Cradle lands

Preface

The journey detailed in the following pages was undertaken for the sake of the health of one of the party to whom the Egyptian and Syrian climates had been recommended in exchange for the damp cold of an English winter and spring. Some few portions of this Journal have already been published in a periodical entitled The Months and appeared last year. But these have been modified and altered to suit the taste of more general readers, while the greater part of the work is altogether new. The writer is indebted to Henry Pillean, Esq., of AVoburn Square, for his valuable artistic assistance in some of the Illustrations. The Chapter on Constantinople has been omitted, that town being familiar to all Oriental travellers.

She hopes that this work may be of interest to those who have already trodden in the same vi

PREFACE.

steps, and induce others to follow them, before railroads and other contemplated innovations shall have succeeded in changing the character of that which is now rightly and emphatically called ' Holy Land;

AViLToN House: Juhj 1867.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. ALEXANDEIA, CAIRO, AND UPPER EGYPT .... 1

II. FROM CAIRO TO JERUSALEjM 44

Chapter I. Alexandria, Cairo, And Upper Egypt

On the 26th November, 186— a small but crowded steamer was seen ploughing its way through the waves at the entrance to the port of Alexandria. Its living freight was of a motley description : there was the usual proportion of Indian passengers — Indian officers returning with their wives after sickleave ; engineer officers going out to lay down the electric telegraph — one of whom, young in years but old in knowledge, whose distinguished merit had already raised him to the first place in his profession, was never again destined to see his native shores. Then there were others seeking health, and about to exchange the damp foggy climate of England for the warm, dry, invigorating air of Nubia and the Upper Nile.

They had had a horrible passage, in a small and badly-appointed steamer, of which all the portholes had to be closed on account of the gale, leaving the

B

ALEXANDRIA, wretched occupants of the cabins in a state of suffocation difficult to describe. So that it was with intense joy that the jetty was at last reached ; and in the midst of a noise and confusion well known to all who arrive at Alexandria, the passengers were landed on the dirty quay, and were dragged rather than led into the carriages which were to convey them to the hotel. It was the Feast of St. Catherine, the patron saint of Alexandria, to whom the great cathedral is dedicated ; and, in consequence, the town was more than usually gay. Towards evening a beautiful procession was formed, and Benediction sung, in the cathedral, which is served by the Lazarist Fathers. It was the best day to arrive at Alexandria, and the prayers of the virgin saint and martyr were earnestly invoked by some of the party, for a blessing on their voyage and a safe and happy return.

The best hotel in Alexandria is supposed to be the ' Europa ; ' but our travellers, finding it quite full, and rather dreary and barn-like in appearance, went on to Abbas', a French house, where everything was as clean and comfortable as possible. Their compulsory starvation for seven days and nights on board the steamer had made them, perhaps, less inclined to be dainty; but the cooking was really excellent, and here for the first time they tasted fresh dates in all their perfection. One comfort only was wanting in this hotel, and

ALEXANDRIA.

that was mosquito-nets. Terribly Avas this want felt by one of the party, an invalid, who, suffering severely from ulcerated throat, was compelled to keep his bed. The mosquitoes were ubiquitous, and the inflammation caused by their stings rendered all sleep impossible.

The rest of the party, after making a pilgrimage to Pompey's Pillar, and inveighing against the bad taste of their countrymen, who have cut their stupid names broadly and deeply over every part of this great monument of antiquity, went on to see the Pacha of Egypt's Palace, built near the sea-shore. The fine marble hall was cool and pleasant after the glare and heat outside ; and the parquet floors of the saloons, made of ebony and almond-wood, were exquisitely inlaid ; but the rest of the decorations were in doubtful taste.

To one who has been for a long time in the East, Alexandria seems to be a motley collection of half European, half Arabian houses, and the refuse of the populations of each; but on first landing, everything appears new, beautiful, and strange. The long files of camels, the veiled women, the variety of the dresses, are all striking ; but the one thing which even the most hackneyed Nile traveller cannot fail to admire is the vegetation. Enormous groves of date-palms and bananas, with an underwood of poinsettias, their scarlet leaves looking like red flamingoes amid the dark-green leaves, and ipomgeas of every shade

B 2

ALEXANDRIA,

— lilac, yellow, and above all turquoise-blue — climbing over every ruined wall, and exquisite in colour as in form, delight an eye accustomed to see such things carefully tended in hothouses only, or paid for at the rate of five shillings a spray in Covent Garden.

The Sisters of Charity of ^ St. Vincent de Paul' have two very large establishments here — one a hospital, to which is attached a large dispensary, attended daily by hundreds of Arabs ; the other a school and orphanage of upwards of 1,000 children. There are thirty-seven Sisters, and their work is bearing its iruit, not only among the Christian but the native population. To our English travellers the very sight of their white ' cornettes ' was an assurance of love and kindness and welcome in this strange land ; and it was with a glad and thankfiil heart that they found themselves once more kneeling in their chapel, and felt that no bond is like that of charity, uniting as in one great family every nation upon earth.

There is a large Anglican Church in Alexandria (the only one in Egypt), built in the Moresque style, at the cost of 14,000?. ; but fi:-om some defect, either in the building or the material, it is already crumbling away.

Among sundry letters of introduction, our travellers had brought one from Miss Florence Nightingale to the famous Oriental scholar and

CAIRO.

antiquarian, Mr. Harris, the great authority on all matters connected with ancient Egyptian art, and Avho, with his daughter, lives in a charming villa outside the town, filled with rare and beautiM objects. Miss Harris is as talented as her father, and assists him in all his literary and scientific undertakings.

In the evening there was a picturesque procession in the town, with coloured Chinese lanterns and banners, looking like a picture in the ' Arabian Nights,' as it wound round the square and through the narrow streets, the people chaunting in unison the while.

After a couple of days' rest, our English party started by the railroad for Cairo. This journey was not as commonplace as it sounds ; for at each station the train was besieged by Arabs, clamouring for passages, between 300 and 400 at a time ; so that it required all the efforts of the guards and their dragoman to prevent their carriage being taken fi:'om them by main force. The heat was very great, and the invalid of the party suffered terribly. Having been warned of the excessive discomfort of Shepherd's Hotel, and the impossibility of getting anything to eat there, our travellers, on their arrival at Cairo, drove straight to ' Coulon's,' where apartments had been secured for them looking on the principal square, and where the first Arabic word they learned to pronounce was ^ ahik ' (leeches) — a remedy urgently needed by their sick companion,

GAIRO.

and which, fortunately, instantly relieved the inflammation and pain from which he was suffering.

The beauty of Cairo is the theme of every writer on Egypt and the Nile ; but it would be impossible to exaggerate its extreme picturesqueness. The exquisite carving of its mosques and gateways ; the oriental character of its narrow streets and bazaars and courts ; the beauty of the costumes, and of the fretted lattice casements overhanging the streets ; the gorgeous interior fittings of the mosques, one of which is entirely lined with oriental alabaster ; the magnificent fountains in the outer courts of each ; the graceful minarets — all seen in the clearness and beauty of this perfectly cloudless sky, leave a picture in one's mind which no subsequent travel can efface. Outside the town is a perfect ^ City of the Dead : ' all the Pachas and their families are interred there, and people ' live among the tombs,' as described in the Gospels ; while on Fridays the Mahometans have services there for their dead, ^ that they may be loosed from their sins ' — one of those curious fragments of Christianity which are continually cropping out of this strange Mahometan worship.

The first days of our travellers' arrival at Cairo were spent in preparing for their Nile voyage, and going down to Boulak to inspect boats or ' dahahiehs,' as they are called. The kind Consul - General had already provisionally engaged two for their party, which were to be arranged in the

Turkish fiishion — the one for the women, the other for the male part of the expedition. A good manylittle comforts were still wanting, which the owners promised to supply, and certain under-garments were likewise ordered for the sailors : a very necessary precaution, when it is remembered that, with the exception of the white shirt, red woollen girdle, and turban, the native boatmen dispense with all other descriptions of clothing.

Whilst these things Avere being manufactured, our travellers visited all the most remarkable buildings in the town, including the Citadel, adjoining which is the Mosque of Mehemet Ali, built entirely of oriental alabaster. All the mosques are on the same plan, and are approached through a large court supported by pillars and paved with marble, in the centre of which is a well, for the faithful to wash before prayers. In this instance the alabaster well is beautifully carved, and the view from the terrace, overlooking the whole town and river, with the Pyramids in the distance, is the finest which can be imagined. Our party were shown the interior of the mosque, their shoes having been reverently exchanged for enormous yellow slippers at the entrance. There is no altar, but a high pulpit, from which the Koran is read, and latticed galleries above for the harems. The whole was beautifully lit with hundreds of silver lamps.

From the Mosque they went into the Palace, and saw the spot on the terrace from whence the Mamekike, who escaped the general massacre of his race, took the famous leap on horseback, by which his life was saved as by a miracle. Afterwards our travellers visited Joseph's Well, and then, passing through the Horse Market, went on to the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, one of the most ancient in Cairo, and full of porphyry, serpentine, and other rare marbles. The priests were praying with continual ^ prostrations, but did not seem so much affronted as usual at the advent of the strangers. The road back to the Capitol passed by the wretched mud walls, with raised traps in the flat roofs to let in air and light, dignified by the name of ^ Barracks,' and into which the poor soldiers can only enter on hands and knees. No wonder that they have to be chained to prevent their escape !

The streets were a never-ending source of amusement and interest to the party — not only from their intrinsic beauty, but fi^om the indescribable variety and novelty of the bazaars and of the costumes of the people. Ladies of whom nothing is visible but the eyes, the rest of their bodies being enveloped in gorgeous-coloured silks, and over all a cloak of black silk called a ^ liaharah ; ' dervishes with their long black robes, and green turbans ; picturesque watercarriers, with their water-skins, and others with long sticks of sugar-cane, the chewing of which is a general amusement to people of all ages and classes ;

CAIRO.

Arabs and fierce Bedouins in burnous, and Kaffirs with long guns ; Syrians with red caps and flowing robes ; fat Turks in flowered silk dressing-gowns and ample turbans ; peasant women draped from head to foot in the blue dress and black veil which are their only covering, with a child generally sitting, monkey-like, on their shoulder ; and in the midst of this motley crowd thronging the narrow . streets, which are latticed over with matting to keep out the sun, strings of camels and donkeys beautifully caparisoned with crimson and embroidered trappings, closely followed by their owners, screaming out ' riglah' (beware), ' shimlah' (to the left), ' Ya Sitt' (0 Lady), &c., &c. (to warn the passengers out of the way), in every conceivable key and pitch of shrillness, the whole combining to form a picture unrivalled in any other Eastern town. Now and then they came on a marriage procession : the bride, in crimson and covered with jewels, walking under a canopy, supported by four men, and preceded by musicians, producing the most wonderful melody out of the most curious instruments. This kind of procession was often immediately followed by a group of little boys, dressed in red, with gold-embroidered jackets, on horseback, going to be circumcised ; or else a ftineral would block up the way — i.e., a long string of hired mourners, men and women, veiled and howling, the coffin richly covered with silk trappings, and a diamond

HELIOFOLIS.

' aigrette ' at the head, testifying to the rank of the deceased. Nothing can be more sad than the look of the cemeteries to Christian eyes. There is nothing

but a round lump of stone like this woodcut to mark the graves : the turbaned projection at the head signifying a man, and the plain bit sticking up at the base a woman : not one word of faith, or hope, or love.

One of the most interesting expeditions made by our travellers was to Heliopolis. They passed through a sandy plain, full of cotton, date-palms, and bananas, and by a succession of miserable native huts (which consist of mud walls, with a roof of Indian-corn, and a hole left in the wall for light), until they came to an obelisk, and from thence to a garden, in the centre of which is a sycamore-tree carefully preserved, under which the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph are said to have rested with the Infant Saviour on their flight into Egypt. It is close to a well of pure water, and surrounded with the most beautiful roses and Egyptian jasmine. The Mahometans have the greatest veneration for the ^ Sitt Miriam,' as they call the Blessed Virgin. They prove her Immaculate Conception from the Koran, and keep a fast of fifteen days before the Assumption ; therefore no surprise was felt at seeing the care with which this grand old tree is tended and watered by them.

OLD CAIRO.

Eeturning home, they stopped at a deserted town founded by the late Abbas Pacha, which is going to be converted into a college. At present it is only a collection of wretched houses, at the doors of which swarm shoals of dirty black children, - covered with flies, which settle on their faces and destroy their eyesight ; while miserable dogs (half fox, half wolf) fly at the passing stranger, and women, in their long blue dresses and black veils, squat silently and patiently, staring at the strangers. To the left were several encampments of Bedouins — men who had generally come with files of camels, on the speculation of being hired for the journey across the long desert, and who had surrounded their tents with a palisade of sugar-canes, to keep out the wind and cold.

Another expedition made by the travellers was to Old Cairo, w^here, near the famous Nilometer, is the Coptic convent and chapel built over the House of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, where they are said to have lived for two years with Our Blessed Lord. There are some very beautiful ancient marble columns and fine olive-wood carvings, inlaid with ivory, in this church ; and a staircase leads down to the Virgin's House, which is now partly under water fi:om the rise of the Nile. It is curious how persistently all early tradition points to this spot as the site of Our Saviour's Egyptian sojourn, and it was with a feeling of simple faith in

CAIRO.

its authenticity that one of the party knelt, and strove to realise this portion of the Sacred Infancy.

The following morning, through the kindness of M. Marietti, our travellers were shown the Museum lately established by his exertions, and containing a wonderful collection of Egyptian antiquities, arranged with the greatest taste. There is a statue in Brescia of a King Chephren, of the second dynasty, who lived 5,800 years ago, and built the second pyramid : it is as fresh as if just made, except that a little bit has been broken off the leg. One whole room is devoted to jewellery, looking as if it. had just come out of Storr and Mortimer's, which was all found in the mummy-case of a certain Queen Aa Hotep, who lived in the eighteenth dynasty, or 3,700 years ago — in fact, about the time of Abraham and Sarah. Some of these necklaces were exhibited in England in the International Exhibition of 1862. The scarabees are also very fine ; and there are some curious boats, daggers, hatchets, and spoons, and representations of different human figures, especially one of a woman swimming — all the attitudes and forms being identical with those which are now seen among the modern Egyptians.

There are three Catholic churches in Cairo, the cathedral being a fine large building. The Sisters of the ' Good Shepherd ' have also a convent near the cathedral, and an admirable day-school and

CAIRO.

orphanage. Many dark-eyed young girls, whom our travellers saw kneeling at Benediction there, had been rescued by the kind mother from worse than Egyptian slavery. The condition of the ^ fellahs , or lower orders, in Egypt, is appalling, from its misery and degradation ; and the good Sisters have very uphill work to humanise as well as Christianise these poor children. Nothing can be more wretched than the position of women throughout Egypt. If at all good-looking, they are brought up for the harems ; if not, they are kept as ' hewers of wood and drawers of water;' and the idea of their having souls seems as little believed by the Mahometans as by the Chinese, whose incredulity on the subject the Abbe Hue mentions so amusingly in his missionary narrative.

On Friday, at two o'clock, our travellers went to see the dancing dervishes — a most extraordinary performance, which few people would care to witness twice. First the mufti, or sheik of the dervishes, arrived, curled himself up on a divan, smoked his pipe, and had coffee, which he offered to all the company — everyone bowing low to him, and the Arabs and Moslems all taking off their shoes on coming into his presence. Then the visitors were taken into a circular place like a bull-ring or horsecircus ; the head dervish seated himself on a carpet in the middle, while a multitude of other dervishes, with high caps of a sugar-loaf shape, formed a ring

CAIRO.

round him, and began, with, a low monotonous music, to sway their heads and bodies backwards and forwards, chaunting all the while passages from the Koran. Six of these dervishes then walked round the sheik three times, after w^hich, stretching out their arms, closing their eyes, and holding their heads on one side, they all began to spin round and round like a succession of teetotums, each time increasing in velocity, till their petticoats stuck out like umbrellas, and they were fairly exhausted. As soon as one set dropped another took up the dance, each concluding by a prostration before the Great Dervish, whose hand they kissed. The same thing was repeated for an hour, till our travellers became nearly as giddy as the performers.

Before leaving Cairo, the English ladies were invited to spend an evening in the Eoyal Harem, and accordingly, at eight o'clock, found themselves in a beautiful garden, with fountains, lit by a multitude of variegated lamps, and were conducted by black eunuchs through trellis-covered walks to a large marble-paved hall, where about forty Circassian slaves met them, and escorted them to a saloon fitted up with divans, at the end of which reclined the Pacha's wives. One of them was singularly beautifiil, and exquisitely dressed in pink velvet and ermine, and priceless jewels. Another very fine figure was that of the mother, a venerable old princess, looking exactly hke a Rembrandt just come

CAIRO.

out of its fi*ame. Great respect Avas paid to licr, and Avhen she came in, everyone rose. The guests being seated, or rather squatted, on the divan, each was supphed with long pipes, coffee in exquisitely jewelled cups, and sweetmeats, the one succeeding the other without intermission the whole night. The Circassian slaves, with folded hands and downcast eyes, stood before their mistresses to supply their wants. Some of them were very pretty, and dressed with great richness and taste. Then began a concert of Turkish instruments, which sounded unpleasing to English ears, followed by a dance, which was graceful and pretty; but this again followed by a play, in which half the female slaves were dressed up as men, and the coarseness of which it is impossible to describe. The wife of the Foreign Minister kindly acted as interpreter for the English ladies, and through her means some kind of conversation was kept up. But the ignorance of the ladies in the Harem is unbelievable. They can neither read nor write ; their whole day is employed in dressing, bathing, eating, drinking, and smoking.

Before the close of the evening, Princess A ,

addressing herself to the mother of the party, through her interpreter, spoke very earnestly and seriously about her daughters (then twelve and fourteen years of age), remonstrating with her on their being still unmarried, and adding : ' Next Friday is the most auspicious of all days in the i6 year for betrothal. I will have six of the handsomest and straightest-eyebrowed pachas here for you to choose from.' In vain the English lady refused the intended honour, pleading that in her country marriages were not contracted at so early an age, to say nothing of certain differences of race and of faith ! The Princess was not to be diverted from her purpose, and persisted in arranging the whole of the Friday's ceremonial. Let us hope that the young ^ straight-eyebrowed pachas ' found some other fair ladies, to console them for the non-appearance of their wished-for English brides on the appointed day. The soiree lasted till two o'clock in the morning, when the royalty withdrew ; and the English ladies returned home, feeling the whole time as if they had been seeing a play acted from a scene in the ^Arabian Nights,' so difficult was it to realise that such a kind of existence was possible in the present century.

The Sunday before they left, curiosity led them to witness the gorgeous ceremonial of the Coptic Church. The men sat on the ground with bare feet, the women in galleries above the dome, behind screens. The Patriarch — who calls himself the successor of St. Mark, and is the leader of a sect whose opinions are almost identical with those condemned by the Council of Chalcedon as the Eutychian heresy — was gorgeously attired in a chasuble of green and gold, with a silver crosier in one

CAIRO AND SUEZ.

hand (St. George and the Dragon being carved on the top), and in the other a beantiful gold crucifix, richly jewelled, wrapped in a gold-coloured handkerchief, Avhich everyone stooped to kiss. After the reading of the Gospel and the Creed, the people joined with great fervour in the Litanies ; and then began the consecration of the sacred Elements, which lasted a very long time. The Holy Eucharist was given in a spoon to each communicant, the bread being dipped in the wine, and the Patriarch laying his hand on the forehead of each person while he gave the blessing. At the same time, blessed bread stamped with a cross, and with the name of Christ, was handed round to the rest of the congregation, like thepain henit in village churches in France. The Copts boast that there has never been the slightest alteration in their religious rites since the fourth century, and they are undoubtedly the only descendants of the ancient Egyptians.

The following morning a portion of our travellers started by train for Suez, across a waving billowylooking tract of interminable sand. Except the ^halfway house' (a miserable shed), there is no human habitation all the way, and nothing to be seen but long files of camels slowly wending their way across the desert. After enjoying for a few minutes the first sight of the Red Sea, the Consul obligingly lent them horses to ride to the Lesseps Canal, which was then completed to Avithin six i8

THE WELLS OF MOSES, miles of Suez. Upwards of 5,000 Arabs had been pressed into the service by the Pacha, and the poor creatures were toihng under the burning sun, with no pay and wretched food, and, when night came, sleeping under the banks. The mortality among them was frightful ; but it was in this way that the Pacha paid for his shares ! Our travellers tasted the water, the first that had ever been brought to Suez, except by camels, or, of late, by the ivatertrain. It is difficult to realise the fact of a town of this size being entirely without fresh water until now; which accounts for the absence of the least kind of vegetation.

The next morning a steamer took our party early to the Wells of Moses, about nine miles up the Gulf of Suez, where they landed, being carried through the surf by the Chinese rowers. Each of the wells is enclosed in a little fence, and belongs to a Suez merchant. It is a most curious spot, so green and lovely in the midst of such utter desolation. There are dates and bananas, roses and pomegranates, salads and other vegetables, all growing in the greatest luxuriance. Long strings of camels filed across the sand on their way to Mount Sinai, and the colouring of the mountains w^as exquisite. The shore was covered with coral and shells.

After spending an hour or two there, and reading the Bible account of the spot, our travellers

SUiJZ AND THE NILK returned to the ship, and went across the gulf to see the exact place where the Israelites crossed the Ked Sea when pursued by Pharaoh. The view was beautiful, and the Hill of Barda stood out brightly, with its jagged points clear and purple against the glowing sky. Then they visited the English burial-ground — a most dismal place, unmarked by a single cross or Christian emblem, with a mud house in the centre of the low sandy island on which it is situated. ^ We have the Crescent everywhere — you. Christians, are ashamed of your Cross ! ' had been the exclamation of a clever Moslem to one of the ladies the day before ; and the reproach was certainly deserved.

There are a large number of English engineers at work just now on a new dock at Suez. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company pay the Pacha 200,000^. a year, for the use of the rail and the overland route through Egypt. The hotel and everything connected with it is their property, being established for the use of the Indian passengers. The Catholics have a small church at Suez, but are building a larger one, as their mission is greatly on the increase. There is no Protestant chapel.

Our travellers returned that evening to Cairo, and for the first time dined and slept on board their boats, or dahabiehs. The first sensation was one of discomfort at the smallness of the cabins ;

THE NILE.

but they soon got used to their floating homes, and the beauty of the weather enabled them to live all day long on the awning-covered poop, so that they ceased to feel cramped and uncomfortable. The following day, the wind being contrary, Latifa Pacha, the head of the Admiralty— who had paid them a visit the evening before, with his interpreter, and had coffee in the saloon of the ' Zarifa,' which was the name of the ladies' boat — gave them a steamer to tow them up to Gizeh, from whence they were to visit the Pyramids. The excessive depth of each stone makes the ascent an arduous one for ladies, but the view amply repays one for the exertion. On one side is the interminable desert — on the other the fertile ' Land of Goshen.' Owing to the recent inundations, the party had continually to dismount fi^om their donkeys, and be carried across the water on men's backs. The next few days passed quickly, our travellers landing every morning to walk and sketch (while the men were bracking' along the shore), and making acquaintance with all the people and places of interest as they passed.