Through Egypt to Palestine ... Fifteen full page illustrations

Preface

. Shortly after returning from an Oriental tour, a friend said: " Well, I suppose you will write a book." To which I answered emphatically, "No." Before starting on the tour, the publishers of the Pitts burg- Christian Advocate requested a correspondence for publication in that paper. I partially promised to comply with the request, if circumstances should permit. I wrote the first letter from Italy, and becoming interested, not only in the correspondence, but in this method of preserving a record of scenes and incidents of the tour, I contributed a series of seven letters. Since that time, while lecturing upon the sub ject, I have frequently been importuned to put my observations in book form, and whether the advice is good or bad, it has caused me to follow the example of that one of whom it is written, when told, " Go, work," answered, " I will not," but afterwards "he repented, and went. " So, although I said, " I will not," now I do. In preparation of this little souvenir of our memorable tour to the Orient, I wish it dis-

PREFACE.

tinctly understood that it is neither a history, guide-book, nor commentary. I shall simply strive, as far as possible, to describe things and places as they seemed to and impressed me, avoiding as far as practicable confusing figures and details, seeking only to use sufficient data to describe the interesting and wonderful scenes of those far-away lands, and the reflections sug gested by them. If I describe nothing new, I may perhaps tell of old things in a new or different way. Because others have brought souvenirs from foreign shores to their loved ones at home, is no reason why I should not do so. Others have plucked the wild flowers of Palestine; why should not I? I offer no apology for moralizing by the way, as we travel through those far-away Bible lands, believing, as I do, that no description of them would be complete without trying to gather some of the fruit which hangs in such profusion by the way.

Lee S. Smith. Pittsburg, April, i8p6. CONTENTS PAGS i. New York to Italy ------ q 2. Italy 16 3. Impressions Formed by the Way - - - 25 4. Greece - - ----- 36 5. Alexandria 43 6. Cairo --------- 47 7. The Pyramids 59 8. Up the Nile 71 9. Luxor, Karnak and Thebes - - - - 82 10. Boulak Museum ------ 96 n. Holy Land — Jaffa 102 12. Jerusalem 108 13. Calvary 125 14. Round the Walls of Jerusalem - - - 138 15. To Bethlehem - - - - 143 16. Tent Life 149 17. To the Jordan Valley ----- 158 i8. In the Wilderness of Judea - - - - 163 19. From Ram-Allah via Bethel to Jacob's Well 177 20. Nazareth -------- 186 21. Galilee 191 22. By the Waters of Merom, Cæsarea-Phillipi, and Mount Hermon 193 23. Damascus ........ 2oo 24. Damascus to Baalbec 205 25. Baalbec to Beyrout - 210 26. Home Again ... ... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Our Dragoman, Richard, at Karnak - Frontispiece The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens - - 39 Section of the Great Pyramid ... 64 An Egyptian Village 70 The Shadoof on Upper Nile ... - 79 A Dahabeah on the Nile 94 Damascus Gate — Jerusalem - no Tombs of David and Solomon, Mount Zion - 116 Mount Calvary 124 Our Camp on Site of Jericho ... - 148 Bedouin Village, Plains of the Jordan - 154 Our Party on Roof of Monastery Ram-Allah 171 Natives of Jezreel — Palestine - 183 On the Highways of Palestine ... 197 Ruins of Baalbec

Chapter I. New York To Italy

One of the most interesting places in the world to the English or American student of history is old Westminster Abbey, in London. It is true that St. Paul's stands as an exemplification of architectural grandeur, and that the old London Tower seems surrounded with more of the real political history of the rise and progress of the English nation; but old Westminster holds a pre eminent place as the mausoleum of England's mighty dead. Here one may wander for hours, looking upon the tombs and monuments of kings, queens, princes, prelates, poets, statesmen and warriors, whose names have been familiar to him from childhood, and whose word and presence in their day ruled the world. Indeed, so true was this, and so important did they seem in the day of their power, that it would almost appear as if the affairs of the nation must stop when they were called away; and yet, like other mortals, their time came, they dropped out of earthly ex istence, the official announcement was made, " The King is dead; long live the King!

" the suc cessor, either as king, statesman or warrior, took up the scepter, the gap closed, and the world moved on. If this seems true while contemplating the great of our own historic time, how much more inter esting must it be to wander amidst the scenes of grandeur where the mighty and powerful of thou sands of years ago lived and ruled; to contemplate their greatness by means of scraps of history digged from their graves; to look upon monuments which were old when Moses lived; then into sa cred and historic Palestine, to have our ideas of things sacred and profane unveiled and the mists of ages cleared away ! Meditating all these wonderful facts, from an cient to modern; passing in review the mighty dead who have seemed so all-important in their time, but whose dust has gone back to Mother Earth: "Shades of the mighty Cæsar ! dead and turned to clay, May stop the crack to keep the wind away."

" Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another spring another race supplies, They fall successive, and successive rise; So generations in their course decay, So nourish these, when those have passed away." NEW YORK TO ITALY 11 How true of mortal man; how untrue of the unmortal in man ! The teachings of the past are the instructions of the present. The lives of those who have passed away are the instructors of the now. " The influence of those who have lived, though being dead, control our destinies. Thus uncon sciously we obey the voice of the dead, and the living, when we are dead, will obey us, either for weal or woe." This is as true of the most humble individual in life, as it is of the most renowned and powerful. It is as true of us in this present Christian era, as of those who followed after Christ as his disciples, and heard Him of whom it is written, " Never man spake as this man."

In making a pilgrimage " Through Egypt to Palestine," it seems eminently fitting that we begin our tour, not in Western Europe as we generally accept that term, but rather that we start from the farthest western point which comes in direct contact with the immediate followers of Christ — old Italy; and thence ascending the pyramid of sacred interest centering in our pilgrimage, by passing through Greece and Egypt, then to the capstone of all, Palestine. In the narrow confines of this volume, I can barely refer to some of the most interesting scenes, and will, therefore, often omit entirely, portions of travel and accounts of places vis ited. The thermometer indicated a temperature be low zero when we sailed out of New York harbor February 4th, 1893, on board the steamship Fulda, of the North German Lloyd line.

Taking the southern course, our prow was headed direct for the mouth of the Mediterranean. We had been at sea only a few days when we began to feel a most pleasant change in the weather, until we passed the Azore Islands sitting under awn ings on deck, and enjoying the most delightful summer breezes. Our first stop was at Gibraltar, where we came on deck in the early morning to find our anchor dropped in its harbor. As we stood on the deck, and looked upon this giant watch-dog of the mouth of the Mediterra nean, we were very much disappointed at its ap pearance. It has but little to mark it as the mighty fortress it is. Little is visible from a distance. The eye discerns only'a great mountain of rock upheaved from the surface of the sea, with a small city nestling at its base; but go ashore, wander up through the town to the lower batteries, thence on up, and enter the tunnels with which this rock mountain is honeycombed from bottom to top, and count the hundreds of cannon which peep from the many windows cut NEW YORK TO ITAI.

Y 13 outward from the tunnels, two thousand in all, and then you begin to realize why this is such a strong fortress, located, as it is, so as to say who shall and who shall not enter the Mediterranean. It stands there virtually a part of Spain, and yet the property of old England. Could its rocks speak, they could tell us of many bloody contests which have been waged for its possession. Landing, we took a drive around this truly cos mopolitan spot. Its history is well known; and as for describing it, that can not be done so as to convey any adequate idea of it. It must be seen to be appreciated. In the quaint and narrow streets of the old town, occupying one side of the base of the rock, one meets with almost every race, color and religion to be found upon the globe, each dressed in the garb peculiar to his native land.

Our old friend Shakespeare must have visited Gibraltar, or some similar place, to select some of his characters, as we saw Shylock, the Moor of Venice, and others — or some of their direct descendants. So much is this the case that the American tourist, if visiting the south of Europe for the first time, can scarcely realize that he is in the same world, and in the nineteenth century, but feels that these are stage characters dressed and parading for effect. While in the city of Brussels, Belgium, several years ago, I saw a novel cart for the delivery of milk. It consisted of a small wagon to which were harnessed a dog and a woman. I place the dog first, because, to my mind, he had the better of the bargain; for when a customer's house was reached the dog sat down and rested, while the woman, after drawing the milk from a can, climbed three or four flights of stairs to de liver it.

This was an object-lesson of one of "woman's rights" as understood in Europe. Another we saw in Dieppe, France, where women took hold of the cable cast them from our ship, and drew it to the dock. And yet another in Vienna, the beautiful and cultured capital of Austria, where women were carrying brick and mortar in hods up the giddy ladders of new buildings, while, as the Irishman said, " the men at the top did all the work." Such scenes are so common all over Europe as to occasion no remark, but the sight of which ought to cause a psalm of thanksgiving to well up in the heart of every American woman, that she was born in a country where woman holds her proper place in the respect and love of the race. But I digress. I started out to speak of milk carts as seen over there. It is true, the one referred to as seen in Brussels was odd, and yet there was something familiar about it, inasmuch as it had wheels on it; but in Gibraltar we saw a decidedly unique milk delivery arrangement.

NEW YORK TO ITALY 15 It looked somewhat as if somebody was liable to suspect some other body of " watering stocks " — or milk, and the precaution taken would seem to be intended to circumvent any such dishonesty. The system consists in the owner driving her cows or goats to the door of the customer; this latter individual, sometimes living on the fourth or fifth floor of a tene ment-house, appears on the balcony, and, with a string, lets a bucket down, and watches the operation of milking, to see that no adulter ation is added; then she draws the vessel up again. This system we saw in use frequently afterwards, in other cities, especially in Italy and Greece. And yet it seems that even this is no absolute safeguard, as we were informed that some of the dealers had been detected wearing a rubber bag hidden under their clothing, from which they could draw water unseen, unless pre vented by the closest scrutiny. This proved to us that there are other tricks besides making wooden nutmegs, and that all tricksters are not Yankees.

Chapter II. Italy

Leaving Gibraltar our next landing was Genoa, Italy, justly called " La Superbe," a most beauti ful city, nestling on terraces rising one above an other from the shores of the Mediterranean. While here we visited the churches, palace, and " Campo Santo." This latter is, in some respects, the finest place of burial in the world. It consists of a hollow square of buildings, with beautiful grounds laid out on the interior, while all the buildings, as well as the porches of the same, are filled with thousands of most beautiful figures in Italian marble. From here we went by rail to Pisa, a small city of wonderful interest, both historically and as a place for sightseeing. Years ago it bore the proud distinction of being a government in itself. Our interest of course centered in its great cathe dral and tower, so thither we directed our steps.

Our disappointment was great when we looked upon that wonderful Leaning Tower of Pisa, but our disappointment was on the agreeable side. We had heard and read of it all our life, and yet ITALY 17 we never imagined it half so well preserved or beautiful as we saw it. It stands seventy-nine feet in height, and leans thirteen feet out of per pendicular, in consequence of which one experi ences queer sensations as he climbs upward, winding round and round until he reaches the top. It has been claimed that the tower was origin ally perpendicular, but that the foundation's sinking caused its present position. But careful in vestigation proves this idea erroneous, and there is no doubt that that marvelous piece of architecture was first created in the brain of its archi tect just as it is built, for the purpose of doing what others had not done.

Near by is the baptistry connected with the Cathedral. It is specially interesting as possess ing perhaps the finest echo in the world. Our conductor lifted one of the seats, and let it drop, causing an echo almost deafening, and nearly as noisy as a battery of artillery firing around us. If one with the ability to chant, stand in the center Under the dome and use his hands to throw his voice upwards, echo answers echo until one al most imagines a hidden choir of angelic voices responding back and forth overhead. The Cathedral itself is much like its kind seen everywhere in these Catholic countries, but there was one point of special interest to us. We took THROUGH EGYPT TO PALESTINE 18 a seat on a bench at the base of one of the mighty columns which support the roof, and looked at the old bronze chandelier suspended by a long rod from the center of the dome.

It was inter esting as a specimen of hand-made work of the long ago, but a thousandfold more interesting be cause Galileo, sitting where we were sitting, ob served the slight swinging motion of the chande lier, and from that discovery invented the pendu lum. While walking along the street of Pisa one day, I discovered that whistling is an international language, which can be used between those who can not understand a word of each other's speech. A school was just out, one evidently attended by the better class — and I judge no others attend school in Italy. As some of the bright boys went skipping past us, I spoke to them in English — as my Italian was not in order — and they stared at me as though they pitied me. Shortly afterward one of them began to whistle an air from a popu lar opera.

I began to whistle the same tune, when they immediately faced around, and looked up with faces beaming with smiles, and yet half reproachful, as much as to say, " Now I under stand you, why did you not say so before ? " From Pisa we passed to Florence, " The Beautiful," with her palaces of art — paintings, sculpture and architecture. To my mind, Flor- ITALY 19 ence is, in some respects, the most charming city in Italy. One curious feature is the character of her art galleries. Formerly several palaces were appro priated to that purpose, but these being located in different parts of the city, they united them by extending galleries from one to the other over the tops of the houses, in one case across the river, so that one may visit the different galleries with out going from under roof. But old Rome is ahead, and we must not tarry.

From Florence we went to Rome by rail, the depot being within its ancient walls. And this is Rome! — " Rome that ruled the world!" "Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman was greater than to be a king." As we entered the gates of the old city, and wandered through her streets, our thoughts were busy with all we had heard, read or seen of Rome from our earliest youth. How our boyhood's declamations of and about old Rome and the Romans came up, and these succeeded by our historical studies, un til we seemed to revel in memories of the past ! Neither time or space will permit me to attempt to describe a fraction of what we saw in Rome, visiting her marvelous churches, palaces, etc., then driving out the Appian Way, and penetrating the vast catacombs which underlie great tracts of land, where hundreds of thousands of the dead THROUGH EGYPI TO PALESTINE have been laid to rest, and in whose secret chambers the old-time Christians often met to worship in the times of bitter persecution.

One visit to those charnel-houses is enough, however; curiosity is satisfied, and that is all there is in it. I might write for hours about Rome — of St. Peter's and the Vatican, St. Paul's within and without the gate, and Saint — everybody, nearly. There are hundreds of churches in Rome, but they manufacture saints there, so are always sure of a sufficient quantity to go round. But of one church I must speak: Catholic tradition says that Paul was beheaded on the Appian Way, outside of Rome some distance, and that when his head struck the ground, it rebounded several times, and that a miraculous spring of water started up at each point where it struck, and they show the springs to prove it ! Well, in memory of this miraculous event, they erected one of the grandest and most beautiful cathedrals in the world, " St. Paul's Without the Gates,"— so far without the gates and away from the population that it stands as a monument only, a church without a people, simply an attraction for tourists.

But that is not a strange thing in Europe. I ob served that the great cathedrals all over the conti nent, and especially in the south, count more as money-makers or show-places than places of worship. ITALY 21 I remember an experience we had in the great cathedral of Cologne, Germany. It astonished us then, but we afterwards saw it so often re peated that it ceased to impress us as a novelty. The attendant was earning his fee by showing us round. It was the hour of service; the people were on their knees before the altar, while the priest was conducting the service. Our guide paid no attention to all this, but went on talking, and started across between the priest and the congregation. We stopped him, as to us it seemed almost sacrilegous, but he said it was " all right, " and went ahead describing the beauty of altar, windows, etc.

But the most interesting part of Rome, and in many respects of the world, is the recently ex humed center of ancient Rome, which, although it lay buried beneath the rubbish of time for centuries, has been unearthed and brought to view. Ascending the long flight of steps which leads to the Capitol building, we passed around it, and gazed down into a valley upon the ruins of ancient Rome. From our prominent position we could see the triumphal arches of Constantine, Titus and others, the ruins of the Audience Chamber of the Cæsars, the Forum, the Senate Chamber, temples without number, and the great Coliseum. Perhaps no other spot of equal size on this earth ever contained the same num- THROUGH EGYPT TO PALESTINE ber of grand and noted monuments and build ings. As we entered the mighty Coliseum and looked upon the great arena with its vast seating capa city of seventy-five thousand people, and recalled its history, imagination peopled it again with the gay and brilliant multitudes which once thronged to see the brutal scenes and combats there exhib ited for their amusement.

Emperors and em presses, senators and warriors, with their gayly attired wives and attendants, thronged the galleries, and gazed down with eager expectancy. Again the doors were thrown back, and stepping into the arena came Rome's fiercest gladiators, trained human brutes. What muscle, what forms! God-given manly beauty debased by con tention in deadly combat. They have no quar rel; perhaps, on the contrary, they in youth were fellow-playmates in old Sparta, or some other far-away land; but brutal Rome has made them slaves and trained them for the arena, and like wild beasts they set upon each other until one or both fall to rise no more, while fair hands ap plaud and perfumed handkerchiefs are waved aloft amidst the din of voices of the shouting mul titude. Again in thought the fierce Numidian lion and the delicate Christian maiden were present to furnish added amusement for the un satisfied multitude.

It seemed as though I ITALY 23 could see the hunger-enraged beast bound across the intervening space and with one stroke of his powerful paw lay his helpless victim in the dust, and sink his fangs deep into her tender flesh; while the brutal audience shout themselves hoarse, " deeming this rare sport forsooth." After passing out of the Coliseum, and reflect ing upon the scenes suggested by its history, I could but ask myself whether the world at large has made much advancement in its desires for amusement, (even should that something cause sacrifice of life) since the days of Nero and his equally fiendish successor Diocletian ? I fear not, as witness the popularity of the prize fight, and other brutal amusements. The desire seems much the same, but thanks to Christian influence, they are held more in check.

Running between the ruins of the Senate Chamber and the Forum is the old Roman road through the capital. It is only a narrow way, ten or twelve feet in width, paved with huge blocks of stone, which are cut in ruts six or eight inches deep by the chariots of the long ago. Standing here I found myself picturing some of the processions which rolled along this old road, as mighty Emperors returned fresh from bloody conquest, with kings and princes chained to their chariot wheels, and old Rome's eagles flashing in the sunlight. How pride and power shone in THR O UGH EG YPT TO PALESTINE 24 the face of the conqueror as he heard the shouts of the people who filled every available space to greet their returning army ! Truly war was the one mighty god of those days, and methinks his godship has not lost his power to command the admiration and worship of the nations even of this enlightened nineteenth century.

There is something marvelous in the fact that all this greatness should have gone into ruin; but still more that the ruins should have been buried out of sight for hundreds of years, until their location was virtually forgotten, and the spade of the explorer had to hunt and dig and unearth, to furnish us with this relic of the greatness of the mighty Roman Empire. But this is a com mon fate of ancient cities of the Old World, and we can but ask ourselves the question. In the revolutions of time, will it ever come to pass that the great cities of the Now will be in ruins and the subjects for formation of exploration socie ties ? Can it ever be that the greatness of New York, London or Paris will pass into ancient history ? Such a question would have seemed as preposterous to the inhabitant of ancient Thebes, Athens or Rome.

Verily it seems like a jest now even to contemplate such a thought, but as strange things have happened, though to us this seems utterly impossible. "So nations in their course decay, So nourish these when those have passed away."

Chapter III. Impressions Formed By The Way

And now a few thoughts and impressions formed by the way. It sometimes staggers us to try to grasp the simple truth, without attempting to believe the claims made by the custodians of the vast relic chambers called churches and cathedrals with which each city of Italy is filled. It really re minds one of the advertisements found in the daily papers of places of amusement, each adver tising its peculiar attraction as being " the best." To illustrate: Saint Mark's, in Venice, claims to have within its altar the remains of Saint Mark. St. John's, in Genoa, shows — to male visitors only — the box said to have contained the remains of John the Baptist, as well as the chains with which he was bound in prison. I said this box is shown only to male visitors, because on account of his death having been caused by Herodias and her naughty daughter, no woman is ever permitted to pass behind the altar to look upon this draw ing feature of the show.

In our way of looking at things, it occurs to us that it is rather unfair dealing with the fair sex; unless, on the other hand, and certainly with as much justice, they should debar men from the privilege of entering churches in any respect devoted to Christ or His worship, because it was men who crucified Him. But the inconsistency of some things is beyond finding out. The Campo Santo (burial-ground) of Pisa is composed of fifty shiploads of earth brought from Palestine; so that, truly, is "holy ground," if there is any virtue in it. Also in the cathedral of Pisa they have a picture of the Virgin Mary which they say was produced by a miracle — painted without hands. In Rome they have a similar portrait, which, they say, was begun by Saint Luke, but finished miraculously. Well, without intending any irreverence, we can not think of Saint Luke as an artist, or of the pictures being improved by a miracle.

In one church in Rome they claim to have the remains of Saint Paul; in another the remains of Saint Peter; in another a part of the cross; in an other a part of the manger in which the Saviour was laid; in another a part of the table on which the Last Supper was eaten; in another the stone with the footprints of the Saviour made at the time when, they say, he appeared to Saint Peter when he was leaving Rome and sent him back again. I would say that the footprints are fully a half inch or more in the solid rock; but then it must have taken something very forcible to turn Peter back to his work, for, judging by a proof shown in the wall on the stairway in the Mamer tine prison, he must have been a hard man, for there, with the greatest assurance, they show you a hole in the solid rock, perhaps two inches deep and the size of a man's head, which was made by his laying his head against the rock.

If this is true, I can't understand why Peter ever stayed in prison over night, as he might have leaned just a lictle harder and pressed a hole clear through the wall, and thus have been free. Florence, " The Beautiful," owes one of her grandest monuments to this insane desire for holy relics. They built the temple for them, but their embassy to Palestine did not meet with success in their quest, and from some totally un accountable disposition to be honest, returned empty-handed. Why they did not bring some old lumber or bones, and announce them to be sacred, no one seems able to explain. At any rate, they did not, and therefore deserve canoni zation; and the beautiful edifice was dedicated as the tomb of the Medici. I would not neglect to name the church de voted to the worship of the Holy Stairs.

They are said to be the stairs to Pilate's judgment hall in Jerusalem, down which Jesus passed on his journey to the cross. They are covered with boards, to prevent them from being worn out. They consist of twenty-eight steps, and the poor devotees ascend them on their knees, saying a prayer on each, and thus obtain indulgence. In the worship of the mother Roman Church in Europe, you can not fail to notice the absence of the worship of God, or prayer to him. And, in deed, Christ comes in at some distance from the top. Some one has said that the worship of the Saviour ranks fifth. Well, that statement is more than a pleasantry, for, judging by appearance, the Virgin Mary stands at the top; then come Peter, Paul and other saints, the churches being built to their memory, and their altars in all the churches being patronized by those who pray to them.