How we went and what we saw: a flying trip through Egypt, Syria, and the Aegean Islands

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Chapter I. Minneapolis To Brindisi

My good wife and I were dining one September evening with our friends the C s in

Minneapolis, when the question came up of a winter trip abroad.

Some one suggested Egypt, and without much discussion to Egypt we decided to go.

We numbered eleven persons. Our ages ranged from ten years to sixty ; our dispositions and tastes were as different as can well be imagined ; and when our proposed excursion was noised abroad many a sage traveller shook his head, saying, that if so much incongruity crossed the Atlantic on board the same

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

steamer, the chances were ten to one that no two families would be on speaking terms by the time the party landed at Havre. Although we were not entirely ignorant of these gloomy prognostications, we decided at least to make a start in company. And here is the route :

From New York to Havre ; three days in Paris ; thence to Brindisi via Turin and Bologna ; Austrian Lloyds steamer to Alexandria ; a day in that city ; rail to Cairo, where we would stay six days ; up the Nile to the First Cataract, and back ; six days more in Cairo ; rail to Ismailia ; Suez Canal to Port Said ; steamer to Jaffa ; nine days in the Holy Land ; steamer to Beyrout ; six days for the trip to Baalbec and Damascus ; steamer to Cyprus, Rhodes, Chios, Smyrna, Mytilene, and Constantinople ; five days in the latter city ; steamer to Piraeus ; thirty-six hours in Athens ; rail to Patras ; and steamer back to Brindisi, where the party would certainly break up.

I am well aware of the storm of protest I shall raise among a certain class, composed chiefly of those with aristocratic proclivities and without experience of any kind, when I say that the wisdom of our first move was a never

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failing source of gratification throughout the entire trip. It was the purchase of round-trip tickets, from Paris back to Paris over the route indicated, from Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son. The price was $710 for each person, and included all legitimate travelling expenses of every kind and nature, excepting sleeping-car ,from Paris to Turin, and meals from Paris to Brindisi and return. I have travelled with these tickets and without them, and I sayunhesitatingly that no tourist, even with the assistance of the most skilled and honest couriers (and these gentlemen are apt to be neither the one nor the other), can possibly get along so comfortably, safely, or economically in the East as when under the auspices of Thos. Cook & Son.

We left New York on the steamer La Champagne, of the French line, Saturday afternoon, December 29th, and arrived in Havre the following Sunday week, before noon.

The passage was uneventful, the passengers about as sick as usual ; the general run of amusements, such as have been described a thousand times or less ; the usual amount of money lost and won at poker in the smokingroom, one-franc ante and five-francs limit ; the customary bets on the daily " run " ; and the usual number of tiresome experiences of those who had " crossed before," related after dinner in the salon to anybody who would listen.

We had on board Verestchagin, the great Russian scholar, soldier, and artist, who was the most retiring great man I have ever met ; a young millionaire from Hayti, who lost seven thousand francs at baccarat one evening ; and M. Bouhy of the Grand Opera, a magnificent baritone, who sang the Toreador in " Carmen" at its first presentation in Paris ; these being the only distinguished passengers — except ourselves. We had some fine musicians, singers, and players. Many a delightful concert we enjoyed, but not one was complete unless M. Bouhy sang " II Primo Amore," a Neapolitan love-song, which always elicited the most uproarious applause.

We have no words but those of praise for the French steamers. Beautifully clean, attendance the very best, table excellent (barring the sour bread), and every one about the ship seemingly imbued with the idea that the obligation of travel was on their side ; a marked contrast to the surly, slovenly service of the

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5"

Cunarders, whose single boast of " fastest passage " has been completely eclipsed by the wonderful records of the ocean racers of the Inman line.

If one designs visiting the Continent first, it is far better to land at Havre than to go to Liverpool. Your baggage is checked through from New York to Paris, a special train takes you from the dock at Havre in about four and a half hours to the French capital, and the examination of baggage at the latter city is a mere form ; while the trip from Liverpool to Paris is at least eighteen hours, two custom-houses and the English Channel to pass, and three transfers of persons and baggage necessary, while the additional expense is about twenty five dollars. The two hours' delay while the trunks were being transferred to the "special" was spent by a few adventurous spirits in walking about the town, but the majority of the passengers were too afraid of being " left " to stray very far from the cars.

It was a "keen and nipping air," and we looked rather doubtingly at the hot-water cans, those pestiferous breeders of chilblains, which were to furnish the necessary caloric to keep us comfortable.

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

We are apt to make sport of foreigners travelling in our well heated cars with their "rugs," but in Europe rugs are an absolute necessity, not only on the cars, but oftentimes in the hotels.

From Paris there are two routes to Brindisi : one by way of Rome and Naples, the other by Bologna, very inconvenient, — price the same ; time, one day shorter by the latter ; sleeper from Paris to Naples, changing at Rome, again at Naples, and again at Foggia, but always in the daytime. By Bologna you change at Turin, where you wait seven hours (not objectionable, by the way), leave Turin at 9 p.m., no sleeper, change at Bologna at 2:40 the next morning, and reach Brindisi at 10:45 tnat evening. By all means take the Naples route for comfort.

We decided to take the former route to give the ladies an additional day merely to "look around" in Paris. They did not intend to regularly " shop " until their return ; they only wanted to get a " few necessary things " which in the brief three months allowed for preparation before leaving home, they had quite excusably forgotten.

We left Paris about nine in the evening,

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passed the Alps next morning by the great Mont Cenis tunnel, which the guide-book informed us is seven miles and three quarters in length, and cost $15,000,000, and completed the 496 miles to Turin at two o'clock that afternoon.

We had but seven hours in which to see the city and get our dinner, but we went about it bravely, although it was snowing furiously. Despite the unpleasant weather, we could see that this city of 250,000 inhabitants was a beautiful place. It is regularly laid out, the streets are well paved and cleaned, many of the buildings are handsome, modern structures, and the Academy of Science is a most interesting edifice. In our hasty tramp through the Museum of Antiquities we missed the celebrated Turin Papyrus and " Book of the Dead," but in the picture-gallery above, where we stayed as long as it was light enough to distinguish any thing, we saw some beautiful paintings, notably Van Dyke's " Children of Charles the First," and " Holy Family," said to be by far his finest work in Italy. Ferrari's "God the Father," is a strong picture, and I liked it far better than the famous " Descent from the Cross" ; but among all the paintings in the gallery, I saw nothing that pleased me so - well as the four paintings by Albani, "The Four Elements." Perhaps one of the most celebrated pictures in the collection is Memling's " Seven Sorrows of Mary." If they were as bad as the picture, poor Mary's lot was not a happy one.

We saw the fine equestrian statue of Emmanuel Philibert, and Cavour's monument, and then strolled through the arcades, — looking in at the windows.

But the roads are not rough, and were the cars comfortably warmed, winter travel would not be so bad. The sleeper we had from Paris to Turin was a " pony " Mann Boudoir Car, with accommodations for twelve persons only. We paid $180 for the use of it that night, being an equivalent of over twelve dollars and a half a section ! There must have been something suspicious about us, for when we opened negotiations for the use of it for the next night, the superintendent blandly informed us that the price would be sixteen hundred francs ! He evidently had had some experience with American relic hunters. In vain we tried to make him understand that we had no nefarious designs upon his car, as we could not possibly take it in our trunks to Egypt. He was ob-

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durate. Three hundred and twenty dollars was "bed rock" ; the risk was " extra hazardous." A few weeks later when one of the passengers of the Mohammed A linearly broke his neck in a clumsy attempt to carry off Belzoni's tomb, or a large part of it, the incident of the sleeping-car came vividly to my mind, and I was obliged reluctantly to admit that perhaps after all the railroad official was not over-prudent.

I had always supposed that a shawl-strap was a neat bundle consisting of a shawl or rug, secured by a couple of straps, connected by a handle. I know differently now. From the steamer, I started with a most reputable-looking bundle. Assured by the guard at Turin (five francs) that we would not change cars that night, I had opened the strap that I might use the rug. At Bologna, 2:40 a.m., we were hustled out of our compartment, and hastily packing, under the able supervision of my wife, the inventory was about as follows : one pair rubbers, one hot-water bag, one pair leggins, one bag — contents unknown, except that whenever I picked it up I invariably ran the sharp points of a pair of scissors into my fingers; one article of headgear — unnamed, a cross between

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

a seventeenth-century sun-bonnet and a toboggan toque ; 2. bundle of crackers, three oranges, and a parasol stuck under the straps when the bundle was done up. I protested that some at least of these things were out of place, but I quickly collapsed on being informed that a number of articles which belonged in the shawl-strap had by some oversight been put in the trunks ! I found afterwards that this disreputable bundle, still called by courtesy a shawl-strap, was no worse in appearance than a hundred others, the sight of any one of which would have frightened a well ordered New England peddler into spasms.

It was still snowing, and the prospect of a hard night was sufficient to scare away all thoughts of sleep. One little oil lamp in the roof of the car furnishes a truly "dim religious light." You can't read ; you can't lie down, neither can you stand up. Luckily we had but four persons in our compartment, and the nearest approach we could get to an easy position was to stand a valise up on end for a foot-rest, and then stretch out for such comfort as was possible.

And just as we were dozing, came the sudden call to turn out at Bologna, where, as all

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our time was taken in moving our effects from one train to another, we had no opportunity to purchase any of the famous sausages.

It is generally prudent though not always necessary to carry a lunch basket on European railroads. Sometimes the trains stop for meals ; oftener they do not, and the crying appetite of a hungry traveller is something to be avoided if possible. Tiresome are the compartment cars ; the passengers denied all opportunity of exercise; one half of them obliged to ride backwards, whether or no.

The dreadful night and the more tedious day following wore away at last, and 10:30 found us at Brindisi, in a pouring rain. How the porters did jabber and wrangle for the privilege of carrying our trunks through the depot to the bus for the customary half-franc fee. What a desolate place the hotel appeared, without fire in the parlor (?), almost without lights ; no supper to be had, and the steamer not yet arrived. She was expected every moment, so they told us, and so we sat up until near midnight in the dreary parlor, too hungry to sleep, and too mad to do any thing except goad the Squire to the point of profanity, his anathemas including every thing

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE. SAW.

and everybody connected with the railroad, the hotel, and the management of the steamship line.

At last, being assured that we would be called in ample time when the steamer was sighted, we reluctantly went to bed, more than half convinced that the suggestion was merely a scheme of the wily Italian landlord to have us miss the steamer, and so we determined to sleep with one eye open. Need I say our rest was undisturbed ?

Chapter II. Brindisi To Alexandria

Morning broke fine and sunny ; we hurried out, and there, sure enough, was a stately steamer. As we were hastening to go on board we suddenly discovered that she was a P. & O. steamer from England, on her way to Australia. Another bitter disappointment. Our steamer had not yet been sighted.

Towards noon, however, a dingy, dirty old relic of past centuries was revealed to our searching eyes, slowly rounding the point of the harbor on which stands the light-house ; a craft apparently fit only for a beggar's hearse, doubtless coming in to carry a cargo of garbage, which could easily be spared from any of the streets, far out into the deep blue sea. When, after an hour's struggling up the somewhat narrow channel, she finally came to anchor in the offing (I don't know what the " offing" is, but I heard a sailor use the word once,

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

and so suppose it must be a correct nautical term), and a cynical bystander said, " There 's your ship," our hearts sank within us.

Brindisi is at best a tough place. Built chiefly on a hill sloping down to the arm of the Adriatic which forms its excellent harbor, there is nothing interesting about it. The Appian Way ended here in old Brundusium, and along this road Horace and his friend and patron, Maecenas, made a holiday excursion from Rome, four hundred miles away. All the guide-books speak of the graphic manner in which the poet had described this famous journey in "one of his Satires." But as no one mentions which Satire it is, I doubt if it is very generally read. It is the Fifth Satire, Book I., and is a model of brevity, sparkling with wit.

They had a great party : Maecenas, Horace, Cocceius, Capito the bosom-friend of Antony, Luscus the praetor, Plotius, Varius, and Virgil. Imagine such a party for a picnic ! They were going to Brundusium nominally to be present at the friendly meeting between Octavius and Antony, but I have always suspected that it was a deeply laid scheme between these boon companions to get far

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enough away from their wives so they would not have to go to bed at ten o'clock. And in this Satire I find that Horace is responsible for the excuse for drinking wine in Italy, not worn so threadbare after 1,926 years but that it is still held sufficient : " propter aquam, quod erat teterrima."

Poor Virgil ! Little did he think, when as one of that jolly party he visited Brundusium, that in a few short years he would come back from Athens to die there.

It must have been a beautiful city in those days, and later too, when the princely Crusaders gathered here their squadrons to embark them for the Holy Land, doubtless celebrating their departure with many a magnificent entertainment, as was that when Tancred married his son to the daughter of the Greek Emperor.

The exact spot where the Appian Way is supposed to have ended is marked by a graceful marble column, about fifty feet high, well preserved. Near it stands the pedestal of another column, now much defaced, the relative position of the two giving rise to the theory that they originally formed a portion of a heathen temple, destroyed by Louis of Hungary about 1350.

The only other object of interest in the town is the medieval castle, somewhat restored, situated on a height overlooking the town and the sea. It is in a good state of preservation on two sides, the moat, bastions, donjon-keep, gonfalon, and barbecue being about as they were in the days of Charles V. It is now used for a penitentiary, but the chap in all Italy most deserving a front seat inside, is, I am sorry to say, still at large. He is the agent of the Austrian Lloyds.

The Austrian Lloyds ! How the heart sickens when recalling the horrors of that trip !

The boats, judging from the Ettore on which we were for three days imprisoned, are small, dirty, badly ventilated, not heated, with first-cabin accommodations which would disgrace the steerage of most any transatlantic line ; all the emigrants, beggars, cattle, and filth generally located on the forward part of the ship, whence the complication of smells wafted astern would put to shame a Chinese stink-pot ; a general air of listlessness and inattention characterizing the entire outfit from the stewardess, who was the best fellow aboard, and I will except her, down to the captain.

The boat has a strange history. She was

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an ancient Carthaginian trireme which, having escaped the destruction of the fleet by the Romans, was purchased by the Austrian Lloyds for one hundred sestertii, encumbered with an engine and some other machinery, and put on the line between Trieste and Alexandria.

The captain, who was hortator on the ancient trireme, was retained by the management, and some of the former rowers, captured in the interior of Africa, now occupy different positions of trust about the craft. None of them, I learn, have the slightest idea of the uses of the barometer or compass, and the management of an engine is to them a sealed book. It seems strange enough in this nineteenth century to be ploughing the historic waves of the blue Mediterranean in a craft, upon the deck of which perchance Hannibal once stood, the sailors steering by the sun and stars, and the familiar landmarks of Corfu, Cephalonia, and Crete, the only incongruities being the groaning of the machinery and the presence of the All-Minneapolis Eleven.

This craft left Trieste on Thursday and was to have reached Brindisi Friday night at 8:30. She had a head wind on Friday and although she passed a man a few miles north of Bari,

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

who started at the same time to walk, we heard before leaving Brindisi Saturday afternoon, thirteen hours late, that the man had reached Naples at one o'clock. She had to take coal at Brindisi, and although the agent knew this, not a move was made to load her barges, by the use of hand baskets containing about a bushel each, until the steamer put in an appearance. This looked like negligence, but it is possible that the agent, not really expecting her to arrive at all, thought it useless to load any coal on to barges which, being of still more ancient construction than the steamer, would doubtless sink in a few hours' time.

The arrangements for eating are as execrable as every thing else connected with the ship. Breakfast at 10 a.m., dinner at 5 p.m. ; that is all you get with your first-class ticket. The restaurant is, however, in full blast all the time, and if you have money enough to stand the prices a la carte you need n't starve. No electric light, no lamps on board. A candle reveals the gloom of each state-room.

In this presumably warm climate they have hit on an ingenious way to keep the meals sufficiently cool to be eaten. The galley is situated just forward of the smoke-stack where

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the coal-heavers congregate, and all the viands are carried along the deck and down the companion-way to the cabin tables. Sometimes a wave breaking over the ship adds a little salty flavor to the vegetables in transit, and sometimes a bold, bad sailor, in cahoots with the waiters, snatches a leg of chicken off a platter, but the passengers being below never know of these little incidents. Service very bad, and the distance between the galley and the tables so great that there is ample time for a nap between courses.

And this brings me naturally to speak of the excellent arrangement for reserving rooms " in the order of application."

We telegraphed for ours nearly two months before we started. We were " assigned" what the German contingent, who got aboard at Trieste, would n't take, and when we protested, quoting Cook & Son as authority, we were asked, in the language of the lamented Tweed, what we proposed to do about it. To this knock-down argument we made no reply. We paid for 842 miles of ocean travel nearly three times Atlantic prices, and received accommodations and treatment which would scandalize a Malay pirate. At eight o'clock in the even-

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

ing we had "tea, bread, and butter." The butter was a curiosity. Composed, as nearly as I could ascertain from a hurried analysis, of condemned maccaroni, tallow, crude petroleum, and sand, it was about the consistency of Frazer's Axle Grease, for which it might be used as a possible substitute w r ere it not for two important defects : the sand would cut the axles, and the smell would kill the horses.

The only gleam of intelligence I have been able to discover about the management of the line lies in the fact that butter was only added to our other miseries once a day.

This was my first intimate acquaintance with Germans as tourists, and I never want to hear again about the " loud, self-asserting boisterousness " of Americans abroad. Why, these people monopolized the ship ; they monopolized the steamer-chairs ; they monopolized the conversation ; and if the food had n't been so bad they would have monopolized that.

They did n't talk, they shouted. Day and night, at meals or on deck, it was the same. Judge Ames' laugh would be an angel's whisper amid the bedlam they raised at every meal. There were some exceptions, of course, notably a young Prussian cavalry officer and Prince Pullput. I speak of them as a class.

BRINDISI TO ALEXANDRIA.

Sleeping four in a state-room rather conduces to familiarity. Two of the fellows in the room with me snored, and in the silent watches of the night, from my point of vantage in the upper berth, I amused myself by poking first one and then another with an umbrella which hung conveniently at hand. Sometimes I made a mistake and punched the wrong man, as I did one night, when a vigorous prod in the ribs brought this forcible protest from

our worthy ex-mayor : " What the d 1 are

you poking me for ? I 'm awake ! "

The ancient mariners of the Ettore having fearlessly pursued their watery way in a general direction toward the African coast, steering by the stars, sighted the Alexandria light about 8 p.m. They kept up the appearance of navigating the ship according to modern usages pretty well the last day, for about 4:30 p.m., after a cloudless noon, I saw a gentleman in uniform standing on the starboard side of the trireme, thoughtfully regarding the sun through the wrong end of a rusty sextant ! The observation must have been satisfactory, for he immediately went into the galley and communicated the result to the cook, whereupon both indulged in a triumphant paean. The Alexandria light is built upon the island of Pharos, where the celebrated Pharos stood more than two thousand years ago, which was built by one of the Ptolemies, entirely of white marble, with a covered circular ascent on the outside, wide enough to drive a chariot up to the top ; height and general dimensions unknown. Unlike modern light-houses it was a square, consisted of stories, diminishing in size toward the top. It cost about a million dollars, which in those times, was as much as five millions would be now. The architect, Sostratus, of Cnidus, was a clever chap in more ways than one. He carved his own name on the marble of the building, covered it with stucco, and on the latter inscribed the name of " King Ptolemy." The stucco fell off after a few years, and although the name of the king was not forgotten, the name of the architect was preserved.

The structure was destroyed, probably about the year 1400 by the Arabs, who, not being able to navigate any thing but a camel across a sea of sand, had no use for a light-house.

Chapter III. Alexandria

Much of the picturesqueness of disembarking at Alexandria is destroyed by the steamer landing at the dock instead of discharging passengers by small boats, as formerly. But the change brought us a terrible fright. I was just emerging from my room when I met Lew

C , tearing along the cabin, hat gone,

evidently much excited. " Great Scott," he shouted as he flew past, "we have been boarded by pirates ! " I faced about, hastily clutched a loaf of the ship's bread from the table before me, determined to sell my life as dearly as possible, and sure enough, down the companion-way, came tumbling the Turks. Intimidated by my threatening aspect they paused, and touching their fezes said, " Kuk, kuk, kuk." With a sudden inspiration I fell on the neck of the tall, gayly caparisoned Mussulman nearest me, and my over-wrought

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

nature found relief in tears. I had recognized the great originator of the "personally conducted parties," Cook Pasha. Immediately on making ourselves known we were taken in charge by Mr. Mill, a charming young Englishman, our baggage cared for, the custom-house passed with the slightest possible formality, and we conducted to the Hotel Abbas, as clean, airy, and comfortable a caravansary as one would wish to stop at.

Excellent service, excellent table, not much surpassed by the famous Binda in Paris. We used Cooks hotel coupons in the East, and I assert that everywhere, instead of having the worst, as these coupons are popularly supposed to provide, we received the very best.

Of the ancient city of Alexandria, B.C. 323, which, in its palmiest days with 600,000 inhabitants, was second only in wealth and importance to imperial Rome, absolutely nothing remains, except " Pompey's Pillow," as I heard it called. This ancient monument, erected in the year 302 by the prefect Pompeius, and not by Pompey the Great, to commemorate the victory of the Emperor Diocletian over Achilleus, a local usurper, stands on a " commanding elevation," so

ALEXANDRIA.

called in this flat country, about sixty feet above the sea.

It consists of shaft, base, capital, and pedestal, but the two latter seem to be of inferior workmanship and unfinished. The shaft is of red granite, highly polished, and whether or not a statue pf any kind formerly graced the top, it is a monument worthy to commemorate the greatest achievement in the life of any man. The entire height of the pillar is about a hundred feet, while the shaft is a monolith seventy-three feet long and twenty-nine feet in circumference !

There is an ancient picture in Alexandria of this monument, with the statue of a man on the top, and it is highly probable that this statue, unable to stand the peculiar odor arising from the adjacent Moslem cemetery, came down from his lofty perch many centuries ago.

After breakfast we started out for a walk through the bazaars. My only knowledge of bazaars had been obtained from those gorgeous tents and booths which one encounters at church fairs in America, — where you buy something for ten cents, and get back no change for a five-dollar bill. The custom is

HOW WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW.

Oriental I find, although they only ask here a hundred per cent, more than they expect to take.

While there are many fine modern stores in the city owned by Greeks and other Europeans, there still remain certain quarters where trade is entirely in the hands of Armenians, Turks, and Egyptians. The shops, or " bazaars, " are from eight to ten feet square, opening on an arcade or street. In the doorway or opening (the entire front of many of them being removed during business hours) sits the merchant, his goods piled up behind him. Blankets, rugs, cotton and linen cloths, tobacco, silk scarfs and spreads from Syria and Mecca, probably made in New Jersey ; some shoes, more slippers, generally red or russet, of the same shape as those worn by the Egyptians centuries ago, each shoeshop generally making a specialty of some particular color. There was an apparent incongruity at the sight of a lineal descendant of Thothmes III., making a shoe with the assistance of a Howe sewing-machine, but the jolly old fellow, as he worked the treadle, informed us that it was " all right." Vegetables and fruits of all sorts ; fish and meat — all carcasses