Boy travelers in Arabia

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Chapter I. Between Boston And Aleppo

The home of two Boston boys — Their grandfather's gift — A traveler's visit — A long journey agreed to — Good-bye — From Boston to Scanderoon — A decaying town — A gayly clad Syrian— A beautiful bay — Starting for Aleppo— Rough riding — A night at Beylan — A ten hours' ride — Roughing it — In Aleppo Page 13

Chapter II. Aleppo Castle And The Aleppo Button

Comfortable quarters —Missionary converts — The Turk — Gardens — City walls— The castle — Its capture by Abu Obeidah — A cowardly king — The Aleppo button — The plague in Aleppo — The belfry of St. Zacharias 34

CHAPTER HI.

LAST DAYS IN ALEPPO.

• Preparations — About Arabs of the desert — Hassan the sheikh — Purchasing horses — An Arab's love for his horse —

8 Contents.

The prison in Aleppo— The Oriental Robin Hood — Merchants and manufacturers in Aleppo — A cowardly Turk — Starting for the desert Page 56

Chapter IV. The Water Op Desire

A cold ride — A dirty stopping place — A wolfish visitor — Mole tracks and jerboa holes — An Arab camp— Voices from the harem — Pitching tents — First tent-dwellers — The golden •house — Supper in the desert — A merry ride — First view of the Euphrates — A wild-looking Arab — The race of Ishmael. . . 76

Chapter V. On The Banks Of The Euphrates

Breakfasting with an Arab sheikh — Arab boys — Arab virtues — An Arab vice — A delightful landscape — The Euphrates — A question iu geography — "Woodcocks and pigeons — A noon bivouac — Lions — An aqueduct in ruins 93

Chapter VI. Joining An Arab Camp

Ruins — A good supper — A snake charmer's performance — In a jungle — Bozan killed by a lion — A Sabbath at Deyr — The captive Jews — Valley of the Khabour — Proof of Bible truth — In the desert again — What Richard saw — Hassan's defiance — Friendly Arabs — A grand spectacle — A friendly sheikh. . 110

Contents. 9

Chapter VII. The Ship Op The Desert

The sheikh Mahmoud's hospitality — Viewing the Arab camp — Baby camels — What the Arabs do with their camels — Thirst of camels — Richard rides on a dromedary — The camel's hump — Hunting with a falcon — A bustard and a gazelle captured by a hawk — How hawks are trained to hunt — Beauty of the desert in winter — Its heat in summer — What the Arabs do in the hot season — Richard nods Page 130

Chapter VIII. Huzza For Bagdad

Growing weary of the Arab camp — Arab women grinding wheat and making bread — A desert storm — Startling news — The camp to be broken up — Ronald's inquiry — Araby the Blest — The sandy desert and Arabia Felix compared — The coffee-tree — Coffee from the husk of the coffee-berry — The home of the coffee-tree — About Mocha coffee — Starting for Bagdad — The professor's stories about Haroun-al-Raschid. 151

Chapter IX. Farewell To The Arab Camp

A zigzag movement — A sick Arab — Arab religion — Happy as a king — Haroun-al-Raschid's character — Abu Isma's fate — Ismail made governor of Egypt — Leaving the Arab camp —

10 Contents.

At the ferry — Richard inquires about Alexander the Great's array — Richard's opinion of King Darius — Richard talks heroically — Ronald's mild rebuke — The professor's views — Called to the landing of the ferry Page 172

Chapter X. A Sleepless Night In Bagdad

Queer creatures — Crossing the river — A greater than Alexander — Huzza for Bagdad — Birds on the lake — Fanatical Arabs — A ruined tower — An Oriental scene — A mistake — In a Bagdad khan — Sleeplessness — Haroun-al-Raschid and the Barmecides — Jaafar's fate — Haroun's sister beheaded — Jaafar's two sons — The caliph's superstitious fears — His last public act— His death 190

CHAPTER XL

WALKING ABOUT BAGDAD.

Breakfast in a khan — Bagdad streets and houses — Calling on the consul — The consul's mansion — Richard's gladness — A second walk about Bagdad — The Arab's story of the caliph and Mezrur— Story of a blind poet and the caliph — "Waiting for the consul — History of the caliph and his jester — The consul's greeting — At the dinner table — Reed boats — A short excursion — The governor's palace — A mosque — Cut in twain — Zobeide's tomb — White asses 209

Contents. 11

Chapter XII. Farewell To Bagdad

Origin of the word Bagdad — The Bagdad caliphs — Moctader's grandeur — Abdalrahman's gardens and palace— Only fourteen happy days — The key to a happy life — The broken banks of the Tigris— The young sheikh Ajel — A boy prince — On a minaret — A place of execution — The bazars of Bagdad—The son of Ali— The foolish caliph— The Tartars in Bagdad — Tamerlane and the Turks — Preparing to quit Bagdad Page 232

Chapter XIII. Home By Way Op Damascus

Leaving Bagdad — Across the desert — In sight of Damascus — What Mohammed said about Damascus — A wilderness of gardens — Richard's enthusiasm — The spot where Saul saw the glory of Jesus — The golden river — Embowered streets — Rest in a hotel — Letters from home — Lions of Damascus — Street called Straight — House of Ananias— Conquest of Damascus by the Moslems — "Workshops and bazars — The great mosque — Tomb of Saladin the Great — Off to Beirut— Home again. .251

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PAGE

Beirut 2

Interior of the Khan 32

Khan at Aleppo 35

Hassan on the Lookout 122

Dromedary 132

Peregrine Falcon 142

Women at the Mill 153

Sand-Storm in the Desert 162

Heron 195

Alexandrian Donkey 229

Court-House in Damascus 260

Street called Straight. 264

Saul's Escape from a "Window 266

Bast Gate of Damascus 26?

Interior of Great Mosque 2?4

Boy Travelers in Arabia.

Chapter I. Between Boston And Aleppo

rpHE first scene of this narrative is in the -*- spacious parlor of a Boston merchant, whose home was one of those tall brick mansions which overlook the beautiful Common of which Bostonians are so justly proud. Two brothers are standing together and looking with evident interest on a handsomely-bound book which lies open on the center-table before them. The elder of the two is about sixteen years old. He is of medium height, stout, and somewhat clumsily built. His complexion is florid, his eyes large and gray, and his nose so badly shaped as to partly spoil what might otherwise have been a very pleasing face. His name is Ronald. His brother, named Richard, is a tall, thin, blue-eyed lad of nearly fifteen. His wide brow and almost Eoman nose betoken thought and energy, and yet there is something in his expression which makes one think that he is inclined to look on the dark side of things. Perhaps their conversation may interest us.

Having glanced at the illustrations in the volume before them, Eonald puts it under his arm, and remarks:

"I am glad grandpa thought of giving me the ' Arabian Nights' Entertainments ' for my birthday present. It is just the very book I have been wishing for this many a day."

" So am I," replied the other. " I once read 'Aladdin, and the Wonderful Lamp,' which I see is one of its tales, and I want to know more about the genii who are said to have done such wonderful things in that old Eastern world to which this book relates ; but we must hurry up. I see our fellows getting ready for a row on the pond. Let us go."

A pebble may turn the course of a streamlet, and little things often give a new direction to the lives of boys and girls. It was a trivial matter for the grandfather to give Ronald Pelham a copy of the " Arabian Nights ; " yet it actually put an event into the lives of Ronald and his brother, of which neither he nor they so much as dreamed.

Its first effect was to fill their imaginations with pictures of the strange life described in that charming volume. They both read it over and over again, and during the following week they could scarcely talk of any thing else besides Aladdin, Sindbad the Sailor, the Forty Thieves, the famous Haroun-al-Raschid, and his beautiful queen, Zobeide. Their excessive talk about these characters was becoming tiresome to their parents, and their playmates had begun to laugh at them, and even to nickname them, one Aladdin and the other Haroun, when a visitor appeared at their home whose conversation led to a desire on their part to visit the land where the heroes and heroines of their imagination once lived, such of them at least as were real personages, and not imaginary characters.

This desire had its birth at their dinner-table, while they sat as silent, bnt interested, listeners to the talk of their visitor, whom I must now formally introduce to your special notice.

This gentleman's name was Dr. "Winterton Benedict, the elder brother of Mr. George Benedict, who was private tutor to these Pelham boys. He was a tall, finely-formed gentleman, with a dark complexion, black, piercing eyes, prominent Roman nose, a heavy beard, and a carefully-trimmed moustache; and, as Richard whispered to his brother, he looked every inch a traveler. Though educated for the medical profession, he spent much of his time traveling in foreign lands. He had inherited considerable wealth from an aunt, and could, therefore, afford to indulge his passion for travel. He had been over Europe, had visited Egypt and Palestine, and had traversed considerable portions of India and China. He had also mastered several foreign languages. During the conversation alluded to above he had answered many inquiries concerning those two countries, and just as they were about to leave the table Mr. Pelham said :

"Well, doctor, you are indeed a great traveler. May I ask what country you intend to visit next ? "

" I am not quite decided yet, Mr. Pelham. My inclination, at present, is to follow in the track described by Lady Anne Blunt, in her ' Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.' I want to see the land of the ancient caliphs, and to visit the once famous city of Bagdad ; to view the ruins of the ancient and once mighty cities of Babylon and Mneveh, and to become somewhat acquainted with the Arabian tribes who wander in the great desert which borders the historic river Euphrates."

Ronald's eyes sparkled with excitement as the doctor mentioned these names, and nudging his brothers arm, he whispered :

" I wish he would take us with him ; don't you, Dick ? "

" Not he," replied Richard, in a scornful halfwhisper. " He don't look like the sort of fellow to be bothered with young fellows like us."

Their whisperings were not low enough to escape the ear of Mr. Pelham. He looked thoughtfully into the faces of his two sons, and after a few minutes of silent thought, he turned toward his visitor, and said :

" Dr. Benedict, how would you like to take my two youngsters here under your wing, and show them the city where their great hero, Haroun-al-Kaschid, once lived and reigned ? "

"That question cannot be answered without consideration, sir. Perhaps I might do it if my brother, their tutor, were to go with them ; not otherwise, certainly."

The two boys were greatly excited by the bare suggestion of the possibility of treading the streets where the caliph of their imagination once reigned in splendor, and yet jested in so many odd disguises with his subjects. They scarcely dared to hope that this brief talk would lead to any thing more than talk, though they knew their father rarely made a proposal without some serious purpose to carry it into effect. On quitting the dining-room Mr. Pelham bade them go to their sports, and when they left the house they were so absorbed in the issue of the question to be discussed by their father with the tutor and the doctor, that they could not enter into their usual after-dinner games, but lounged under the wide-spreading elms which shaded the mall not far from their home.

Mr. Pelham, however, was strongly inclined to give his sons the benefit of a trip to Bagdad. They were growing very fast, and were well advanced in their preparations for college, and he thought a trip to the Euphrates and Tigris with such an experienced traveler as the doctor would benefit them in mind and body. Their mother, though reluctant to part with them so long, offered no positive objection to their going. His wealth made him indifferent to the exj)ense involved. Finding Mr. George Benedict, the private tutor of his sons, more than willing to make the journey, he, after a full and free talk with the brothers, agreed to send his sons in their company. The doctor, whose experience as a traveler fitted him to be a safe guide, consented to take the party across the great Arabian desert to the city of the caliphs, and beyond, if it should be thought best after reaching Bagdad to go farther.

Ronald and Richard were noisily gleeful when informed of this arrangement. Their playmates said they were " a pair of crazy loons," and so demonstrative were they around the house while their outfit was in preparation that their good mother's patience was sorely tried by their antics. But as the doctor, like a sensible traveler, required their outfit to be limited by their probable actual needs, and as the autumn was already well advanced, the time soon came when they were to say that " good-bye " to father and mother and near relatives, which, in spite of the gleefulness of their anticipations, brought sharp pangs to their hearts and tears to their eyes. Yet those cheerless words were said at last, and they sped by rail to New York, took steam-ship to Havre, whence they passed through

France to Marseilles. At this port they took steam-ship for Alexandretta or Scanderoon, on the coast of Syria. Alexandretta is the port of Aleppo, which was the city which they intended to make their starting-point for the great Arabian Desert.

Their experience on the voyage, first to Havre, then from Marseilles to Alexandretta, is passed over because it was not marked by any thing strange or uncommon. They met with some heavy storms and had to pay the usual tribute of seasickness demanded by old ocean of most landsmen ; but of the whole passage Roland wrote to his mother, "It's no fun to be seasick, but after all it's not as bad as it might be, and, on the whole, we had a jolly time in crossing both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."

Let us, therefore, imagine our party just landed from the French steamer. The tall Dr. Benedict is walking up from the landing-place, Professor George Benedict, less robust and more genial in aspect than his brother, is standing still with his two pupils. The three are gazing with a curiosity natural to travelers to ascertain if they can, to what sort of a place they have come. Richard, as you now see him, wears an aspect of disappointment. Having just taken a view of the mud huts which make up the Syrian village of Alexandretta, he turns toward his genial-faced tutor and exclaims :

"Professor, this place is nothing but a swamp ! It's a regular frog town ; it makes me sick to look at it ! The houses are mostly mud shanties ; there isn't a decent building in it — no inn, no church, no mosque ? Don't you think we had better signal the steamer and go to some place worth looking at % "

" That's just like you, Richard," quickly replied his brother. " You always were very difficult to please. For my part, I think we had better push on as quickly as we can. I dare say we shall find something ahead worth seeing. So cheer up, old fellow, and don't act like a baby ! "

"Yery sensibly said," added the professor, with one of his pleasant smiles. " We have come to Asia to see men and tilings as they are, not as we would like them to be, nor as they were in the olden time. This land was glorious once, but it is shorn of its glory now. Even this town at one time was a thriving place. Two great English trading companies formerly carried on an immense traffic with the Eastern world through this port. Yast caravans came in here from Bagdad with bales of wool, costly shawls, aromatic spices, and other valuable articles. British ships landed cargoes of European goods to be exchanged for those sent from India, Persia, and other Eastern countries. But after it was found cheaper to send and receive goods to and from the distant East by ships, that old traffic fell off greatly, although there is still not a little merchandise taken by caravans between this port and the towns of the Euphrates and Tigris Valleys. Nevertheless, Scanderoon is like a broken-down merchant."

" Scanderoon ! Why I took this place to be Alexandretta, professor!" exclaimed Kichard.

" You are correct, my dear boy, and so am I.

It was formerly called Seanderoon ; it is now Alexandretta — but see ! here comes the doctor, and he has evidently found one European gentleman here at least. There is a native with him, too, who is by no means a bad-looking fellow."

The boys looked in the direction of the little hamlet, and were at once greatly interested by the gay dress of the native who was following the senior Mr. Benedict. The lively Ronald, after glancing at the Syrian, exclaimed :

"There's something Oriental for you, Richard! That fellow looks gay enough to be a performer in Barnum's greatest show on earth ! How grandly he struts in his red morocco boots! I guess he thinks himself equal to a pasha of ever so many tails. And see! his clothes are all made of striped cotton or other stuff. Turban, jacket, trousers, all striped. We will name him Zebra. Ha ! ha ! "

The near approach of the doctor and his companions put a speedy end to the laugh caused by Ronald's queer little speech. They were then told that the doctor had made a friend of a gentleman belonging to the office of the British consul, that the gayly-clad Syrian was a carrier, or muleteer, who belonged to Aleppo, and was ready to furnish horses and mules and to guide them to that city, which was the first important point on their proposed trip to Bagdad. By starting as soon as possible, this Syrian told them, they could reach Beilan, nine miles distant, before night. This arrangement being made, the carrier started to get his horses and mules ready, while the doctor, guided by the friendly consul's clerk, made haste to purchase bread, onions, pepper, salt, oil, etc., sufficient, with what could be bought at the khans on the route, to sustain them during their journey to Aleppo.

The bay at Alexandretta is one of the most beautiful sheets of water on the Syrian coast. The professor called the attention of the boys toward it by asking :

" Did you ever see a stretch of blue water glistening beneath such a cloudless sky as this ?

It is nearly land-locked, you see, and those distant hills give it a fine background."

" It's splendid ! " replied Ronald, entering warmly into the spirit of his teacher. But Richard, less observing than his brother, said :

"Yes, it's well enough in its way, but scarcely worth coming all the way from America to see."

"How grumpy you are to-day, Dick!" exclaimed Ronald, laughing.

" Never mind," observed the professor. " Perhaps he'll feel better when he gets among the Arabs of the desert, as he will after a few days."

Richard looked vexed, but said nothing, until after walking with the others to view the ruins of a large building once owned by one of the great British trading companies, and wandering about the narrow, muddy streets, they returned to the shade of the hut which held their baggage. They had been there but a short time when the good-humored Ronald shouted :

" Hurrah ! here comes our Zebra."

" Yes, here comes the muleteer with his man, with ponies for us and mules for our baggage," said the professor. "My brother has lost no time. We shall soon be on the road."

The sight of the ponies had a cheering influence on Richard's temper. He and his brother made a rush for the rough-looking creatures, each wishing to select the liveliest of the lot for his own use. While they were getting mounted Ahmed, the carrier, and his attendants strapped the baggage to the patient mules, and in due time the word was given to start.

Our party moved in high spirits. They rode slowly through the wet streets and along the rude causeway which crossed the marsh, and soon found themselves ascending the mountain road toward Aleppo. To their surprise, they met and passed many travelers, Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Frenchmen, and Jews. Some were walking, others riding on camels, mules, donkeys, and horses. These people seemed intent on their own business, whatever it was, and, with one or two exceptions, did not even salute our party. There was nothing in this mountain road to excite remark by our travelers except when, after crossing a brook which babbled musically through a romantic ravine, Ronald exclaimed :

" Look there, Dick ! As sure as my name's Ronald, there's a telegraph wire."

" That's so," replied his brother, " and it's the first thing I've seen worth looking at since we set foot in Syria. I had supposed the Turks hadn't sense enough to know the value of the telegraph or brains enough to use it."

" O, I dare say it was built and is run by the French or English," replied Ronald, digging his heels, as he spoke, against the sides of his lazy little pony.

After riding about nine miles over a rough, stony road, in little more than two hours, our travelers came to a town named Beilan, built on the steep sides of a deep ravine. They halted near the khan, or caravansary, and while the doctor, who alone of the party could speak

Arabic, was talking to Ahmed, the boys, still keeping their saddles, viewed the scene before them, making such remarks as it suggested. The first to speak was the critical Richard, who remarked :

" A great improvement this on Alexandretta, isn't it, Ronald ? "

" I should say so, Richard. The houses here are solid stone, and there are lots of them — several hundred, I should think. But how old they look stuck on the sides of this deep cut ! "

" They look like great big bird-cages," added Richard, laughing.

" And they have flat roofs," said Ronald ; " at least most of them have. I wonder why they build them so."

" Because flat roofs are best suited to this climate and the habits of the people, who often find it pleasant, during their hot summers, to sleep on them at night," remarked the professor. " But, see ! my brother beckons us to follow him. He doesn't mean to have us lodge in the khan to-night, apparently."

The professor was right. His brother had learned at Alexandretta that, although the greater number of the people of Beilan were Turks, there were a few native Christians in the town. Aided by Ahmed, he had found one of their houses, and arranged to lodge with its owner, whose name was Jakoob. Guided by the doctor, our party soon found themselves in the large square room of Jakoob's house. It was a comfortable apartment, with a raised platform running around its walls, and even Richard was quite content to lodge in it. Its owner soon provided them a supper consisting of boiled rice, boiled eggs, and tea. To their surprise and pleasure, their host, with his family, consisting of twelve souls, assembled for evening prayers in this room. They sang hymns, and Jakoob's son read prayers very devoutly. After this service our party was furnished with mats or rugs to spread upon the platform, and being not a little wearied with the novel experience of the day, slept soundly, and awakened refreshed at an early hour the next morning.

After eating breakfast, also furnished by Jakoob at a reasonable price, our travelers started early, intending to spend the next night at a khan called Ain Beta. After leaving Beilan they soon reached the highest point of the mountain road, which then gradually descended toward the plain beyond. There was nothing worth noting on their trip to-day, except that it took them ten hours to reach Ain Beta, and that they were very tired when they reached the khan in which they were compelled to lodge the second night.

Kichard, on dismounting from his tough little pony, peeped into the yard of the khan. It was filled with mules and horses. After looking a moment or two on the scene he turned away with a rueful face. Shrugging his shoulders, he exclaimed :

" Is this what they call a khan ? Do we have to lodge among mules ?"

" Not exactly," replied the doctor. " This is the yard. Let us go into the khan itself."

Passing into the large room for travelers,

Boy Travelers in Arabia.

they found it like Jakoob's room, in that it was square, with a raised platform along the sides, on which to sleep. A fire was burning in the

INTERIOR OF THE KHAN.

middle of the earthen floor. Turks, both muleteers and travelers, sat around it, some chatting, some cooking amid the smoke which floated about the building, there being no chimney to convey it to the upper air. In one corner was a little shop, at which coffee and food were sold. Our travelers, guided by the doctor, soon found places for their mats on the platform.

The bread and boiled chicken they had brought from Alexandretta, with hot coffee purchased from the shop, made them a welcome, if not a dainty, supper. The chatter kept up by the Turks until midnight prevented them from getting much sleep during the first part of the night, and, feeling obliged to sleep in their clothes, even to their boots, they did not rest very comfortably during its remaining hours. When they were in their saddles after breakfast, Richard gave his opinion of this their first night in a caravansary by saying, rather gloomily :

" This is what I call roughing it with a vengeance."

But after riding all that day they had to lodge again in a khan at a place named Termini. The day after they reached Aleppo, seventy miles from Alexandretta. What they did and what they saw there you shall be told in the next chapter.

Chapter II. Aleppo Castle And Aleppo Button

IT was late in the afternoon when our travelers rode into Aleppo. While approaching it they had caught glimpses of its decaying beauty from several hill-tops. Its lofty castle, its numerous towers, its slender minarets, and the rich greenery of its surrounding gardens had roused both Ronald and Richard from the weariness of their journey of seventy miles, and made them impatient to reach it before dusk. But their ponies could not be spurred out of their lazy pace, and it was nearly sunset when, amid quite a crowd of other travelers, they found themselves in the court-yard of a caravansary.

The boys, with the professor, after slightly inspecting the interior of the khan, retreated to' its outside not at all pleased with the prospect of spending the night with the sorry-looking crowd which was preparing to lodge within its space.

" There are more beggars than gentlemen in that crowd," remarked Konald, with a shrug of discontent, which, however, did not prevent him from adding, with a good-humored laugh, " but I guess we're tough enough to stand it for one night."

His brother was evidently peevish, though silent. The professor smiled, and said :

"Travelers to ancient places must make up their minds to endure what they cannot cure. To enjoy what is pleasing, they need to be guided by old Chaucer, where he says, 'Beware, also, to spurn against a nail.' If they do not, they will return, home more bruised than profited. But see ! Here comes my brother with a gentleman who might easily pass for a Yankee."

Dr. Benedict had, indeed, captured, if not a New England Yankee, yet an English gentleman belonging to the British consul's office, to 3 whom, having letters, he had previously written. This courteous man was as much delighted to see our travelers as they were to see him, since the presence of either European or American travelers in Aleppo was a rare occurrence. After exchanging the most cordial greetings, he conducted them to the house of a Syrian Christian, whom he had engaged to provide them entertainment.

" There is no nail to spurn against here," remarked Ronald, after they had been feasted on chicken, eggs, bread, and coffee in the neat, wholesome room of this Christian Syrian.

" I rather guess we are in clover for once," replied Richard, whose peevishness had been melted by the relishable food, the comforts of the house, and the gentle courtesy of their Christian host.

After they had satisfied their hunger and seated themselves on the cushions, which covered the benches that ran along the sides of the room, Ronald said to the professor :