at length began to hear voices, and soon after, to my great satisfaction, found myself in a lighted chamber, and once more among my companions. This was what is called the King’s chamber; a name given to it on account of a sarcophagus of red granite, seven feet six inches in length, and of proportionate width and depth, highly polished, but entirely plain. This apartment is thirty-seven feet long, seventeen wide, and about twenty in height; and is cased in every part with polished Egyptian granite.

Leaving this chamber, and returning part of the way, I found that the ledge on which I had ascended, had at its side a passage to another apartment lower down than the King’s chamber; this is seventeen feet long, fourteen wide, and twelve feet in height; and is also cased with polished granite. There are other chambers in this Pyramid, but of irregular shape; and it is uncertain whether they were part of the original design, or are accidental; a pit, descending, with several offsets, to a depth of one hundred and fifty-five feet, or to a level with the Nile, with which it probably had a communication, has also been explored. It is probable that there are several other passages not yet discovered, and among them one by which there was a subterranean entrance to the Pyramid, a passage, apparently of this character, having been recently discovered in the Pyramid of Cephrenes.

For what we know of the interior of this latter Pyramid, which stands within one hundred yards of that of Cheops, we are indebted to the most enterprising of all modern travellers, the patient and yet acute Belzoni. Herodotus had declared that there were no chambers in this Pyramid; and, except a few lazy efforts of the Sçavans of the French invading army, no attempt had been made to ascertain whether this writer was correct or not. The ambition of Belzoni having been fired by his success amid the monuments of Thebes, he determined to make an effort upon this Pyramid; and he began first by attempting to force a passage into the northern side. This still remains as when he abandoned it; and on examining it, I was struck with astonishment at the perseverance and determined resolution of the operator. He has cut a large passage (in many places nine or ten feet square), for a distance of one hundred feet, into the heart of the Pyramid; the whole being through a solid mass of stones, often of prodigious size. The danger, as well as the expense of this mode of operating, compelled him at length to abandon it; but his resolution was not to be overcome. He examined again the Pyramid of Cheops, and, after careful admeasurements, discovering that in this of Cephrenes, at a point corresponding exactly with the entrance into the former, the surface of the Pyramid was sunk a little, he commenced here anew, the native workmen looking on in wonder, and calling him magnoon, or fool. Having removed a quantity of rubbish and cut through the outer rocks, he at length found his toils rewarded; slabs of granite, like those lining the entrance into the other Pyramid, began to appear; and to his joy he found at length a similar passage open here before him. It is four feet in height, and three feet six inches in width. Having removed the rubbish which had fallen into it, he reached, at the bottom, a portcullis of stone, “which,” he says, “stared me in the face, and said ne plus ultra; putting an end to all my projects.” With great labor this was raised at length sufficiently to allow him to creep under; and “after thirty days,” he adds, “I had the pleasure of finding myself in the way to the central chamber of one of the two great Pyramids of Egypt, which have long been the admiration of beholders.” A passage cut out of the solid rock, brought him from this to the entrance of a large chamber.

“I walked,” he says, “slowly two or three paces, and then stood still to contemplate the place where I was. Whatever it might be, I certainly considered myself in the centre of that Pyramid, which, from time immemorial, had been the subject of obscure conjectures of many hundred travellers, both ancient and modern. My torch, formed of a few wax candles, gave but a glimmering light; I could, however, clearly distinguish the principal objects. I naturally turned my eyes to the west end of the chamber, looking for the sarcophagus, which I strongly expected to see in the same situation as that in the first Pyramid; but I was disappointed when I saw nothing there. The chamber has a pointed or sloping ceiling, and many of the stones had been removed from their places, evidently by some one in search of treasure. On my advancing towards the west end, I was agreeably surprised to find that there was a sarcophagus buried on a level with the floor.” A closer examination led him to the discovery of bones in this sarcophagus, which, on being sent to London, were pronounced to be those of a bull, or of that species of animal; a fact which strengthens the opinion that the Pyramids were erected by the Egyptians, not for the burial of their kings, but for religious purposes. The enterprising traveller, however, found that he was not the first that had penetrated these mysterious recesses. The covering of the sarcophagus had been partly removed; and on going further, he discovered both Roman and Arabic inscriptions; the latter stating that “the Master Mohammed Achmed had opened them.” This chamber is hewn out of the solid rock, and is forty-six by sixteen feet at the sides, and twenty-three feet six inches in height. He discovered some other chambers, and numerous passages, together with a well, as in the other Pyramid.

Adjoining the Pyramid of Cephrenes on the south, are the ruins of a large enclosure, formed of huge stones; while on the north and west are scattered a great number of tombs, of heavy and solemn architecture, forming entire streets. In these the stones are also large; they had flat roofs, above which rose a parapet with heavy mouldings; some are in good preservation, but most have suffered greatly from the hand of time, or, more probably, of human violence; the roofs having fallen in, and the sands of the desert having entered and filled them up. Their inner walls are covered with stucco, on which are painted numerous figures of men and beasts, in procession or engaged in religious sacrifices, or in agriculture. We opened a passage into one of them, and were glad to find in it a refuge from the fierce sun, which now seemed to be shedding fire upon us and upon the glowing sands all around. The tomb consisted of three chambers—two in good preservation, and one uncovered; all of them ornamented in the manner just described; it was large enough for all our party, except the Arabs, who seemed to care little for the sun. Our hampers being dragged in, we enjoyed here a comfortable meal; after which, retiring to the outer chamber and making a pillow of the sand, I gazed on the dim figures traced on the wall, and indulged in antiquarian reveries.

CHAPTER VIII.

Some interesting facts in our own country in connexion with these Pyramids. Pyramids of Micocatl in Mexico, and of Quanhuahuac and Cholula. Their history. Notices of a deluge, and confusion of languages, in the picture writing of Mexico. Pyramids in the Polynesian islands. “High Places” of Scripture. Temple of Belus. Universality of this kind of structure explained. Our western mounds. View from the Pyramids of Ghizeh. The Sphinx. Visit to the plain of Memphis, and the Military and Naval School at Toura.

We are stretched on the sand in a tomb at Ghizeh, gazing on the solemn and dreamy figures every where painted on its walls. They carry our thoughts back to the ancient days, and a spirit of musing steals gently over us. What is the origin of the Pyramids? Nay, start not, kind reader, for I am not going to enter into a disquisition on this worn-out subject, or to rake up old theories, but to mention a few circumstances connecting it with our own country, which have always appeared to me to be extremely interesting, and which do not seem to have received the attention that they deserve. It would be somewhat strange if the obscurity which has hung over these monuments from the earliest times should be cleared away by discoveries in this new country of ours.

About twenty-four miles east of the city of Mexico, in a plain, called by the aborigines, Micocatl, or the Path of the Dead, are two Pyramids, one 180, the other 144 feet in height, the former being 676 feet on each side, at the base. They are constructed of clay mixed with small stones, which was encrusted on the outside with a thick coating of porous amygdaloid. They presented four stories or platforms, each considerably narrower than the one next below; and on the top were originally two colossal statues of stone, covered with plates of gold, designed to represent the sun and moon. They are surrounded by several borders of smaller pyramids, about thirty feet in height, forming streets, which run exactly in the direction of the four cardinal points.

Eastward from these, as we descend the Cordilleras, towards the gulf of Mexico, is the Pyramid of Papantla. It had seven stories, and was higher in proportion to its width than any other in the country, being 59 feet in elevation, and 82 feet on each side at the base. It was built entirely of hewn stones, of extraordinary size, regularly shaped and neatly fitted together. It had three staircases, each leading to the summit; and the stairs were ornamented with hieroglyphics, and small niches symmetrically arranged.

South-eastward from the ancient city of Quanhuahuac, on the western declivity of the Cordillera of Anahuac, rises an isolated mass of rock, 358 feet in height, shaped by human labor into a regular conic form. It has five stories or terraces, the sides of which incline inward as they ascend, each being covered above with masonry; the uppermost of these is 236 feet from north to south, and 315 from east to west; and is encircled by a wall of hewn stone six feet and a half in height. The base of the hill is also surrounded by a deep and very wide ditch, whose outer circumference measures nearly two miles and a half. In the centre of the upper natural platform was a Pyramid of five stories, of which only one now remains. It faces exactly the four cardinal points, and is on one side 67, and on the other 57 feet in extent. The stones of which it is composed are regular in shape, fitted neatly together, and are covered with hieroglyphics, each figure occupying several stones; among them we discovered heads of crocodiles spouting water, and men sitting cross legged, as is the custom in Eastern nations.

But the greatest, and perhaps the most ancient of the Pyramids of this country, is one on the plain of Cholula, which is separated from the valley of Mexico by a chain of volcanic mountains, extending from Popocatepetl towards Rio Frio and the peak of Telapor. This Pyramid was also so constructed as to face exactly the four cardinal points, and had a base of 1449 feet on each side; it rose by four terraces, and had an elevation of 164 feet. It was built of unbaked bricks, three inches thick by fifteen in length, alternating with layers of clay. In some places it has been penetrated, and chambers have been laid open, in one of which were found two skeletons, idols of basalt, and a great variety of vases, polished and varnished. On the summit of this Pyramid was an altar dedicated to Quatzee, the god of the air.

These Pyramids of Mexico were in existence when this region was conquered by the Aztecks, in the year 1190 of our era; and were attributed by the conquerors to their predecessors, the Toltecks, a powerful and highly civilized nation, who had obtained possession of the country about the year A.D. 648. But whether they were not built by another people long anterior to the Toltecks, it is now impossible to say, though it appears probable that they were.

Of the origin of the last of these Pyramids there is preserved, in the Mexican picture writing,[3] a clear and distinct account, which appears to throw light, not only on the Pyramids of Mexico, but on those of Egypt, and on the Pyramidal form so common among the temples of Hindostan.[4] It is as follows: “Before the great inundation, which took place 4800 years after the creation of the world, the country of Anahuac[5] was inhabited by giants. All those who did not perish, were transformed into fishes, save seven,[6] who fled into caverns. When the waters had subsided, one of these giants, Xalhua, surnamed the builder, went to Chohollan, where, as a memorial of the mountain Haloc, which had served for an asylum for himself and his six brethren, he built an artificial hill in form of a Pyramid. He ordered bricks to be made in the provinces of Tlamanalco, at the foot of the mountain range of Cocotl; and to convey them to Cholula, he placed a file of men, who passed them from hand to hand. The gods beheld with wrath this edifice, the top of which was to reach the clouds. Irritated at the daring attempt of Xalhua, they hurled fire on the Pyramid. Numbers of the workmen perished; the work was discontinued, and the monument was afterwards dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the god of the air.”[7]

To this Humboldt adds, “Of the different nations that inhabited Mexico, (at the time of the conquest,) paintings representing the deluge of Coxcox are found among the Aztecks, the Miztecks, the Zapotecks, the Tlascalans, and the Mechoacanese. The Noah, Xisuthrus or Menou of these nations is called Coxcox, Teo-Cipactli, or Tezpi. He saved himself conjointly with his wife Xochiquetzal in a bark; or, according to other traditions, on a raft of ahue huete (cupressus disticha.) The painting represents Coxcox in the midst of the water, lying in a bark. The mountain, the summit of which, crowned by a tree, rises above the waters, is the peak of Colhuacan,[8] the Ararat of the Mexicans. The horn which is represented on the left, is the phonetic hieroglyphic of Colhuacan. At the foot of the mountain appear the heads of Coxcox and his wife. The latter of these is known by the two tresses in the form of horns, which, as we have observed, denote the female sex. The men born after the deluge were dumb; a dove from the top of a tree distributes among them tongues, represented under the form of small commas. We must not confound this dove with the bird which brings Coxcox tidings that the waters were dried up. The people of Machoacan preserved a tradition, according to which, Coxcox, whom they call Tezpi, embarked in a spacious acalli with his wife, his children, several animals, and grain, the preservation of which was of importance to mankind. When the Great Spirit, Tetcatlipoca, ordered the waters to withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his bark a vulture, the Zohilote (vultur aura). This bird, which feeds on dead flesh, did not return on account of the great number of carcasses with which the earth, recently dried up, was strewed. Tezpi sent out other birds, one of which, the hummingbird, alone returned, holding in his beak a branch covered with leaves. Tezpi, seeing that fresh verdure began to clothe the soil, quitted his bark near the fountain of Colhuacan.... The tongues which the dove distributed to the nations of America, being infinitely varied, these nations disperse; and fifteen heads of families only, who spoke the same tongue, and from whom the Toltecks, the Aztecks, and the Acolhuans descended, unite, and arrive at Aztlan.” Ib. II. p. 63.

“The group, No. 2,[9] represents the celebrated Serpent Woman, Cihuacohuatl, called also Quiliztli or Tonacacihua, woman of our flesh; she is the companion of Tonacateuctli. The Mexicans considered her as the mother of the human race; and after the god of the Celestial Paradise, Ometeuctli, she held the first rank among the divinities of Anahuac. We see her always represented with a great serpent. Other paintings exhibit to us a feather-headed snake, cut in pieces by the great spirit Tercatlipoca, or by the sun personified, the god Tonatiuh....

“Behind the serpent, who appears to be speaking to the goddess Cihuacohuatl, are two naked figures; they are of a different color, and seem to be in the attitude of contending with each other. We might be led to suppose that the two vases, which we see at the bottom of the picture, one of which is overturned, is the cause of this contention. The Serpent woman was considered in Mexico as the mother of two twin children; these naked figures are perhaps the children of Cihuacohuatl; they remind us of the Cain and Abel of the Hebrew tradition.” Ib. I. p. 195.

Pyramidal structures are also found scattered over the islands of the Pacific. “The natural temples (in the Polynesian islands) consisted of a number of distinct Maraes, altars, and sacred dormitories, appropriated to the chief pagan divinities, and included in one large stone enclosure of considerable extent. Several of the distinct temples contained smaller inner-courts, within which the gods were kept. The form of the interior or area of the temples was frequently that of a square or a parallelogram, the sides of which extended forty or fifty feet. Two sides of this were enclosed by a high stone wall; the front was protected by a low fence; and opposite, a solid Pyramidal structure was raised, in front of which the images were kept, and the altars fixed. These piles were often immense. That which formed one side of the square of the large temple in Atehura, according to Mr. Wilson, by whom it was visited when in a state of preservation, was 270 feet long, 94 feet wide at the base, and 50 feet high; being at the summit 180 feet long and 6 wide. A flight of steps led to its summit; the bottom step was six feet high. The outer stories of the Pyramid, composed of coral and basalt, were laid with great care, and hewn or squared with immense labor, especially the trava, or corner stones.” Ellis’s Polynesian Researches, vol. I. p. 339, 340.

“The most remarkable objects in Easter Island, are its monuments of stone-work and sculpture, which, though rude and imperfect, are superior to any found among the more numerous and civilized tribes of the South Sea islands. These monuments consist of a number of terraces or platforms, built with stairs, cut and fixed with great exactness and skill, forming, though destitute of cement, a strong durable pile. On these terraces are fixed colossal statues or busts.”[10] Ib. vol. III. p. 325.

Last among the Pyramids that I will notice here, though the first in date, is the celebrated tower of Babel, or, as it was afterwards called, the temple of Belus. This temple was square, measuring at its base 660 feet on each side; and consisted of eight successive layers or towers, formed of huge unburnt bricks, each layer 75 feet high, and each smaller than the next below. It was thus altogether 600 in height, and had on the summit a chapel for the golden statue of their god. According to Diodorus Siculus, the gold of this statue, and the decorations of the temple, were equal in value to [ten] millions of dollars; while the worth of the utensils employed, and the treasure deposited here, amounted to an equal sum.

We have thus, throughout Hindoostan, on the banks of the Euphrates, through Egypt, in the remote region of Mexico, and among the Pacific islands, structures in shape exactly alike, and often of stupendous magnitude. For an effect so general we must find a cause as extensive, and it must be one operating with powerful effect. It appears to me that we are supplied with this in the hints given by the picture writing of Mexico.

After the confusion of languages at the tower of Babel, the stricken and confounded families of the plain of Shinar, as they were gradually scattered over different, and often far distant regions, carried with them, each, not only a deep impression of the event, but also a feeling of awe connected with the edifice where had been such a wonderful display of supernatural power. And they afterwards adopted this structure, as the model for temples for the worship of the mysterious divinities that their superstitious fears gradually wrought out for them, the god of fire, the god of the sun, or the god of the palpable but invisible air.

We have here a [case] sufficiently extensive in its operation, and also sufficiently powerful. When looking at the huge structures in Egypt, I can hardly imagine any other cause than that of religion to be able to produce such a stupendous effect.

Only one of the Pyramids of Ghizeh is truncated, or adapted for a chapel on its summit; that of Cephrenes might have had its altar in the huge stone enclosure already noticed as directly adjoining it on the east; but it is probable that in this land of mystery, the solemnities, whatever they were, were performed chiefly in the hidden chambers of the Pyramids, to which the priests had access by subterranean passages.

The idea that they were places for worship, is perhaps strengthened by the presence of the colossal Sphinx, which lies about two hundred yards east from them, and on the side of the eminence on which they stand. Avenues of sphinxes leading to their temples were common in the ancient Egyptian cities; and in Memphis, if my memory is correct, was one of great extent, formed by colossal sphinxes, which have all disappeared. May we not suppose that this, which now stands alone, was, or was intended to be,[11] one of a great number, forming a most imposing avenue, leading upward from the plain to these stupendous temples? Its face is towards the east, and it adjoins what was evidently the ancient way of ascent to the Pyramids.

The dimensions of this Sphinx, as given by Pococke, are, height of the head and neck, twenty-seven feet; breast, thirty-three feet wide; whole length of the figure, one hundred and thirty feet. Pliny states its height to be equal to sixty-three English feet. It is now covered with sand, except the head and shoulders. Some years since the whole figure was laid bare by the persevering efforts of Mr. Caviglia; but the light sands of the desert speedily resumed their place, and have left no traces of his labors.

In conclusion, I would throw out the query, (and it is only a query,) whether the mounds in our western country, which are often of prodigious size, had not the same origin and a similar purpose, the circular form being only a slight change in consequence of the material here employed. The Pyramid of Quanhuahuac, in Mexico, was built on a hill wrought into shape of a cone; and at Ruapua, in Hawaii, (or Owhyhee,) Mr. Ellis visited a heiau, or open temple, in which “the place where the altar had been erected could be distinctly traced; it was a mound of earth, paved with smooth stones, and surrounded by a firm curb of lava.” Polyne. Researches, v. iv., 116.

But up! up! and let us get out once more into the pure and open air. The fiery sun is throwing his rays slantingly, and the Pyramids are casting long shadows across the plain; and, though over yon sandy mountains and the panting deserts beyond, the sky is still in a glow, the fury of the heat is past. Turn here to the eastward. In this clear and pure atmosphere, how distinct are distant objects. From our elevated ground we trace the courses of the numerous canals, intersecting the wide plain beneath; yonder is Cairo, a white house here and there giving a mottled appearance to the reddish mass of edifices; there goes the silvery river, in gentle and graceful curves; and here, on our left, stretches off towards it a low ridge or causeway, supposed by some to have been made for transporting stone for the Pyramids from the river, but which was more probably formed when this region was robbed to supply Cairo with building materials.[12]

How calm now and quiet is all this scene; but over this plain only a few years ago swept the wild and destructive hurricane of war. There, a few miles from where we stand, advanced the legions of France, led by him who was himself a host; and there wheeled the squadrons of the fierce Mamelukes; and here both rushed on to the bloody encounter. What spot on earth is there that man has not marked with deeds of violence, or from which the voice of his brother’s blood, shed by him, hath not cried to heaven from the ground?

Looking southward from our present position, the Pyramids of Sakhara were striking objects in the plain of Memphis, distant seven or eight miles. They are on the level plain, and are, I think, six in number, but are small compared with those of Ghizeh. One of them was remarkable, even at this distance, for the ruggedness of its outline; the successive layers of stones in this receding very much, and making it resemble considerably the Pyramids of Mexico.

Towards evening the party, once more resuming their various means of conveyance, proceeded on by the Pyramids of Sakhara; and on the plains of Memphis found, through the foresight of Mr. Gliddon, a comfortable supper and commodious tents prepared for them. This plain is covered with ruins, often of great size, but too unsatisfactory at the present time to detain a traveller long; and the company embarked at an early hour on the following day on board Mr. Gliddon’s boat.

On the right bank of the Nile, about seven miles from Cairo, is the military and naval school of Toura, an admirably conducted institution, under the superintendence of a Spanish gentleman, General Seguira. He was a high officer in the constitutional government of Spain, and having been exiled in consequence, has been protected by Mohammed Ali, who had sense enough to see and appreciate his merit. He has his family with him at Cairo, holds the rank of Bey, and receives the liberal salary of $11,000 per annum. The college edifice consists of a quadrangle, inclosing a court planted with shade trees for the recreation of the pupils. Each lad has for himself an iron bedstead, mattress, &c., a bureau, secretary, and a chair. The sleeping rooms are large enough to accommodate thirty-seven of them in each, together with a teacher; in the school-room they have also every comfort, and a hospital is also provided for the sick.

The party landing here, were received with great politeness by Gen. Seguira, who, after conducting them through the buildings, and calling on the lads to exhibit their proficiency in geometry, trigonometry, and drawing, ordered those destined to be artillerists to bring their cannon on the ground for practice. The young cadets (about twelve or fourteen years of age) wheeled their guns to the spot, and went through a variety of evolutions with great rapidity, firing at the targets with admirable success. Their improvement in the school for drawing is also wonderful, if we consider the short time which they have been able to allot to this branch. The young naval heroes did not appear to be so well trained; there are two armed brigs anchored in the river opposite the school, on board of which they [are] examined in loosing and furling sails, lowering yards, splicing and knotting, unmooring and mooring, and in practising the guns; but the evolutions which they attempted on this occasion, were pronounced by our tars to be sufficiently awkward. We had, however, frequent opportunity of seeing the Pasha’s ships manoeuvring at sea, and saw no occasion for finding fault. The school at Toura contains about four hundred lads, and considering the short time which it has been in operation, reflects great credit, both on the Pasha, and its polite superintendent Gen. Seguira.

CHAPTER IX.

Rest on the Sabbath. Visit to the Pasha’s summer residence at Shubra. Exceeding beauty of the ground. Lake, and sports of the Pasha. Pic-nic in one of the Kiosks. Pear tree from the Pasha’s place of nativity. Brief history of Mohammed Ali. Departure from Cairo. Regret at parting with Mr. Gliddon.

Sunday, 27th, was a day of rest, which our previous severe exercise made unusually refreshing. In the afternoon Gen. Seguira and family, Mr. Taylor, an English gentleman, and his lady, and the French consul, called to pay their respects to the Commodore and family.

The next morning our baggage was again transferred to the boats, which were sent down the river with orders to wait for us at the palace of Shubra; and towards noon, mounting our gallant steeds for the last time, we wheeled out into the avenue leading to that magnificent summer residence of the Pasha. Our company was augmented by Mrs. Seguira, her two daughters and son, who had accepted an invitation to a pic-nic, by which the day, and with it, our visit to Cairo, was to be concluded. The members of this family all speak English fluently, and we found them a delightful acquisition to our party.

The gardens at Shubra are under the care of a native horticulturist, who had been sent by the Pasha to France, and had spent six years on an experimental farm near Marseilles. He received us politely at the gate, and ushering us in, we found ourselves in a scene more like the creation of a wild and luxurious fancy, revelling in joyous freedom and without restraint, than a thing of real life. The first walk into which we turned was lined thickly on either side with oleanders in full bloom, mingled with roses and jessamine; they grew to the height of ten or twelve feet, and bending over the path, suspended over us a canopy of flowers, from which the richest odors were distilled. The vista was terminated by some striking and beautiful object, which I do not recollect, for the mind was too intoxicated to make careful observations, and I desired to look and drink in the rich pleasure rather than to note. The grounds, we were informed, contain one hundred and fifty acres; we rambled over a portion of them, and found every where something to admire. By and by our course was arrested by a lake embowered amid lofty and spreading trees; it is of a quadrangular form, and is surrounded by an arcade of marble, at each angle of which is a kiosk or summer-house richly furnished. In the middle of each of the four sides is a portico, formed of Italian marbles; and here, as well as in the kiosks, are marble figures spouting out water, which is carried around in marble troughs, and made to descend by cascades into the lake. In the centre is an island with a marble edifice, to which is an ascent by a flight of steps of the same material. It is apparently supported by four crocodiles in marble, also spouting water. The [water] is about four feet in depth, and is also paved below with marble. This is a favorite resort of the Pasha, and we saw a boat in which it is said he sometimes carries out his wives; when well off from the shore, he upsets the boat, and amuses himself with seeing them flounder in the water. At the time of our visit the place was undergoing some improvements.

There is also a menagerie in the gardens, but the most valuable animals had just been given away, and at this time it did not contain any thing very remarkable. The palace itself, into which we were admitted, and where we were shown over the ladies’ apartments, is richly furnished, but not equal to the one in the citadel.

After rambling about till our curiosity was satisfied, we retired to a large kiosk, whose soft ottomans invited to repose; and our hampers of claret and champagne having been brought in, the corks were made to fly in the very penetralia of the Moslem Pasha; nor were his officers loth to pledge their impudent guests. To our feast the superintendent of the grounds added an abundance of choice fruit from the gardens. The Misses Seguiras had brought their guitars, and music was also made to lend its charms; they sing sweetly, and accompanied the instruments in some of the airs of their distant father-land.

This name of father-land reminds us of a tree which we passed at the early part of our saunterings through this garden. We had come to a spot where a covered walk, bordered by flowers, suddenly expands into a little open area, paved with pebbles from Rhodes, which, being of different colors, are arranged so as to form a tasteful mosaic work. In the centre is a kind of canopied throne, and the whole spot bears the marks of unusual attention. The superintendent directed our attention to a pear tree growing at one side of the opening; it was slender, but healthful looking, and bearing fruit. “That tree,” he said, “was brought by his excellency the Pasha from his native town, and was planted here by his own hand, and he seems to take particular care in nourishing it.”

The fact discloses to us a vein of sentiment in that extraordinary man which we should scarcely have expected to exist. He is said, however, to be very kind in his domestic relations. His eldest children have all been carried off by disease, or (as in the case of Youssoun) by violence; those still living, three in number, are quite young, and he often amuses himself in playing with them in this garden.

Mohammed Ali is a native of Cavalla, a small town in Albanie, and owes his present exalted station entirely to his own intrepidity. He began his public career as a subordinate collector of taxes in his native district; and, on one occasion, having distinguished himself in putting down some refractory inhabitants who had refused to pay their part of the contributions, was rewarded by the governor of the place with a rich wife and the rank of Boulouk Bashi. Soon after this he became a dealer in tobacco, without however forgetting his profession of arms; he was successful in trade, but in a short time the invasion of Egypt by the French, called his talents into a higher sphere of operation. He was raised to the rank of Bimbashi or captain, and sent to Egypt with 300 men, the quota of soldiers furnished by Cavalla on this occasion. His bravery in this country soon drew the attention of his superior officers, and led to his advancement to higher rank; and at length, after the massacre of the Mamelukes by the Turkish admiral at Aboukir, as already noticed, Mohammed Ali was placed in command of one division of the forces destined to march against the remainder in Upper Egypt, and effect their extermination. The Mamelukes, however, fought with desperation, and their enemies were defeated; and Yousef Bey, who had the supreme command in this expedition, in order to shield himself from trouble, charged Mohammed Ali with treachery. The latter was near losing his head; but he managed affairs with skill, and gained a kingdom. The army had been badly paid, and was disaffected towards their rulers; he had ingratiated himself with the soldiers, and seizing the occasion, he first rid himself of the Turkish viceroy, and then of the leading Mameluke Beys, and soon after was entreated by the army to save Egypt from destruction by becoming himself the chief representative of the Porte. He yielded of course, and the Sultan being compelled to yield also, appointed him, though sorely against his will, the Viceroy of Egypt. I have related the manner in which he soon after exterminated the Mamelukes, and the reader is himself aware how he has since made himself, in effect, entirely independent of the Porte.

Our friends were compelled to leave us in time to get back to the city before sunset, when the gates are closed; and bidding them a reluctant farewell, we ourselves moved down to the river, and took once more possession of our boats, which were there awaiting us. Mr. Gliddon, we found, had lent his own comfortable boat for the use of the Commodore and his family.

So adieu to Cairo! Our attendants had been rewarded with “beckshishes,” or presents, in return for their own services, and for the use of the horses; the Cavasses and Chaouishes had been paid; the city, I believe, was at peace with us, and we had received much pleasure in it; and now, stepping from the gardens into our boats, we began to drop down the stream, Mr. Gliddon and Mr. Trail were kind enough to accompany us as far as the Barage, where we came to for the night, and where, in the morning, they went with us to examine this stupendous undertaking. To both of these gentlemen we owe many thanks, and to the former in particular, though far off, we all bear grateful hearts. “Two weeks’ residence in the same house,” (I take the liberty of copying from the Commodore’s private journal,) “and constant communication, with his amenity of manners, and his devotion to our comforts, and to render our visit pleasant, had greatly attached all to him; he planned our excursions, and took the trouble to provide the means to enable us to effect them; and to him we are indebted for having obtained views of every thing in and about Cairo worthy of attention. We shall never forget the very happy time we passed at Cairo under his hospitable roof. It was therefore with the deepest regret that we bid him adieu, and saw him leap to the shore, amid three hearty cheers from us all. May he prosper in all his undertakings, and be happy!”

CHAPTER X.

Return to Alexandria. Ruins about that city. Pompey’s pillar. Cleopatra’s needles. Modern improvements in Alexandria. Arsenal. Harbor of Alexandria. Rail road to Suez. New law for protecting his subjects. Presentation to the Pasha. Description of his person.

Our return to Atf occupied four days, one day more than our voyage up the stream; as the wind still blew strong from the northward during the day, our progress was chiefly during the night, when we took advantage of the lull, and dropped down with the current.

On our reaching Alexandria, an officer of the Pasha waited on Commodore Patterson, to offer him the use of one of his palaces, a large airy building on the edge of the harbor, and enjoying the sea-breeze during most of the day. The Pasha himself had returned from Syria, and on application for an audience, the morning of the 5th of August was appointed for this purpose. The interval was spent in making and returning visits of ceremony, in inspecting the arsenal, and in examining the ruins about Alexandria. Of the latter there is the greatest abundance, extending for miles from the present city; but in most places presenting only a confused mass, which can give little satisfaction to the visitor. The Catacombs are a succession of chambers extending to an unknown distance, and dangerous to visit, on account of the facility with which a person may be lost in their labyrinths. Pompey’s Pillar, a Corinthian column, 9 feet in diameter, and of 90 feet elevation, to which is added a capital of ten feet in height, stands on a low eminence about two miles back of the present city; a dedicatory inscription to the Emperor Dioclesian is to be seen on the pedestal, but it is difficult to say by whom the column was erected.

In an angle of the present city walls, on the eastern side, are the two obelisks which usually go under the name of Cleopatra’s Needles. They were probably brought from Heliopolis or Thebes, to adorn an ancient gateway, or the entrance to a temple. They are eight feet on each side at the base, and are 64 feet in length; are of red granite, and covered with hieroglyphics. One is prostrate and broken; but the other is still erect, and is in good preservation.

The modern city of Alexandria is more an European than a Turkish or Arab city; it is full of Franks, and a large portion of it is laid out after the European fashion; this is particularly the case with an open square, around which they have just finished some large edifices in the Grecian or Roman style of architecture. I cannot say that I consider this imitation of European cities in Eastern countries a great improvement. About a mile and a half from the city is a garden belonging to Ibrahim Pasha, but open to the public; it is irrigated by water raised from the canal, and is full of thriving fruit or shade trees, under which is found a delightful retreat from the scorching sun.

While these improvements of a civil nature were going on in and about the city, the arsenals exhibited a very active scene. They were then forming a dry dock, and so deficient were they in tools, that the materials excavated were passed up and thrown out by hand; the number of the workmen, however, making amends for the want of instruments. They expected to complete it in two years, when they would immediately commence two others; the stone for them has all to be brought from Cairo. There were five building ways complete, and two in progress; on the stocks were three ships of 100 guns each, ready for planking; and the day after our arrival the keel of a sixty gun frigate was laid with religious ceremonies; the Pasha himself, and his officers of state, attending on the occasion. The timber is brought from Syria, where they procure both oak and pine in the greatest quantities, and of an excellent quality. Their ships are even more wall-sided than our own; but in all other respects they follow the French style of building; and according to a fashion now beginning to prevail in the navy of that country, keep all the decks for cannons clear of staterooms and other encumbrances; the whole battery being quite clear, fore and aft, and at all times ready for action. The officers’ rooms are all placed on the orlop, which is well supplied with air-ports. Their largest ship carried 138 guns, and was constructed to meet one belonging to the Sultan, and carrying 144. Owing to a difficulty in getting her out of the harbor, they were, at the time of our visit, reducing her to one deck less. The harbor of Alexandria is spacious and of sufficient depth, but the entrance is winding and difficult, and the channel is obstructed with knowls of rock, over which there is but four fathoms’ water. The Pasha had sent to England for steam machinery for breaking down these rocks, and as they are of sand-stone, he will probably succeed. In the arsenal are rope-walks, two stories in height, and large ranges of store-houses well supplied. The whole establishment exhibited a neatness, and order, and efficiency, that greatly pleased our officers. The seamen receive, first class $2, and the second class 1.50 per month, together with clothing and a ration. The officers are well paid, and on receiving their commission, receive with it an anchor, together with one, two, or three stars, made of diamonds, the number being according to their rank; these, worn on the breast, constitute their only distinctive uniform. The admiral, rear-admiral, and all officers of a lower grade, are natives; the vice-admiral is a Frenchman, and so also is the chief naval constructor.

However strongly we must condemn the iron despotism of the Pasha of Egypt as regards his subjects, in all public improvements there is very much that we may approve. In addition to the schools at Toura, and in the citadel, each of four hundred lads supported at the public expense, there is one also at Castleaine, in Old Cairo, kept in a large palace, and containing 1000; another at Boulec containing 600; and another is to be got up in the same place, to contain also 1000; all of which are at the expense of the government. At Boulec is also a surgical and medical school, under the care of a German of great ability. In addition to the public improvements which I have noticed, it is in contemplation to construct a railway from Cairo to Suez, the route for which has already been surveyed. The day before we sailed, the Pasha directed his chief engineer, Mr. Galloway, to proceed to England, and make contracts for iron rails, cars, engines, &c.; the estimated expense of the whole work was 806,400 dollars; he intends, by and by, to extend this rail road to Alexandria.

With regard to his subjects, he has made an excellent law, by which no one is allowed to be punished capitally without his permission. A short time before our visit, a man of wealth, and high in rank, having put one of his slaves to death, was sent for, and ordered forthwith into the presence of the Pasha. The fact was admitted, but he pleaded that the man had been his own slave, and that therefore he had felt at liberty to do with him as he might choose. “No,” was the reply from the Pasha; “though he was your slave, he was still my subject;” and to make the case an impressive one, he ordered the master himself immediately to be led to execution. There is a doubt, however, whether his object, in this instance, was so much to protect “his subjects,” as to rid himself of a citizen who had several times given him some trouble, and whose wealth he coveted; the property of criminals, capitally punished in this country, always falling into the hands of the sovereign.

The city of Alexandria stands on a piece of land resembling the letter T, with a harbor on each side; and on the strip or point running westward, stands the palace of the Pasha. On the morning of the 5th, the Commodore, Captain Nicolson, and as many of the officers as could be spared from duty, took boats, and landed at a flight of stairs leading up to the inner court.

The building, in which is the audience hall, is large, but has nothing striking in its exterior; and the hall itself is in a style of plainness that seems to show a mind overlooking all artificial helps to greatness.

The Pasha was seated at one angle, and on our entering, put the Commodore at his left hand, which in these countries is the seat of honor; he received us sitting, but stood up when the Commodore rose to leave the room, which, I believe, is an unusual compliment. After the compliments usual on such occasions, coffee and sherbet were brought in by the attendants, but pipes were omitted. I was informed that, on the occasion of the recent introduction of an English traveller, some difficulty had arisen on this score; if I recollect right, the gentleman had declined the pipe, which was considered by the Pasha as an insult. At all events, since that time pipes have always been dispensed with at his interviews with foreigners.

The Commodore thanked him for the numerous instances of hospitality and kindness which we had experienced, and spoke in terms of admiration of his various improvements, to all which he made suitable answers; and expressing himself also in terms of strong friendship for our country, and hinting a desire for more intimate relations. He showed considerable knowledge of our institutions, and put many pertinent questions with regard to the productions of the country, our modes of cultivation, &c.; and expressed great surprise when the Commodore stated the size to which the coffee tree grows in the West Indies, it being in Egypt and Arabia only a shrub, which must be renewed every five or six years.

Mohammed Ali is about 60 or 65 years of age, about five feet eight inches in height, and heavy; though he can scarcely be called corpulent. His forehead is large and rough; the eyes gray and small, with a deep wrinkle running upward from the outer angle; they are very keen and restless; and I believe there was not one of our large party upon whom they were not repeatedly fixed during this interview. He converses with earnestness, and laughs frequently, but his laugh is discordant and unnatural. The nose is aquiline, the mouth depressed at the corners, and garnished with a superb silvery beard. The expression of his face when he smiles is rather pleasant; but at other times a person in his presence feels as he would do near an open barrel of gunpowder, with a shower of red-hot cinders falling around him.

SYRIA.

SYRIA.

CHAPTER XI.

First view of the coast of Judea. Anxieties as we approached. State of the Country. Recent Rebellion. Investment of Jerusalem. Character of the Natives. Earthquakes. Taking of the City. English and American Missionaries. Death of Mrs. Thompson. Defeat of Ibrahim Pasha. Re-capture of the City. Conscription. Strange conduct of our Consul at Jaffa. He is dismissed from Office. Jaffa. Large clusters of Grapes. Eastern Story-tellers. Gardens and Watermelons of Jaffa. The Cactus.

We left the coast of Egypt on the 10th of August. Early on the morning of the 12th we had the pleasure of seeing the hills of Palestine emerging from the waters. What a thrill was occasioned by the sight!

The birth-place of a wide-spread and wonderful religion—the land of a thousand miracles—the original home of a people now spread every where, and every where a miracle; and every where, from Lapland to India, still yearning towards their father-land—the mountains, the plains of Judea were before us. In our earliest infancy we had tried to picture them—they were mingled with the deepest and warmest feelings of our maturer years; in imagination how often had we wandered over the hallowed ground, and here before us was now the reality itself.

A stretch of low and whitish coast gradually developed itself; and beyond this, at the distance of several miles, rose a chain of hills, as our glasses informed us, under pretty good cultivation, and sprinkled with villages. By and by the sun was reflected from a mass of white houses on the shore, encircled with walls and towers; this was Jaffa—the Joppa of the Scriptures, and the ancient as well as the present seaport of Jerusalem. I believe I may say there was a very strong sensation excited universally throughout the ship by the scene before us; for the religion of Judea had at least been that of our childhood, and there was probably scarcely an individual among us, in whose mind it was not connected with the tenderness of a good parent, or the kindness of some early friend still dear to our memory.

Our noble ship glided on, and began to approach the coast. She was the first American vessel that had ever entered these waters; and in her joyous motion, as she pushed the ripples aside, and threw back the morning rays from a cloud of canvass, we could almost imagine a participation in the feelings of her inmates. The stripes and stars were presently replied to by a similar ensign over the house of our consul at Jaffa; and the other consuls following suite, there was presently a display of nearly all the European flags in that ancient city.

The city of Jaffa is built on the side of a hill that rises immediately from the water’s edge; the houses are white, rising tier above tier; many are covered with whitewashed domes; and the white being now relieved by the consular flags, it had quite a pleasing appearance; its walls and towers, and a castle at the upper extremity, gave it also a show of strength; and had we found time for it, this proud array of pennon and battlement, assisted as it was by an encampment of soldiers in the neighborhood, might easily have carried the mind back to the days of chivalry and romance.

But we were occupied chiefly with ourselves; for with our pleasure at seeing the Holy Land was mingled an apprehension that, after all, we should not be permitted to set foot on shore. At Alexandria we had dire accounts of earthquake and war; and, what alarmed us more, of the plague; for although not one of us but would have been willing to meet this disease in his own individual case for the sake of seeing Jerusalem, yet the risk of introducing it into the ship was not to be thought of, and we knew that if there was any danger of this, the commodore would at once decide to have no communication. With these anxieties we approached the coast; and as the ship speeds onward, it may be well to state to the reader what was the state of Palestine at this time.

The ever-restless Pasha of Egypt had, about two years previous, without any warning to his master the Sultan, marched a large army into the country; and, on pretence of settling some difficulties among the natives, had seized on its strong places; after which he set the Turkish power at defiance. The Egyptian soldiers are almost universally men of light, but active and well-knit frames; and are capable of enduring fatigue, and fitted for any kind of warfare. The restlessness of their sovereign keeps them also in a state of constant activity; and many of them, though young, are already veterans in the field. The Turkish soldiers, on the other hand, are unused to motion—are mostly without experience, and lack confidence both in themselves and in their new system, which they but imperfectly understand. They have no particular attachment to their officers; while the Egyptians, though at first disliking military service, are said in a short time to become so fond of it, as to have and to desire no other home than their tent; they feel also, universally, a strong attachment both to Ibrahim Pasha and to Mahomet Ali.

We may find in all this the secret of their success whenever brought into contact with the Turkish soldiery; and there can be little doubt, that if foreign powers had not interfered, Mahomet Ali, if he had chosen, might have seated himself on the throne of Constantinople. Some of the Turkish soldiers taken in the recent expedition toward the Turkish capital, were sent to Egypt as prisoners; and we were informed, excited universal ridicule in their passage through Syria by their sluggish and awkward movement. But I have wandered a little from my subject.

On getting possession of Syria, Mahomet Ali began there the same system that he had been pursuing in Egypt, but without having properly weighed the difference in the native character. He first laid heavy exactions on the purses of the inhabitants, who indeed had little to spare, the country producing scarcely more than enough for their own support. This they bore, though with grumbling: tax after tax was laid, and with difficulty raised; and a general dissatisfaction was the consequence. At length he demanded their sons for his army and navy, and at once, the whole infuriated populace rose into rebellion. “Take our purses,” they cried, “if it must be so; we can part with them; but our children we will not give.” Jerusalem, where the Egyptian garrison was strongest, was in a few days invested by a force of 20,000 men, fierce and lawless people, and now maddened into phrenzy. This was eleven weeks previous to our visit. The rebels were badly provided with ammunition, and had no cannon, but spread themselves over the hills around, hoping, perhaps, to starve the garrison into terms, or succeed by stratagem; or more probably, scarcely knowing themselves what they wanted, or whither to direct their efforts. It seems to have been a sudden and universal outburst of indignant feeling, almost without aim and without hope. The reader, to form a conception of the scene, must fancy a people, in color, costume, and disposition, very much like the Indian tribes bordering on our white settlements; for such, in a striking degree, are the appearance and character of the country population of Palestine.

I have selected for this comparison the Indians dwelling on our borders, as their debased character and squalid appearance bring them nearer to the Arabs of Palestine than are their brethren further back; and except that the Arab lacks the broad face and high cheek bone of the Indian, I could almost have fancied the wild looking beings whom I have seen stalking into Jerusalem, to be a portion of the same wretched people we often meet in the streets of our frontier towns. Their dress consists of a hyck, a species of long blanket wrapped around them, in the manner that the blanket is used by our Indians; and, as with them, under garments are sometimes employed, and sometimes the hyck is the only garment; over the head a handkerchief is thrown so as to leave the face exposed, and falls over the neck and shoulders, and this is kept in its place by a small fillet drawn tight over the temples. From beneath the handkerchief peep out dark elfin locks and black uneasy eyes, while the expression of the face is any thing but gentle or attractive. A large part of them are indeed robbers by profession, and plunder without scruple whenever any one more helpless than themselves may happen to fall in their way.

The condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when they found themselves encircled by this wild and lawless host, was, as may be imagined, a very uncomfortable one; but another horror was immediately added, one of a more frightful, because more mysterious character. It seemed as if heaven itself was about to fight for their enemies. During the very night which succeeded the investment of the city, it was shaken by an earthquake—the shocks were repeated during the next day and night—many of the houses in the city were shaken down, and the massive walls of the convent at Bethlehem were split from top to bottom. The affrighted inhabitants took refuge in the yards of their falling tenements, and in the open places of the city; and thus, while the hills were rocking to and fro, and wailing was going up from every part of Jerusalem, some of the enemy found admittance one night, it is said, by subterranean passages, and these throwing open the gates, the hordes rushed in, and the place was given up to pillage and outrage. There were, at that time, an American, and also an English missionary family, living in the city. Mrs. Thompson, the wife of the American missionary, was in feeble health, and had an infant but a few months old to increase her anxieties; her husband was absent, and after repeated but unsuccessful attempts to join her during the siege, had been compelled to return and wait the issue at Jaffa. She took refuge with their English missionary friends, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholayson; and they had all, at the early part of the war, shut themselves up in Mr. Nicholayson’s house, subsisting in a rude way on some grain and dried fruits, which he had providentially on hand. Mrs. Thompson, in a letter to her husband, has touchingly described their situation, the horrors of the earthquake, and their greater horror when the cries of terror and triumph arose on the taking of the city; and when, on the following morning, they heard the Arabs forcing their own doors, and soon after met them peering among the chambers below. Mr. Nicholayson, who speaks the native language; and understands their habits well, immediately bribed some of the intruders, and, by paying them well, engaged a dozen of them to act as guardians of his house and premises, and thus saved the families and his effects from injury, except a few articles which the guardians themselves took a fancy to and carried off in their subsequent hasty retreat. Mr. Thompson’s house was stripped, not a single article escaping their hands. The Egyptian soldiers who had formed the garrison of the city took refuge in a strong castle at the Jaffa gate, which is near Mr. Nicholayson’s dwelling, and the invaders seizing on all the neighboring houses, a fire was kept up between the two parties, which I believe did little injury, except to the houses, some of which were riddled by the balls from the castle; among them was that of Mr. Nicholayson, and his family were once more compelled to take refuge in the yard. Mrs. Thompson about this time began to sink under the effects of such repeated alarms, and of the fatigues and exposure operating on her feeble health; a violent attack of ophthalmia succeeded, by which she lost her sight, and was reduced to extreme feebleness; at length, after much suffering, borne with meekness, she yielded her spirit with soothing hope into the hands of Him who gave it. Just previous to her death she was heard to say, “native, native, native land.” She was a lady of superior endowments and great excellence of character; but doubtless, in the hands of a wise Providence, from this seeming evil good will yet arise.

Ibrahim Pasha, on the first news of this rebellion, had hastened from Jaffa for the relief of the city; but he seems to have underrated his enemy, and to have acted without his usual prudence. The rebels took post in a narrow pass about seven miles from the city, and starting suddenly up from amid the steep and broken ground, poured upon his troops such a deadly fire, that they broke; and it was only by hard fighting, and a masterly retreat, that he saved his army from entire destruction. He retired to Jaffa, and having, as soon as possible, provided himself with sufficient force, once more advanced upon the city. But he found no enemy there. The natives, the excitement of their first fury now past, and probably despairing of success against a foe of such formidable resources, dropped gradually away from the city; and, with their plunder, retired to the distant fastnesses of their mountains. They were, however, not allowed to rest. The Egyptian leader, binding his field pieces to the backs of camels, crossed the Jordan in pursuit, and, at the time of our visit, was ferreting them out, though not without great risk to himself. He advanced so far that the communication between him and Jerusalem was for some time cut off, and serious fears were entertained for his safety; but he at last succeeded, not only in subduing, but what was a matter of greater hazard, in disarming the people. Camel loads of guns and attaghans or swords were sent to Jerusalem and Jaffa; and, relentless to the last, he forced from them the conscripts whom he judged necessary for his wide and ambitious military schemes. I saw some of the latter marched into Jaffa one day, between files of soldiers, and forced into the boats waiting to convey them on board his fleet, then lying off to receive them. Poor fellows! they looked heart-broken, and probably a large portion of them were destined never again to visit their native hills. A more melancholy company I think I have never seen; they dragged themselves along mechanically, without noticing any one, and some were able to keep on only by clinging to the garments of those before, or by being supported by a companion on either side. After traversing the city they came to the water-gate, which is a narrow passage between two towers, and is terminated by a wooden platform six or eight feet square, and projecting about five feet above the water. This is the only landing place; the boats were lying below; and forced along the platform, they were driven by the point of the bayonet, or caught by the shoulders and tumbled unceremoniously into a heap at the bottom of the boat, to extricate themselves and find a better place as well as they might be able. In spite of my commiseration, I could scarcely help smiling at their horror, when, in turning the angle of the gate-way, they found themselves in such proximity to the salt water. Some of them shrank back with all their might; but it availed them nothing; the boats were successively filled, and pulling off, presently reached a sand-bar crossing the road-stead, where they began to plunge in the breakers;—then each sought its separate vessel, and the mountain recruits were swallowed up in the vortex caused by Mohammed Ali’s wild ambition.

I must now carry the reader back to our own ship, which he will recollect we left, only yet approaching the coast. When within a few miles of it, our motions became cautious, for we knew nothing of the sea from experience, and our charts and books gave but little information. The schooner Shark was, by and by, ordered to approach, and directed to run in and inquire about the health of the city and the country adjoining. I got permission, and availed myself of a boat sent with the flag-lieutenant to her, determined if I should not be permitted to touch the Holy Land, at least to have a better view, and to get as near to it as possible. As we approached the shore, we saw a boat putting off with our national ensign, and concluding that it contained the consul, laid to till it came sufficiently near for parley. His answer to the first question, “What is the health of Jaffa and Jerusalem?” produced a sensation of thrilling joy. “Both enjoyed good health,” he replied, “and the country was in a state of tolerable quiet.” So we invited him on board, and right glad he seemed to be, to get out of his small vessel and find himself on board of a larger one. But alas for our new-fledged joy! The Shark presently got out to sea, and began to roll and pitch among the waves; our consul got sea-sick, and we thought frightened too; and now alarmed us with news that they had the plague in Jerusalem, and more than half suspected it to be in Jaffa; that a Frank of distinction had just died of it in the former place—that the monasteries had put themselves in quarantine, and that for us to venture there, would be highly dangerous and imprudent. We did not know what to make of this, but carried him on board the Delaware; and now, in that large ship, as quiet and as firm as the solid land, he came to himself, and declared once more that the country was safe, and the cities healthy. As night was approaching, we ran out to sea to avoid the dangerous proximity of the shore; and though in the morning we were some distance off, the consul, who had remained on board, still adhered, I believe, to his last opinion; but the Commodore, not knowing what to make of him, turned for information to another source. The Egyptian fleet cruising here in aid of Ibrahim Pasha, had come down, and anchored in the evening about a mile from Jaffa, and the schooner was sent to the Admiral with Commodore Patterson’s respects, and with inquiries respecting the health of the cities and the country between. The result was gratifying; the Admiral said he had not heard of the plague having been at all at Jerusalem—that it certainly was not there now, nor did he know of any other sickness in the country. The reply was accompanied with the compliments and offers of service usual in such intercourse of men of war. He advised us also to run in till within a mile or a mile and a half of the shore, and there anchor, as there is a strong current setting to the northward, and we might be in danger of getting entangled in some shoals lying eight or ten miles in that direction. This we accordingly did; and then, forthwith, began to make preparations for our long-talked of visit. A word more, however, about our consul, before he is dismissed. He accompanied us to Jerusalem, and was a great annoyance from first to last. The Commodore had reason from other sources to suppose him unworthy of his office, and took measures immediately to have him removed, and another person, one of merit, to be put in his place; and before long we had the pleasure of being informed that all this was done; and Americans who may hereafter visit Jaffa, will doubtless meet with courteous and gentlemanly treatment.

Jaffa, to which we made several visits while preparing for the journey, proved, on closer inspection, to be a filthy and wretched-looking, place. The streets were of course narrow, that is common in all eastern towns; in addition, however, those of Jaffa go straight up a hill so steep as to require steps cut in the rock, and as these steps are worn, and often slippery and covered with filth, a walk through the town is one of some labor, and we did not often attempt it. Indeed there is little to tempt a person to do so, as the city is not large, and has not a single building of any importance. I ought to mention one street as an exception to the general character. It starts at the water-gate, and stretching along by the city wall, on the sea shore, is sufficiently level; on the land side of this are ranges of small warehouses, which were nearly empty at the time of our visit, and in no wise abstracted from the dull monotony of the place. By and by, this street turns into the city, and beginning to ascend a low eminence, becomes the principal bazaar, or, I believe I should say, the bazaar, of the place. The shops which line it on either side were poorly furnished, and I found nothing to interest me in the whole bazaar, except some bunches of grapes. But these did interest me. One of them I am certain was two feet in length, not, however, with grapes thickly clustering along, but scattered at intervals; it was thus not so remarkable for the quantity of fruit, but for its length; and I can easily imagine that where such clusters are common, some of similar length, and fully charged with fruit, may easily be found. On my speaking of this cluster to some of the officers, they told me that they had seen others in the market still larger.

Along this bazaar I witnessed a scene, the evening of my return from Jerusalem, which caused the place, with all its previous dulness, to leave a pleasing impression on my mind. Darkness had, on this occasion, gathered round us, while yet some distance from the city, and I had been riding on, engaged in sad musings about the country and its melancholy history; we crossed at length the open waste between the gardens and the city, and then passing beneath the dark archway of the gate, and over its pavement of loose and slippery stones, I found myself suddenly amid a group, which conjured up at once all that I had read in the Arabian Nights. Just inside this gate is a coffee house, in front of which the street spreads out into two or three times its usual width. The place was now all lighted up with lamps, hung upon pillars, or amid the trellis work supporting a large grape vine, or to the overhanging vines themselves; mats were strewed around, and thickly occupied with groups in the rich and striking costume of the east; some were sipping coffee or sherbet, and others engaged with their pipes; but all were gazing with kindling eyes and animated features on a man who stood in the midst, with outstretched arms and great volubility of tongue. He was an oriental story-teller, and, to judge from the deep and unusual interest stamped on the features of his audience, must have been one of quick sagacity and considerable eloquence. Further on I passed another company similarly employed.

But though Jaffa may have but little to attract a stranger, its gardens will have much, particularly if he happen to be there in the season for its water-melons, as was the case with us. We had heard a great deal about the Jaffa watermelons, and our expectations were so highly raised, that any thing short of the highest perfection would have disappointed us. But we were not disappointed. The melons are not unusually large, but of a richness and delicacy which, I believe, is no where surpassed, if it can be equalled. Some of our officers thought they had sometimes met with as good melons at home, but most of them were decided in the preference for those from the Jaffa gardens.[13] These gardens commence a few hundred yards from the walls of the city, and are from a quarter to half a mile in length; the soil is almost a pure sand, and seems incapable of producing any thing at all; but wherever watered, rewards the labor of the operator with abundance of fruits and vegetables of the greatest variety. Pomegranates here are in the highest perfection, and the cactus, or prickly pear, grows to the height of twelve or fifteen feet; along the road to Jerusalem it forms a hedge for the gardens, and a most effectual one it is. Its fruit grows on the edge of the leaf, and in these countries is oval in shape, and about three inches in length; it is full of seeds, but is cooling and refreshing, and has, to me, an agreeable taste. Back of the gardens of Jaffa, the country is generally open and deserted; but in spots it is cultivated, and appears to be sufficiently productive.

CHAPTER XII.

Start for Jerusalem. Appearance of our Cavalcade. Djerid play near Jaffa. Plain of Sharon. Night ride. Ramla. The Cadi’s theory about Earthquakes. Beth-Horon. Entrance to the Hill-Country. Aboo Ghoosh. David’s Brook. First view of Jerusalem. Difficulty in getting accommodations. Greek Monastery. Distressful night.

Our joy at finding all obstacles removed, and that we were actually going to visit Jerusalem, was great indeed. The visit had been a subject of pleasing anticipation from the beginning of the cruise, and a disappointment here would have cast a damp upon all our other pleasures. But here we were at last, ashore at Jaffa, mounted and ready to be off; every face cheerful, and our hearts swelling with expected enjoyment. We wound through the low bazaar, and then slipping and stumbling over the execrable pavement of the gateway, found ourselves out in the country, and fairly on our way. And here we turned to look at each other, and enjoy the oddity and grotesqueness of the scene. We were, indeed, a curious looking set of pilgrims. As we arrived ashore, there was a general scrambling for the animals, which, by orders of the governor of Jaffa, had been brought in from the country for the occasion; and as these included every variety, and there was little time for choosing, it was amusing to see the mal-agreement which often occurred between man and beast. A stout and heavy man might be seen sweating and toiling along on the back of one of the most diminutive of donkeys; a graceful cavalier, who prided himself on his horsemanship, and had selected what appeared to be a fine-looking Arab, found himself on an asthmatic animal, which neither whip nor the pins stuck into his boots for lack of spurs, could force from a sluggish walk. Then came along a young midshipman, on a streak of lightning, clinging to the mane or saddle, and agape to find himself in a situation where his superior officers, and even the Commodore, were glad to yield the deck to him. His horse, brought up on the wild hills, is unconscious how sadly he is violating naval etiquette; and away they go, till a turn in the road hides them from our sight. “Give my Jack a punch,” cries one, “the nasty beast, I can’t get him to move;” while at the act, Jack suddenly finds the use of his hinder quarters, and the puncher, from being a grave-looking personage, suddenly takes to hopping and singing, and working his features into the oddest grimace. Some of our company had no animals at all, and others were debating whether they had not better leave those they had; while the animals themselves stood straight up to second the motion. My friend M——, thinking perhaps that necessity hath no law, stepped up coolly to a horse fastened to a bit of shrubbery, and having loosed him, and thrown his Turkey rug over the saddle, seated himself on the top of it; concluding, with good reason, that the owner would soon be after him, and that he could then, perhaps, make a bargain for the beast. It turned out that the horse belonged to a soldier going our way, and who, on promise of a bakshish, or present, agreed to this impudent arrangement; but the next morning horse and soldier were missing, and with them the fine, large Turkey rug,—showing how universally we may apply the counsel, “set a rogue to catch a rogue.”

Amid this scene of confusion, the general attention was directed to the family group at the head of the party, a group respected and beloved by all of us; and it was gratifying, in the cheerful looks of the ladies, to find that they were rather amused than dismayed by the necessary discomforts of this new kind of travelling. We got, by and by, into pretty good order, and moved cheerily on. Our company consisted of the Commodore, lady, and three daughters, the consul and lady, thirty-six lieutenants, midshipmen, &c., twelve petty officers and servants; and muleteers in addition sufficient to make a party in all, of more than seventy persons.

Nearly every individual was armed, and our warlike accoutrements, as well as the rest of our fitting out, had a broad dash of the picturesque.

While we were getting ready for a move, an old seaman came up to me, and begged hard that I would get him permission to accompany us. “Why, W——,” I replied, “I don’t see what reason I can give for it that fifty others might not urge, and besides, you have no donkey—you see every thing with four legs to it is already taken up.” “Oh,” he replied, “ask to allow me to walk by —— and take care of the sedan; and as to a donkey, I don’t need one, I am willing to walk all the way.” I succeeded in the application, and had forgotten the circumstance, till one day, eighteen months after, when the crew had been discharged, W—— came up to me on the wharf at Norfolk, and, taking my hand, said I had conferred a favor on him which he would remember to the last day of his life. I asked him what it was: “Oh,” he replied, “you got me permission to go to Jerusalem.”

When I returned from the Holy City, I brought back a quantity of olive root from the Mount of Olives, and giving it to the carpenter on board ship to saw it up, on going to the bench, I found the seamen around, catching the sawdust, and picking the earth from the holes among the roots. So strong was the feeling of interest with which the proximity of the city had inspired us.

It may be supposed, then, that we wound along among the gardens of Jaffa with cheerful alacrity. The road is sandy and toilsome, but is bordered with shrubbery interwoven with the huge cactus, and gay flowers were pendant on every side. We had left the city at 4 P. M.; and the sun, now throwing its rays slantingly among the blossoms and foliage, gave them their richest effect. About a mile from the walls we came to a Turkish fountain, about twenty feet in height, and highly ornamented. The road bends at this place, and soon after ascends a range of low hills, where cultivation ceases, and the traveller finds himself in the open country, without enclosure or habitation in sight.

A number of the European consuls, and other gentlemen resident in Jaffa, had done us the honor to accompany us thus far. They were mounted on fine spirited Arabs, and now driving the shovel-shaped stirrup into their horses’ sides, flew up the hill side, and at length, brought at the summit in bold relief against the sky, they formed a picture such as is seen only in these glowing eastern countries. They wore the native costume, presenting a variety of brilliant and fanciful colors; and in this case the dress was perfectly clean, and evidently put on with careful and studied effect. Having presently reached a level piece of ground, they scattered, and commenced the djerid, a play in which the Arabs greatly delight, and which is adapted to bring out the powers both of horse and rider, and show them to fine advantage. Each horseman is furnished with a stick of some tough material, four or five feet in length, and of the thickness of the middle finger; they divide about equally, and each selecting an opponent, the effort is to strike the adversary with the rod. In doing this they pursue each other at the top of the horse’s speed, often bring him to a halt so suddenly as to throw him on his haunches, whirl at an instant’s warning, hang by the leg and arm so as to avoid the whizzing rod, catch it in the air, or, while the horse is at full speed, snatch it from the ground, and turning, become the pursuer till the rod is discharged, or the adversary has again recovered one in his turn. It is an exciting and highly animated sport, and was kept up on the large plain, now on our right, now on the left, till one or two of the company became provoked by some well-dealt blows, and the play began to look serious; while a few showed by their soiled dresses that they had come in closer contact with the ground than was pleasant. Kind feeling was, however, soon restored by some smart hits in return, and the play wound up in good-humor; after which, our Arab guide, with his long, slender spear, once more putting himself at the head of our party, our friends wheeled their steeds, and having made a graceful salaam, darted over the hill on their return to Jaffa, and were soon out of sight.

We were now fairly on the celebrated Plain of Sharon; but times have sadly changed, and we might have looked in vain for roses or any other shrub. The road laid through a country not absolutely flat, and yet scarcely undulating; with scarcely a tree, and no where presenting any sign of cultivation. Towards sunset, however, we found ourselves approaching an olive grove, beyond which, on our left, was a wretched looking village of ten or a dozen houses; also a ruin of large dimensions, which we had not time to examine. Beyond this the country assumed the same open and deserted appearance; and, except a fountain which we passed a few miles onward, there was nothing to show that it was the habitation of men. Darkness, by and by, began to fall around us, we drew our company into a more compact form, and having examined our arms, passed on in silence; a spirit of sadness and musing, excited probably by the melancholy nature of the country, having apparently seized on the whole of our party.

We were now in what was formerly the territory of the tribe of Dan, their possessions, I believe, having extended from the sea inward to a distance of thirty miles, and about twelve from north to south. Of Dan, it was said by his father Jacob, that he was “a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider shall fall back.” And the position which long afterwards fell by lot to this tribe, appears to have been adapted to produce or to cherish such a trait of character.

Two thirds of the great highway from Jerusalem to its sea-port Joppa, laid through their territory; and the long winding ravine by which this road ascends from the plain of Sharon into the mountainous region that encircles Jerusalem, affords admirable facilities for plundering. Until very recently, the upper extremity of this ravine was occupied by Aboo Ghoosh, at the head of a set of daring fellows, who regularly laid contributions on travellers; while a village near the other extremity bore no better reputation. Dr. Clarke’s baggage was seized upon, and carried to the latter town, where he had great difficulty in recovering it; and, more recently, the French traveller, De la Martine, found it prudent by judicious means to secure in season the good favor of Aboo Ghoosh. This robber-chief, whose power extended over a large tract of country, and was well systematized, has recently been appointed by the Pasha of Egypt to a high office in Jerusalem; and we saw him on our visit enthroned in his new state, where he seems ill at ease. Mohammed Ali has thus removed a nuisance and secured a powerful friend; but it is not probable that his robber-propensities will be greatly checked by these new dignities.

When shall this desert region rejoice and blossom as the rose, and when shall we be able to speak of “the excellency of Carmel and Sharon?”—“The highways” now “lie waste, and the wayfaring man ceaseth; Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, and Sharon is like a wilderness.”—Though it is sad to look at a plain like this of Sharon, about eighty miles in length by twenty in width, and of [extensive] fertility, and bordering also on the sea, yet now little more than a desert waste; though sad, there is nothing very remarkable in it, for it is the character of many such plains in Asia; but there is something very remarkable when we think of this country in connexion with the strange people whose father-land it is, a people who are over the whole face of our globe, an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word; turning ever with warm desires towards the home of their fathers; yet still “scattered among all people, from one end of the earth to the other,” and among them finding no ease nor rest, but distressed “with a trembling heart and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind”—outcasts every where, the “heaven over their head is brass, and the earth under their feet is iron.” I do not see how a man can read the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, and be satisfied that it was written at the time it purports to be, and yet remain an infidel; and that it was written at that time, is a matter capable of very easy proof. I have seen the Jews in a great many countries; and if we were to sit down to describe their condition, we could not find terms to express it more accurately than is done in that chapter, penned 3287 years ago.

About nine o’clock we discovered lights ahead, and heard the barking of dogs, and soon after entered Ramla, the ancient Arimathea, which was to be our stopping-place for the night. Here, to our surprise, we found also an agent of our government, a vice-consul appointed by the consul at Jaffa, to whom, I believe, he had paid a consideration for the office. He was an Armenian gentleman, apparently wealthy, and certainly kind and hospitable. Our arrival had been expected, and every thing grateful to hungry and wearied pilgrims had been provided. Tables were loaded with fowls and mutton, and with the delicious water-melons of Jaffa, as well as abundance of other fruits, and with wine. When our large company had all been fed, such conveniences as the house afforded for sleeping were freely given up to us; our host all the while sitting unobtrusively at one side of the eating room, and seldom speaking, except to order additional supplies of refreshments. However, Mon. Damon, the consul at Jaffa, who with his lady had come with us, in order that the credit for the entertainment might not be lost, took it all to himself; bustling about, and telling us that the house was his own, that he had provided the feast, and bidding us welcome. I am happy to be able to add, that through the influence of Commodore Patterson, this gentleman, Mr. Marcus Abers, has since received an appointment independent of the consulate at Jaffa. We received, with the freedom of sailors, what was so freely and generously offered; and when, in the morning, our caterer, after some hesitation on the score of delicacy, offered remuneration, as the company was so large and miscellaneous, it was declined, and the party was cordially invited to repeat the visit on our return.

Ramla has at present little to detain a traveller, though it was formerly a city of considerable dimensions; its population now is about 3,000, principally Mahommedans and Christians of the Greek church. At the borders on the western side, [thirty miles from Jerusalem], are some vast subterranean apartments belonging to the ancient times of the city. One is one hundred and fifty feet long by forty in width, and is twenty-five feet deep; the second and third are each seventy feet square, and of the same depth as the former. Adjoining the second, is a tower twenty-five feet square, and still one hundred feet in height, and a conspicuous object at a great distance on the plain. Our time did not admit of a visit to these ruins, and for the dimensions I am indebted to Mr. Thompson, by whom they have been described. Mr. Thompson was at Ramla during the recent earthquake, and heard a debate on its causes by the learned men of the city; The Cadi, or Judge, spoke at last, and with gravity suitable to his high station, gave his solution of the phenomenon. “The earth,” he said, “has seven foundations; the first, water; second, air; third, a mountain; fourth, a cushion; fifth, (Mr. T. does not recollect;) sixth, a great rock; and seventh, the horn of the great ox. When the ox becomes fatigued, he changes the rock from one horn to the other, and that caused the shaking.”

After some slight refreshment, at an early hour on the 16th we resumed our journey, and soon found ourselves once more breathing the country air. We passed some ruins on our right just after leaving the city, and also, soon after this, a company of about 200 cavalry at drill on the plain. Our road, I ought to have remarked before this, was not directly across the plain, but in a slanting direction, Jerusalem being situated a little to the south of east from Jaffa. The distance from Ramla is thirty miles. We descended two or three steep banks, separated from each other by intervals of several miles, and thus arrived, at length, at the lowest level of the plain, which appears to consist of this level, and, on the west of it, of a succession of terraces, each about forty feet in height, and three or four miles in width. The country, during our morning ride, was not of so melancholy a cast as on the day previous, patches of millet or indian corn occurring here and there, with other signs of cultivation; but the sun now beat upon us with scorching power. About ten o’clock we passed a miserable village close on our left, and an hour after, a cone-shaped eminence on our right, with some ruins, supposed to be the remains of Beth-Horon, noticed in 2 Chron. viii. 5. 1 Samuel, xiii. 18.[14]

The hill is about 400 feet in height, and in most parts is of difficult ascent; it was well adapted for defence, and the extensive and massive ruins on the top show that it was a place of considerable strength. This was probably the upper city: for the site of the “Nether-Beth-Horon,” we must look among the broken ground that skirts the lower part of the eminence. This was a place of importance, as it commands the entrance of the winding ravine, along which the road ascends from the plain into the mountainous district, or what is called in the first chapter of John, the “hill country” of Judea.

The entrance into this ravine is about two miles east from Beth-Horon; and as it stood gaping before us, with the mountains on either side towering to a great height, while the representations of travellers had led us to expect beyond it only mountains, still darker and more dreary, we turned some reluctant looks backward towards the plain. The roads over these mountains we had been also informed by Mr. Damon, were the worst possible; but in this latter respect we were to meet with an agreeable disappointment. One of the consuls at Jaffa, a merchant, (I believe the Sardinian consul,) in order to divert the trade of the Mecca and Jerusalem caravans from Damascus to his own city, had lately put the road in excellent order. In many places he had blasted rocks, and at others had built up walls; the operation had been an expensive one, and the enterprise of the gentleman merits a better reward than I am afraid it will receive.

As we were entering the ravine, we met a company of Egyptian soldiers; and, further on, in a narrow part, encountered a much larger force, returning to the west. They had with them a great number of camels loaded with baggage and accoutrements, and often with field-pieces, some of the latter (brass six pounders) being lashed to spars which were fastened to the backs of two camels, one before the other. The soldiers, though the balance of power was greatly on their side, were very civil; and in no instance showed a disposition to offer annoyance, or give us unnecessary trouble. It was in this pass that the Roman army, under Cestius, were almost totally destroyed.

We found the ascent up to the ravine, though long, yet far from being toilsome. At the summit, at a spot commanding a view of all the plain of Sharon and the sea beyond, we stopped in an olive grove for dinner. This was near the village of the ex-robber, prince Aboo Ghoosh; but a change has come over the country under the sovereignty of Mohammed Ali, for the people did not even come to look at us.

Descending again, we passed, at the bottom of a valley, a village, on the borders of which is a large church belonging to the time of the crusades. A more desolate scene than presented itself as we wound up the hills beyond this village cannot be easily imagined. The rocks in all this region are secondary limestone, and the hills, consequently, are rounded, presenting few bold peaks or precipitous ridges; but all was gray rock from the bottom to the summit, and the senses became pained by the gloomy monotony of the scene, a wide and dreary waste of bare rocks. By and by, descending again, we found ourselves in a valley watered by a rivulet, and with some fields and a vineyard; but soon plunged again into the same succession of bare rocky hills, where not a tree nor shrub was to be seen, and not a living thing, except a bird now and then [whirling] in its solitary flight. A steep descent brought us at length into the narrow defile where occurred the battle between Ibrahim Pasha and the rebels already noticed; and skeletons of horses were still scattered, by the road side. This pass is also a favorite haunt of robbers; particularly at a spot where a bridge crosses a dry channel which winds through the bottom of the valley.—Siste viator. This channel, now dry, but covered by a considerable stream in winter, is that from which David selected pebbles for his sling when going to meet Goliath; I believe, however, this event occurred some distance further down. We passed this bridge on our return an hour before daylight; and, as we approached, an officer of the Pasha’s household who accompanied us, made the party halt and form into compact order; and then had the bridge reconnoitred before he allowed us to proceed. There was no one there, but further on, at the battle ground, a strange horseman rode up and passed us several times, as if scrutinizing our company, and others were seen on the other side of the glen; but apparently they did not like our equipment, as they gave us no further trouble.

Having crossed this bridge, we were now in constant expectation of getting sight of Jerusalem; and as we approached the summit of a long hill, our caterer, Lieutenant S——, made the officers in the van fall back, so that Mrs. Patterson might be the first to advance and catch a view of the sacred city. But we were to be disappointed; it was not in sight, and these disappointments occurred so often, that at length we grew less earnest in our look out ahead. Evening was fast approaching, and just as distant objects were beginning to grow indistinct, a sudden rise on the road brought to view some white buildings far off, and a little to our left. A sudden cry of “Jerusalem” burst from the foremost, and all hurried forward to enjoy the welcome sight; again, however, we were mistaken. But, a few minutes after this, while we were gazing at the objects just described, and debating whether they were the sacred city or not, a long white wall, with battlements and towers, presented itself suddenly right before us; and then arose a general cry of joyful surprise—for this we knew to be Jerusalem. I believe there was not one of us who was not affected with powerful emotions; and among these feelings was generally a sensation of pleasing surprise at the imposing appearance of the city; for whether it was owing to its contrast to the small group of houses we had been looking at, or to the manner in which it bursts upon us in a dreary desert, or whether there was sufficient cause for this in the city itself, I cannot say; but the first impression was certainly a very favorable one.

The city, as viewed from the west, presents a stretch of wall about two thirds of a mile in length, battlemented and strengthened with numerous towers, and, at the Jaffa gate, which is midway along, fortified with heavy castles. South of this gate, the walls stand on the edge of a ravine or valley sixty feet in depth and two hundred feet wide, and at this part, particularly, the effect is very bold and striking. As we approached, battlement and turret were here thrown out into strong relief against the clear evening sky.

This was our first view and first impression of Jerusalem. To myself, however, little time was given for observation. The Commodore called for me; and telling me that as this was a city in the line of my profession, they must look to me to provide quarters for the company—said he wished me to ride forward rapidly, and see where we could find accommodations. So I changed my humble donkey for a spirited steed, and taking for interpreter a young Arab officer who had accompanied us from Jaffa, set forward at a pace that made us look more like crusading knights at a tilt than peaceable pilgrims. The gates, which are usually closed at sunset, we found were kept open in expectation of the arrival of our party, and a large number of citizens were standing in groups without. On our drawing up and inquiring the way to the house of Mr. Nicholayson, the missionary from England, he himself stept forward and gave us a hearty welcome. His house he immediately placed at our disposal, but on his inquiring how many there might be in the party, and receiving my answer, “I think about seventy,” he stood aghast. A company of seven or a dozen, the number as he had supposed our company, he could readily accommodate, and his house was cordially at our service for as many as it would hold; but where to find accommodations for seventy he could not tell, some of the monasteries, the usual resort of pilgrims, being now, he said, in quarantine on account of the plague. We turned into the city, however, to make an effort; and crossing an irregular open area, and then winding down some dark narrow streets, stopped at length at a low gate in the face of a high massy wall. It admitted us into the chief Latin convent; but the Prior, on our being presented, said that nearly all the building was in quarantine, some of the monks having recently died of the plague, and that an adjacent establishment belonging to his order was in a similar situation. Foiled here, we proceeded on a little further, and on applying, though with reluctance, at the Greek convent, were successful; their large building, forming a hollow square with a court in the centre, being given up to us. We returned forthwith, and found that our company had already entered the city, and in attempting to follow us, had got jammed up in one of the narrow streets, where a scene of vexatious and yet amusing confusion was just commencing; the baggage mules with their broad panniers and projecting loads sticking fast between the opposite houses, and, in their efforts to extricate themselves, taking little note of rank or office; while torches glancing here and there upon pistol and cutlass, and the dusty, and jaded, and sometimes disconsolate looking features of our companions, mixed up with the wild and curious gaze of the natives, assisted in making up a singular scene. They had just learned the result of our application at the Latin convent; and to a wearied man, the idea of passing the night in such rough and odoriferous streets as these, could not be a pleasing one. They were highly gratified to find that we had at length been able to procure quarters. The Commodore and his family were invited to the house of Mr. Nicholayson, where, among the kind and agreeable members of his family, they soon found themselves in a pleasant home; while the rest of us, passing through the low strong portal of the convent, and emerging by and by from the dark narrow passage, into the enclosed court, turned to see what species of accommodation we were to have. The prospect seemed melancholy enough. Around the court was a range of buildings, three fourths of which were given up to us, the remaining fourth being occupied by the Prior’s rooms and offices of the church, and by the church itself. The lower part of our portion of the edifice was occupied as stables, kitchen, granary, &c.; and gave also accommodation to some of our party. Ascending from this by a large stairway, we entered on a platform passing around three sides of the court, with a parapet along its interior edge, while on its opposite border was a range of cells, which we found on inquiry were to be our dormitories. Tired as we were, we recoiled from the sight of them. They were usually about eight or nine feet square, and so low that a person could scarcely stand upright in them; a broken door, a hole for a window, a stone or mortar floor, and a thin reed mat, and dust in the greatest abundance—this was the sight that presented itself as we came to examine our domicils. Some joked, some took it all in quiet, and some said “it was really too bad.” But uncomfortable as these abodes appeared to us, other creatures did not seem to think them so, for they were really well tenanted; and when our lights were extinguished, and we had wrapped ourselves each in his blanket, and had stretched ourselves on the stone floor, we soon discovered how far from solitary was the life of our friends the monks. Our chambers were alive with lilliputians, which immediately commenced an attack on us. As D., and S., and myself, were lying in our little room, we first heard some notes of distress on the outside, and occasionally an exclamation of “Hollo, are you out here too?” and then there was a general cry—“I can’t bear this any longer;” and we rushed out to the platform to which we found every cell ejecting its inmates. We did not get asleep until nature, towards morning, was absolutely worn out, when the fleas, having worried us into utter exhaustion, were allowed to gorge themselves at their leisure. The reader may perhaps think that I might have spared him this scene, which is not a pleasant one, and must jar on the feelings of one who would come with other sensations, and be occupied with other thoughts, in this city of solemn and touching associations; but my impression is, that he would like to see the modern city as it is, and I wish also, as far as possible, to make him also a traveller, and carry him along with us; this is no exaggerated picture of our first night, and may be taken as a sample of the rest. Jerusalem, however, is not alone in this; but the whole of this region, from the cataracts of the Nile to Constantinople, is teeming with fleas. We thought, however, that this city was peculiarly infested with them, and were informed that in the most cleanly houses, no care could keep any part of the building free from them.

The night passed away at length, and ushered in a brilliant dawn, such as is not often seen except in these eastern countries, where the thin and scanty exhalations are just sufficient, without obscuring any portions of the landscape, to tinge all with roseate and purple hues.

CHAPTER XIII.

Morning view of the city. Glance at the localities. Question with regard to the place of the Crucifixion. Its practical nature. Scene usually sketched in the mind. The event probably more humiliating in its attendant circumstances. Traditions forced upon the visitor to Jerusalem. Their effect on the mind. Danger of such visits to those who will not separate truth from error. “El Devoto Peregrino.” Dr. Clarke.

I arose early on the morning of the 16th; the sun was shining bright, and the atmosphere had a freshness and a balminess quite exhilarating. Having made a hasty toilet, I placed a ladder against our range of cells, and climbing to the flat roof, by which they were covered, gazed around; and now, for the first time, felt that I was really in Jerusalem.

Immediately east of the city, and separated from it by a narrow valley or ravine, was a mountain large enough to command our respect by its vastness, and yet not too large for gracefulness and beauty. I knew it at once to be the Mount of Olives. It has three summits, one in the centre and one at each extremity; they are of nearly equal height, and when viewed from the city present for their outline a gentle and beautiful curve. A large part of it is covered with olive trees, particularly the central and northern summits and declivities; and they still form so striking a feature, that if the mountain were now to be named, we should be apt to call it the Mount of Olives.