Oriental days

Preface

T was my great privilege to accompany Dr. Palmer during his travels in the East. While absent I gathered numerous notes and wrote a large number of sketches. On our return I put them in order for the pure pleasure it gave. They have proved so interesting to those who have read them that I have put these notes and sketches into print, and before doing so I have carefully revised them. If there be special credit due any one individual I do not know it. I have drawn freely from the sources open to all, and probably not more so than others have done who have written before me.

In writing " Oriental Days " the author has endeavored to impart, aside from the incidents of travel, some knowledge of the countries visited, the condition of the people, their habits of life, governments and their religion, and, sometimes turning back the pages of history, to write old,

PREFACE

old facts of the ancients, as old as the Bible and growing older every day ; and yet there never were as many in the world who do not know these facts as to-day.

"Oriental Days" is a companion to "Grecian Days," treating of the Nile country and King David's land. "Grecian Days" has been largely read by high-class readers and has already won its way to success.

Lucia A. Palmee.

Park Hill-on-Hudson.

CONTENTS EGYPTIAN DAYS

PAGE

I. From Sea to Land 9

II. Through the Delta to Cairo 18

III. Cairo and the English in Egypt . . . . .24

IV. Old Cairo and New Cairo 30

V. Copts and Mohammedans 35

VI. The Schools and University of Cairo . . . ,40

VII. The Citadel and the Mamelukes 47

VLU. The Going Out of Pilgrims 55

IX. The Pyramids and Sphinx 61

X. An Excursion into the Desert 72

XI. Beginnings of History, Government, and Military

of the Ancient Egyptians 81

XII. The Priests and Religious Beliefs of the Ancient

Egyptians 86

XIII. The Nile, Memphis, and Sakkarah . . . .90

XIV. Returning through Palm-groves . . . .105 XV. The Finding of the Pharaohs Ill

XVI. Leaving Egypt— Isma'1l!ya and the Suez Canal . . 115

I. Jaffa and Environs 127

H. Up to Jerusalem 136

III. Jerusalem Street Scenes and Ecce Homo . . .148

Contents

PAGE

IV. Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Dome of the Rock,

El-Aksa, and Solomon's Stables .... 154 V. The Mount of Olives, Bethany, and the Judean

II

HE distance from Jaffa up to Jerusalem is forty miles. It was thought best for those going on horseback to spend a night on the way. We preferred going by carriage and sleeping in J erusalem, and accordingly secured seats in a landau drawn by three fine iron-gray horses. Three horses and relays were necessary on account of the hill and mountain roads, Jerusalem being twenty-six hundred feet above the Mediterranean, and the last part of the journey you climb or descend continually — that is, climb a good deal, and now and then descend a little.

It was the 10th of March. A more delightful sun never shone on the dewy earth than brightened the landscape that morning. For a time our course lay through the fruit-groves, and the air was delicious with the fragrance of blossoms and alive with the song of birds. When we emerged from the orchards we entered the green Plain of Sharon, which stretched off to the east till cut short by the hills and mountains of Judea, which in the clear atmosphere seemed quite near at hand.

We were now fairly on the road to Jerusalem, and our imaginations became busy with thoughts of the unnumbered thousands who had, in joy or sadness, passed over this road. How few of them have left a record or a name — not even a footprint ! Like the grass they had trodden, they had passed away. They had not even been forgotten, for there was none to remember; and we called to mind the song to the fly :

" Oh, what a little life is thine ! And yet thou spread'st thy glad wing free."

But here all reverie was cut short by the pleasantvoiced dragoman, who began, "Tradition tells us that on this spot lived Dorcas." If it had been just a little more than tradition I would have listened ; but as it was not, and I was a little worn with the word, I stepped down from the carriage and gathered some red anemones ; the ground for yards was profusely covered with them. These were my first wild flowers in Palestine, and I was delighted and surprised, too, when told they were known as the "rose of Sharon." I wish the best authorities would settle the dispute over the rose of Sharon, that we might know whether or not we ever saw one.

I shall follow with my pen the road from here to Jerusalem, believing that others, with myself, will be glad to know all that comes to a traveler in passing over it. If any one is interested at all in Syria or Palestine, it is but reasonable to think he must feel a deep interest in this thoroughfare — enough, at least, to have an idea of the face of the country and some knowledge of the towns and places through which it passes.

The whole Plain of Sharon is without fences, the landmarks consisting of heaps of stones of small dimensions. The Bible says of these, " Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark." These words have proved a better protection of land-lines than a wall or fence.

It was seed-time, and plowing and sowing were to be seen in many places. I had often read of the plows of Palestine as being the same as those used in Abraham's time. How that is I cannot say, but the plow now in use is certainly a very rude affair ; and to be sure of being clear in describing it, I shall use the language of another : " Two poles cross each other at the ends next the ground. One pole is fastened to the yoke and is used for drawing ; the other is used by the driver as a plowshare at one end and a handle at the other. Only one handle. 1 No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.' In the other hand he carries a long spear or goad with a sharp point for touching up the oxen. It is seven or eight feet long, with a sort of spade at the other end for scraping the dirt off the plow. This spear is thought to explain this passage: 4 It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks ' ; and again : 'Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad : and he also delivered Israel.' "

Bee-farming is quite an industry in Palestine, and they have an interesting way of carrying it on. In March, April, and May the flowers overspread Palestine as a garment ; but after the burning heat of summer the flowers and grass have withered and dried up, and Palestine in the mountain country, where the soil is thin, is a wilderness. It is then that the bee-farmer closes up his hives, puts them on camels, and takes them to the lowlands, where they forage on the sweets of the orange-blossoms. I was desirous of seeing this bee-emigration; but at that time flowers were plentiful in the highlands as well as on the plains, and there was no need of change.

The first town of importance to which we came was Ramleh. "We stopped for an hour. The country around was beautiful, and appeared prosperous

— for Palestine. In ancient times the caravans from Damascus to Egypt crossed the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem at Eamleh. It was also a resting-place of the crusaders. Possibly it was Arimathea of the New Testament. We found there a small, clean hotel, with a kitchen-garden in the rear, where were blossoming old-fashioned flowers — marigolds, wall-flowers, larkspurs, and many others familiar from childhood. The place was so quiet and restful that I begged to be left while the others climbed a tower belonging to the ruins of an old church that most religious denominations, from Adam to date, claim as belonging to their peculiar faith. It pleases me to claim it for the crusaders, as there is none to disprove the claim. We will call it the " crusaders' church," and leave tradition out. The view from this tower is said to be wonderful, and I confess I regretted not having made the effort, for I would have had a glimpse of many places that it was not my privilege to see afterward.

This town always comes back to my memory in two distinct pictures — the one I have given, and one of horror. I scarcely ever enjoyed an hour more fully than I did my hour of rest, and I was never more horrified than I was, on leaving the hotel, to find myself surrounded, I could not tell how, by lepers. They seemed to me to come up out of the very earth. I expected to see lepers in Jerusalem, and intended to have my nerves steeled to the sight and to make no foolish outcry ; but I was taken completely unawares, and I ran with all possible speed to the carriage, stood up in the middle of it, and screamed. The poor, pitiable wretches were there, too, as soon as their shrunken, distorted limbs could carry them. They surrounded the carriage, with pails and dishes in their hands, — those that had hands, — holding them out for money, crying, " Lepras ! lepras ! " Some were blind ; some had but one eye ; with some fingers were gone, and with others hands were missing; and the faces of all were ashen, drawn, and distorted, with scarcely a trace of humanity left. Death is as nothing beside this breathing dry-rot. Dead, and yet alive — oh, it is terrible ! The gentlemen threw coins into their dishes, which were of all sorts and sizes, from a pint cup to a three-quart pail. They carry these receptacles that the charitable may give them money without fear of contact with the disease.

After leaving Ramleh we passed the hill boundary, and in an hour and a half entered the fertile Valley of Ajalon, the scene of the rout of the Amorites by Joshua, and memorable for his command to the sun and the moon to stand still : " Sun, stand thou still upon Gribeon ; and thou, Moon, in the

m valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, nntil the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies."

We passed a number of Arab villages. One in particular attracted my attention. The buildings, one story high, were built of blocks of mud, and were mostly without chimney or windows. How the roofs were supported I do not know; but on them the grass was growing, fresh, green, and luxuriant. The buildings were huddled together, and I could not tell where barn began and house left off, so it was barn-yard all around. In the midst of the filth were a number of high, oval-topped ovens — or, at least, I was told they were ovens. I wished very much to see the inside of some of these houses ; but I confess that, if I had been welcome to enter one of them, I should have lacked the courage to do so, they were so repulsive to me. An acquaintance, however, was more courageous, and called at two or three of them. He describes one as follows :

" The family are at dinner on a mat in the court, and at once invite us to join them, which we do. All are squatted on the ground in the open air, around a table six inches high. Their meal consists of brown bread, olives, eggs, and dibs (a syrup of raisins, which, I believe, is a Bible dish). The natives have neither plates nor spoons; at least, if they have any, they do not eat with them. They double up their scones into a scoop, with which they dexterously, and not inelegantly, scoop thenfood together and transfer it to their mouths."

Of another visit he says: "We all marched through the village, with a great company before and behind us, to pay our respects to the sheik. The children were singing in chorus, and in Arabic :

1 Christian ! Jew !

Very wonderful are yon/

The sheik, surrounded by some ten or twelve of the elders of the city, received us in state in his mud hovel. It had no chimney or windows, and one half of it was as dark as night. The rafters were heavily laden with soot, which had gathered in the form of stalactites. The mud floor was covered with old shoes. Holding out his hand, and then touching his heart, lips, and head, he said, 1 Salam alekum' (interpreted, ' Peace be unto you'). We were asked to sit on mud seats, and one of his men prepared coffee for us. At the other end of the building, in full view, stood a huge camel chewing his cud. Midway between the camel and us, screened by a mud wall six feet high, was his harem. Surrounded by his ragged counselors, the sheik marched with us through the village to return our visit. Seated at the door of our tent, he drank coffee with us, and then declared that we were friends, and gave us an armed guard of four men. Two of them, with long, ornamented muskets, were to keep watch while the other two slept. Our dragoman was afraid that all four would sleep at the same time ; and he told them that if he found any one of them asleep while on duty, he would have his musket as a fine."

Near the village of Latron we stopped for lunch in a dark, dingy hotel. It was certainly unpleasant and disagreeable to be obliged to stop in so dismal a place, but I found that I was growing in charity toward these places. In nearly all of them there was an honest effort to do the best they could for us. Palaces are rare where poverty is plentiful. Travelers have no right to expect luxuries in such a country ; it is unreasonable.

After lunch I strolled about, as much for exercise as anything. In my walk I came to an open door where a child-mother stood holding in her arms a three-months-old baby. I should judge that the mother was not more than fifteen years old. She was small in size — a mere child herself. The baby was not nearly as large as some dolls carried about by children in the home-land ; but it was a wonderfully bright, pretty little thing, with black eyes and hair. I spoke to the baby, which greatly pleased the mother, and she stood aside for me to go in. The one room seemed to cover all her household possessions. There were a bed, a box, and a few dishes. The bed was covered with a patchwork quilt made up of squares of calico pieced together. The whole bed, bedstead and all, looked as though it might have come from the western world ; but that was all that looked so. I was not invited to sit, because there was no chair. Spread in the middle of the floor was a rug of cheap make, which I suppose the family sat upon. I stayed but a moment, and on going out gave some pennies to the baby to pay for my admittance. As a rule, the poor of all countries resent the prying of strangers into their poverty ; but I think this little woman was very proud of her home.

Latron is about midway between J afTa and Jerusalem. It is said to have been the home of the penitent thief. The country was rough, the road rocky and in some places none too good. We entered Wadi Ali ("wadi" meaning the bed of a brook gone dry), and, following it, came to Abu- Groosh, a village named after a notorious robber who terrorized the country a few years ago. At this place we entered the division of land given to the tribe of Benjamin. Abu-Groosh was anciently Kirjath-jearim, meaning "place of forests," and is where the ark rested for twenty years in the house of Abinadab. It has recently been remarked by explorers that near this place are to be found the only remains of forests in this region of country.

New interests are hourly added to this wonderful highway of the past and present. We are now passing over, in all probability, the same road that King David passed over, with thirty thousand of the chosen men of Israel, when they carried the ark to Jerusalem. They sang and danced, and " played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir-wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. . . . And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it : and David offered burntofferings and peace-offerings before the Lord." From this time began the glory of Israel.

Not far from Kirjath-jearim there is to be had a fine view of Neby Samwil, or Mizpeh, the burial-place of the prophet Samuel and the spot where Saul was chosen king. It is the highest point in central Palestine. After a zigzag descent down the mountain-side, we saw to the right, in the midst of olive-groves and fruit-gardens, the town of Ain- Karin, the most picturesque place between Jaffa and J erusalem. It is a town of a few hundred inhabitants, mostly Christians. This is claimed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist. The main proof is that Zacharias, his father, a priest, would live near Jerusalem, " in the hill-country, . . . in a city of Juda." A short distance from here is another charming place, called Kulonich, thought to be the Emmaus of Luke. Here Mary visited Elisabeth.

A long ascent of an hour and a half, and the Mount of Olives was seen; yet another hill, and behold, the walls of Jerusalem ! Another descent, and we are at the gates of the Holy City.

Ill

JERUSALEM STREET SCENES AND ECCE HOMO

ERTJSALEM, meaning "possession of peace," is now called, by the Arabs, El Khuds, "the holy." The situation is remarkable. The city is surrounded on three sides by rocky ravines: the Valley of Jehoshaphat on the east, — the brook Kidron ran through this valley ; it is now dry, — and the valleys of Grihon and Hinnom on the west and south. Its general elevation is about twenty-six hundred feet above the Mediterranean. The city spreads over four mountains — Mount Zion, Mount Acra, Mount Moriah, and Mount Bezetha. Jerusalem is surrounded by a wall thirty-eight feet in height and two and a quarter miles in length. This wall has thirty-four towers and eight gates. The Golden Grate is closed. There has been, within a few years, a new opening made in the wall to accommodate the Latins, but I know no name for it. The city covers an area of about two hundred and ten acres

JERUSALEM STREET SCENES

or more, thirty-five or forty of which are occupied by Haram esh-Sherif.

Jerusalem has a mixed population of forty-five thousand, made up of Jews, Eussians, Mohammedans, Greeks, Christians, and a few of other religions. Each sect lives apart from the others. The Christians occupy the part of the city northwest of Mount Acra, the Mohammedans the northeast, and the Jews the southeast. The Jews are of Spanish and German origin, and are supported mostly by charity. Money is sent to them from all parts of the world. The Eothschiids have founded a hospital, and there is the Montefiore fund to be used for building and agricultural purposes. There are already many houses built and a great quantity of land purchased in the interests of the Jews. The highest religious aspiration of the devout Jew is to be buried in the sacred soil of Jerusalem, and many repair thither, that being their principal object in going.

To make ourselves a little more familiar with the city we thought we would make a tour of some of the streets. In looking over our map we saw many names suggesting Bible associations, as Zion Street, David Street, and the Street of the Patriarchs. David Street being an important thoroughfare leading from the Jaffa Gate to the Mosque of Omar, we mounted our donkeys at this gate, and as best we could rode down the street. David Street is fifteen feet wide and roughly paved, and was at that time slippery from the rain that had fallen the night before. In fact, I never saw the street when it was in any other condition. Besides being narrow, it is made still more so by the bazaars on either side, where the common necessities of life are offered for sale. The refuse of vegetables added greatly to the filth in the street, and spoiled onions and cabbages are to blame in part for the odors. The space not occupied by bazaars is crowded with Arabs, donkeys, and camels, with now and then a struggling tourist squeezed in between them.

The average width of the streets is ten feet; many are even narrower ; some of them are mere tunnels, being arched overhead, with now and then an opening cut through the cover for light and air.

In passing along one narrow, dark street, our attention was called to a door leading to a windowless room, where people who were without shelter for the night were permitted to sleep. At high noon of a pleasant day there was but mere twilight in this street, and I had to stop and look sharply before I could distinguish the door in the wall of the street to this place of refuge, the place being as dark as night. The furnishing consisted of a hanging lamp near the door, made of square panes of glass, and the glass was so covered with soot and

JERUSALEM STREET SCENES

smoke that it looked more as though it were intended to conceal light rather than to shed it.

In another dark street we met a Jewish funeral procession. The dead body was wrapped in cloth and laid on a rude bier, which was carried on the shoulders of four men. A half-dozen or more poorly clad persons were following on after it. I was told there would be no coffin used — that the dead of the poor were wrapped in cloth and placed in the grave.

On a sunny corner of another street we came upon a money-changer. He had a small pine table, destitute of paint or varnish ; on it was a tray of coins, and with a pair of scales he was weighing a gold coin, while a gentleman stood watching the result. Near by was a scribe, perhaps a partner. He sat at a small desk that looked as though it might have passed through all the sieges of Jerusalem. On the desk were a pen, a bottle of ink, and a half-dozen sheets of paper that appeared to have been manufactured at the same date as the desk. They were in artistic harmony. The scribe was resting on his elbow, awaiting a customer.

In the same block was a grain market. Here a tall, thin man with pale face and a worn expression was measuring wheat. The wheat was in a heap on the floor. He had a half -bushel measure that looked as though it had been new sometime. He wearily filled his measure, and from time to time shook it, and then pressed the grain down with his hands, piling it up until it ran over. I suppose that was Scripture measure.

We next came to a dry-goods bazaar. Here we found prints and various kinds of cotton goods. I was particularly interested in some shawls of the same style I had seen worn by young girls in Jerusalem. They folded them half square, and wore them thrown over their heads. They were of soft worsted, cream color, and barred off in large squares with satin. The border was covered with pink roses and buds and green leaves, and looked so bright and alive where so much had been struck with gray death, that I purchased one. I have not yet found out just what to do with it; I am afraid I shall have to buy a Jerusalem girl to wear it.

Passing on, we came to an open space, where there were a few stones a foot or more square. On these stones sat a half-dozen healthy, contented men smoking narghiles. I have seen plenty of idleness, but never such luxurious noonday idleness before. While musing on the smokers, a little girl possibly not more than eight years of age came tripping along with a small basket on her arm; she was so closely veiled that not a feature could be discerned through the veil, which was of a party-

VIA DOLOROSA.

JERUSALEM STREET SCENES

colored goods as thick as cheese-cloth. She very jauntily wore a sailor hat.

Turning a corner we found ourselves in Via Dolorosa, or " Street of Pain," and followed it until we came to the Convent of Ecce Homo. At the entrance we were given into the custody of two sweetfaced nuns, who showed us the wonders of the place. We went to the roof and had a new view of the city, then to the basement and saw the pavement of the ancient Via Dolorosa, or at least they said it was, and it bore so much more evidence in favor of the story than so many other things that we were glad to believe something, and so we did. We bought a few little pearl crosses, the make of the institution, and took our leave.