Half hours in the Holy Land; travels in Egypt, Palestine, Syria

Front matter

HALF HOURS THE HOLY LAND

THE HALF-HOUR LIBRARY.

Splendidly Illustrated.

Contents

€HAP. PAGE

I. FROM MARSEILLES ... o

II. A MOONLIGHT TISIT TO MALTA .... 12

Chapter I. Feom Marseilles

LEXANDRIA is the starting-point to Palestine for all travellers approaching it from the west. For that port we left London on Wednesday morning, were all Thursday in Paris, left the same night, and reached Marseilles about one in the afternoon of Friday.

We left Marseilles on the morning of the 20th of February, in the somewhat old — and not in all respects singularly comfortable — but yet sound ship Valetta, with as good a captain and officers as voyager could wish. It is a weakness of mine always to prefer a British ship to every other, especially when out of soundings. There

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

is something in the " Ay, ay, sir ! " which inspires a confidence that nothing uttered by a foreigner can do. This is of course " provincial," but I don't profess to be anything else.

The weather had nothing of the warm south in it ; the air was sharp and chill. We had showers of snow and sleet, the hills were white, the skies dull as lead, and one looked forward to Egypt and Syria as to a comfortable fire, whatever other attraction they might possess.

Soon after leaving the splendid docks of Marseilles, we sat down to a sumptuous breakfast, and, as it happens in most sea voyages, the passengers met together for the first time — and in very many cases for the last. How important is the prospect of a voyage, even of a week, to those who have to " go down to the sea in ships; " but to none on board of this or any vessel afloat, was it more momentous than to a respected member of our party.

Poor fellow ! He was a victim ; a clown-trodden, crushed, silent, and miserable slave to the demon of seasickness. That remorseless ocean-monster shook him, bound him, laid him prostrate, beat every bone in his body, knotted every muscle, tore every nerve, tortured him, turned him inside out, yet without a word of remonstrance from him, except a feeble groan, or look of agony from glazed eyes which had hardly an atom of expression to respond to the truly kind look of Morris the steward. But at this first breakfast-table my friend was all alive and energetic ; the power of the land was still upon him,

ON BOARD THE " VALETTA."

and the ship was steady as a rock ; the beat of her powerful paddles was hardly echoed by the glasses upon the table.

" How fortunate we are ! " " What a calm day ! " " I hope it will continue so," "No one could be sick with such weather," " We may have it so all the way to Alexandria " — these were the pleasing reflections from the different smiling, laughing, contented passengers, male and female, military and mercantile, Jew and Gentile, French, German, and English, who surrounded the table.

Yet these pleasant hopes were most unexpectedly interrupted by an unaccountable lurch of the vessel, succeeded by another, and accompanied by the sharp scream of the wind as it struck the rigging, its obedient harp-strings. I suggested to my friend the prudence of lying down while I went to ascertain the cause of this very strange commotion. He did so, promising to join me in a few minutes. Alas ! it was nearly a week ere he cared for anything upon earth, or rather upon sea, for all upon the quiet and solid earth seemed to him a paradise, which he would never revisit, unless for burial, if even for that.

I shall never forget the scene which presented itself

when I went on deck. We had been caught by a gale,

which very rapidly increased to a hurricane. Now

although, as the old song says,

"I've cross'd the great Atlantic, And weathered many a breeze, Besides being up the Baltic And divers other seas,"

FR03I ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

yet I never before encountered a hurricane ; and it is well worth seeing, for once at least.

The waves, at first, seemed taken all aback, as if suddenly roused from their beds, without having time to dress themselves and appear . with that solemn dignity

THE GALE.

before the world which becomes an ocean-sea. They rose with awful bulk of green water, and swelled up until, curling their monstrous heads, with a thundering and defiant roar they sank again, only to gather strength to

ON BOAKD THE ct VALETTA."

come nearer and nearer, as if to send the vessel down with one thud to the lowest abyss. Again the wind seized them with a hissing yell, as if in a passion, and tore them to pieces when they presumed to rise, scattering them into an atmosphere of the finest snowdrift, mingling air and water in one white seething plain, and seeming to unite sea and sky in a drizzle of flying mist.

One of the most remarkable effects of the wind upon the sea was along an ugly range of precipices to leeward. The waves, according to the calculations of one of the officers, were driven up the precipice for about 120 feet, but, owing to the force of the wind, were unable to fall back with all their volume, so that the foam seemed to incrust the rock like ice, and to blow as smoke over the summit.

The watch could not stand on the forecastle, which seemed buried in spray. The officers held on upon the gangway, their faces well " cured" with " the salt sea faeme." Our sturdy ship bored her way till the afternoon through all this turmoil with that calm and resolute bravery which our steam-engine personified, as it worked away steadily with its giant arms aided by regularly supplied drops of oil.

The wind blew as if it would blow its last. " Is it possible," I asked our gallant little captain, "that it could blow stronger?" "I have never," he replied, ' 6 seen it blow so hard except in the China seas." " What if the engine give way? " was the question suggested by me — who says I was uneasy ? — to the old and steady

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

engineer. But he would not entertain the suggestion. " A better tool never was in a ship, and for seven years she has never made a miss," was his only reply.

Notwithstanding the excitement of the hurricane and its intense interest, I was by no means disposed to complain wlien the Valetta ran for shelter — a most unusual occurrence. Fortunately Toulon happened to be the harbour of refuge. It was worth our while encountering the gale, to enjoy the unexpected pleasure of seeing this famous place.

The severe gale we had encountered told even upon this quiet nook. A brig which had broken from her moorings was being towed back to them by a tug; large ships of war, with their topmasts struck, were rolling so that we could see their decks. We were not permitted to land, and could therefore only estimate the strength of the place by what we saw from our deck; but judging from the batteries, which extend from the water's edge to the mountain sides, Toulon is impregnable. It must be a beautiful place in summer, and highly picturesque, but on this day it looked cold and miserable in the extreme.

The rest of our voyage to Malta was rather rough, but no special event disturbed it. My older readers will not care to hear of the following incident, but doubtless the children will. It is one very common in all voyages during stormy weather and when far from the coast. Several small birds were blown out of sight of land during the gale. They were so wearied as to be easily

ON BOARD THE " VALETTA."

caught. One little lark was so pleased with the warmth of my hand that he sat down on it, burying his little cold feet in his feathers, and looking about with his bright eye, not in the least afraid, and as if feeling* assured that he had been cast amongst kind people. These birds are always very thirsty, and drink with delight. In summer they sometimes remain on board for days, feeding upon flies, and in some cases they have been known to clear a cabin of cockroaches, a sort of ugly blackbeetle, and to get quite fat upon them.

One beautiful lark which we caught remained until we were passing close to the shore in the Straits of Bonifacio. We there let him off, and he flew away to sing again in his own green fields ; but another died, and was found in the morning in his cotton bed lying on his back, his little claws curled up to the sky.

We reached Malta late on the night of the 23rd, and finding that the steamer was not to leave till three in the morning we resolved to go on shore.

PEO^I ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

Chapter II. A Mo0nught Visit To Malta

A LL the world knows Malta: yet I would not exchange m 7 impressions of it, received during the strange hours of midnight, for the most accurate knowledge which could be obtained by daylight. Every one, the governor included, was in bed, except the sentries and a few policemen and houseless ragamuffins. The moon was shining "with the heavens all bare;" every house revealed itself, not in the clearness of noonday, which would have been a fault— few towns, and fewer men, beinoable to stand that sort of revelation— but in the soft and subdued silver light of the full moon, which blended wonderfully with the limestone of which the island is composed. We walked up streets which were long flights

A MOONLIGHT VISIT TO MALTA. 1&

of stairs, admired the balconies, and the innumerable bits of picturesque architecture and varied outline that everywhere met the eye, and seemed so tasteful when compared with the pasteboard rows of our prosaic streets, which are built by contract and squeezed into stupid shape by our city authorities, who seem to think that the " orders " of architecture mean all houses being alike, as policemen are.

We soon reached the side of the town which overlooks the great harbour ; and though I have lost all memory of the names, if I ever heard them (which I no doubt had), of forts, streets, palaces, batteries, yet I never can forget the impression made by what Joseph Hume used to call " the tottle of the whole." We wandered along battery upon battery, passed innumerable rows of big guns, which had pyramids of shot beside them, and which looked down white precipices, as if watching the deep harbour which washed their base, and sorrowing that they had nothing to do. We saw forts — forts everywhere, forts on this side, forts on the other side, forts above us, and forts below us.

We saw, beneath us, dark forms of line-of-battle ships,, like giants asleep, but ready in a moment to wake up with their thunder. Yet we saw no signs of life in the silence of midnight except a few lights skimming across the deep black water below; nor did we hear a sound except the song of the Maltese boatman who steered his gondola with its firefly lamp, and the tread of the sentinel as his bayonet gleamed in the moonlight, and the sudden question issued from his English voice, " Who goes there ? "

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

We stood beside noble palaces, formerly inhabited by the famous knights, every ornament, every coat of arms,

distinct and clear as by day ; and vre thought -well,

never mind our sentimentalism. TVe stood beside

the statue of the great and good Lord Hastings, and traced his silent features between us and the sky, which revived many thoughts in me of my earliest and best friends.

And thus we wandered until nearly three in the morning, in a sort of strange and mysterious dreamland ; and for aught that appeared, the Grand - Master and all his knights still possessed the island, and might be seen on the morrow's morn — if we were disposed to wait for them — watching a fleet of infidel Moslem iu the distance, come to disturb their peace and the peace of Europe, if not to destroy Christianity itself. And

we thought no matter what we thought of these fine

fellows !

STREET IX MALTA

A MOONLIGHT VISIT TO MALTA.

How thankful we were that all the shops were closed, where we might have been cheated by daylight ; that priests, and friars, and nuns, and sea captains, and admirals, and all the puff and parade, were snoring in their nightcaps. They would have, beyond doubt, destroyed the pleasing illusion.

After buying some delicious oranges from ever- wakeful boys, and bidding grateful farewell to our obliging guide, we returned to the Valetta full of thankfulness for our midnight visit to Malta. We never wish to see it again. We fear the daylight.

After leaving Malta we seemed to have entered another world. The sky was without a cloud ; the sea was unruffled by the slightest breeze, and began to be coloured by that exquisite deep, Icqris-lazidi-like blue which may be approached sometimes in our northern skies, but never in our northern seas. Nothing could be more beautiful than the play of the white foam as it flew from the ship's bow, or from her paddles, and fell like white pearls upon the glassy surface.

I was reminded of a similar effect at the Falls of Niagara, produced by the sparkling foam as it ran up the smooth surface of the deep water, which, like a huge green wheel of ocean, rolled over the Table Eock. In both cases, the contrast was beautiful in the extreme — between the pure white and indigo blue in the one instance, and the emerald sea-green in the other.

During our short voyage to Alexandria shoals of dolphins rose alongside of us, while once or twice flying-

IQ FE03I ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

fish -were seen skimming the surface with silvery wings —both features significant of a change in our latitude. Strange to say, our engine, which had stood so well throughout the hurricane, broke clown in the calm on two occasions. The " good tool" had no doubt been wounded in the battle with the storm.

One other little fact I must not omit to mention, as

THE DOLPHIX.

evidencing the distance to which fine substances can be wafted by the ahv For two days, and when out of sight of land, our course running nearly parallel to Africa, the weather rigging of the ship was all brown with fine sand, which adhered to the tar. And this was visible only on that side of the ropes next the desert.

A MOONLIGHT VISIT TO MALTA.

And now for a few days we felt the perfect repose and benefit of a voyage. To one who, like myself, never suffers from nausea even, it is the most perfect rest. The busy world, we know, is getting on very well without us, and so we determine to get on without it. The postman's knock belongs to another sphere of existence, and we hear it no more, except as in a feverish dream.

FLYING FISH.

A mighty gulf of deep water separates us from the world of letters, business, calls, meetings, appointments, committees, visits, and all like disturbers of selfish ease.

We assume, being ourselves in robust health, that all our friends are in a like condition, and are pleased to think that they lament our absence, hope to hear from us

c by the next mail, and will be glad to have us home again; while sometimes we cannot but regret, with a feeling which alarms our conscience, that we do not sufficiently respond to their anxieties.

On ship-board, pleasure and necessity are one. We cannot help being idle. We may possibly exert ourselves to play draughts or backgammon, but not chess — that requires thought. To read anything is an act of condescension, and no one thinks that his duty. In fact, the word " duty " seems confined to the officers and crew, including the steward. Those portions, too, of our life which on land are made subordinate to more important things, such as our meals and sleep, at sea are made the leading events of the day. We retire at any hour to our cabin, sleep, read, meditate, as we please, and as long as we please. The brain and memory empty themselves so completely of all that has troubled or occupied them during previous periods of existence, that we seem to begin life again as children, and to be amused with the most passing trifles.

Sensible men who, a few weeks or even clays before, were occupied with National affairs, become interested in the cow on board, feel her horns, scratch the back of her ears ; and beg for some crumbs of bread to feed the chickens. A dog on board becomes an institution. A sea-bird attracts every eye ; while a ship looming on the horizon makes all, who can stand, come on deck and watch the approaching wonder, as the Ancient Mariner watched the mysterious sail.

A MOONLIGHT VISIT TO MALTA.

"Who, on shore, ever thinks of the longitude or latitude of his house ? Not one in fifty believes that it has either one or other : but at sea our position is known every day at twelve o'clock ; and the spot upon the globe's surface which we at that moment occupy becomes a matter of serious speculation until dinner time.

We beseech wearied men never to visit Paris, to be baked on the Boulevards, sick of the Kue Eivoli, have their digestion destroyed by mushrooms and cockscombs at the Trois Freres ; nor to be pestered by guides, ropes, ladders, mules, or alpenstocks, in walking across slippery glaciers, or down savage ravines in Switzerland ; nor to be distracted by " Murray" in wandering from gallery to gallery, or from church to church in Italy ; — but to launch upon the deep, get out of sight of land, and have their brains thoroughly invigorated by fresh air and salt water. On the forenoon of Saturday, the 27th, the seventh day from Marseilles, we sighted Alexandria.

At this time, by the kind and cordial permission of the captain, I had a religious service with the men in the forecastle, as my custom has ever been on a voyage. It had little formality in it ; some were in their hammocks, most were seated around on the " bunkers," and were dimly visible under the low deck with the feeble lights. Few audiences are more attentive, more willing to learn, or more grateful for so small a kindness. We are apt to forget what these men endure for our sakes, what sacrifices are required by the necessities of their occupation, what their sore temptations and few advantages. The

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

least we can do when an opportunity offers itself is to speak to them of the love of a common Father and Saviour, and we know not when the seed thus cast upon the waters may spring up. It may be in the hospital among strangers, or when pacing the deck at midnight, or when clinging to a plank for life, or even when going down " with all hands."

EEOM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

CHAPTEB IH.

ALEXANDRIA .

THE first sign of nearing a new country from the sea is generally the pilot-boat and its crew. With what interest do we look over the side of the ship, and watch the dresses and countenances of the first specimens of the tribe among whom we are to pitch our tents for a time !

The boat, with a flag in its bow, which pulled out to meet us from Alexandria, had a crew which were a fit introduction to the East, with their rough comfortable brown boatcoats and hood, their petticoat-trousers, swarthy faces, and shining teeth. And as for "Master George " himself, the Egyptian pilot, as he stepped up the gangway to shake hands with his old friends, and

EROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

take charge of the ship, he was, from toe to turban, a perfect study for an artist.

There is nothing at all remarkable in the view of Alexandria from the sea. Notwithstanding the white palace, the old summerhouse of the Pasha, and other distinguished buildings, which are sure to be pointed out, the town looks like a long horizontal streak of whitewash, mingled with brown, and crossed perpendicularly with the sharp lines of ships' masts.

But a scene well worth noticing was the crowd of boats that pressed around the ship to convey passengers to the shore. Imagine thirty or forty such, with their nondescript crews, crowding to the ship's side, every man on board of them appearing in a towering passion, and yelling as if in the agony of despair, and, with outstretched hands and flashing eyes, pouring forth a stream of guttural Arabic, that seemed to the ear to be a whole dictionary of imprecations without a pause, and as far as one could judge, without a motive, unless it were that they took us for lost spirits claimable by the greatest demon.

The noise is great when landing from a Highland steamer, and when Highland boatmen, the scum of the port, are contending for passengers or luggage. But without defending the Gaelic as mellifluous, or the Highlanders as types of meekness on such an occasion, yet in vehemence of gesticulation, in genuine power of lip and lung to fill the air with a roar of incomprehensible exclamations, nothing on earth, so long as the human

ALEXANDRIA.

body retains its present arrangement of muscles and nervous vitality, can surpass the Egyptians and their language. '

If the Pyramids were built, as some allege they were, to preserve the inch as a measure of length for the world, why should not the Sphinx have been raised, with her calm eye, dignified face, and sweet smile, even now breaking through her ruins like sunlight through the clouds, to be an everlasting rebuke to Eastern rage, and a lesson in stone exhorting to silence ?

My first day in the East stands alone in my memory, unapproached by all I have ever seen. It excited feelings of novelty and wonder which I fear can never be reproduced. I had expected very little from Alexandria, and thought of it only as a place of merchandise, notorious for donkeys, donkey-boys, and Pompey's Pillar. But as soon as I landed, I realised at once the presence of a totally different world of human beings from any I had seen before. The charm and fascination consisted in the total difference in every respect between East and West.

Passing through the utter chaos, dilapidation, and confusion of the custom-house, and clambering over, as we best could, the innumerable bale's of cotton, under the protection of the blue cloudless heavens — winding our way among goods of every description, and between barrels and hampers, amid the cries and noise of the mixed multitude who crowded the wharves, filled the boats, and offered themselves as porters, guides, and

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

whatever else could command a backsheesJi, we reached the outskirts of the custom-house, passed the officers, entered the bazaar, and had time to look around.

The first impression made upon a European, is, as I have said, that he has never seen anything at all like it. The shops, with various kinds of goods displayed behind a man who is seated cross-legged, willing to sell them apparently as a favour, hardly attract the eye any more than open cupboards would do. But the persons who crowd along the narrow lane ! Only look at them ! They are manifestly from all parts of the earth — Greeks, Turks, Jews, Armenians, Hindoos, Copts, Arabs, Nubians, Albanians, drunken Jack Tars, English officers on the way to or from India, &c. With the exception of the Europeans, each man appears in his own distinct individuality of face and raiment.

In America there is a Yankee type everywhere visible, with lips, nose, cheeks, and hair by no means romantic, though business-like ; in Eussia there is a Muscovite type, which admits of little variety ; and everywhere, from the Mississippi to the Volga, there is a certain uniformity of face, or at all events of dress ; coats and trousers with buttons, long tails or short tails, hats or caps — a sort of Caucasian respectability.

But here, each face seems to stand alone. There are eyes and foreheads, noses and beards, colours of skin, peculiarities of expression — the sly, the dignified, the rascally, the ignorant, the savage, the refined, the contented, the miserable — giving each face its own distinct place in the globe. And there is, if possible, a greater variety in costume.

Every man seems to have studied his own taste, or his

ARABS FROM THE DESERT.

own whim, or, possibly, his own religion, in the shape, colour, and number of his garments. The jackets, the pelisses or dressing-gowns, the waistcoats, the petticoats,

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

the inexpressibles, the sashes, the turbans, the headgear, each and all are different in colour and in details of arrangement.

The arms, whether dirk or dagger, single pistols, or half a dozen, modern, or as old as the invention of gunpowder, sword, gun, or spear — each has its own peculiar form and arrangement, so that every Eastern has to a Western a novelty and picturesqueness which are indescribable.

And the motley crowd presses along : fat, contented, oily Greek merchants, or majestic Turks, on fine horses splendidly caparisoned, or on aristocratic donkeys, that would despise to acknowledge as of the same race the miserable creatures which bray in our coal- carts ; bare-legged donkey-boys, driving their more plebeian animals before them ; Arabs from the desert, with long guns and gipsy-like coverings, stalking on in silence ; beggars, such as one sees in the pictures of the old masters — verily "poor and needy, blind and naked;" insane persons, with idiotic look, and a few rags covering their bronzed bodies, seeking alms ; Greek priests, Coptic priests, and Latin priests ; doctors of divinity and dervishes ; little clumpy women with their peculiar waddling gait, wrapt in white muslin sheets, their eyes only visible ; and towering over all this strange throng are strings of camels, lank and lean, so patient-looking and submissive, pacing on under their loads of cotton, with bent heads and sleepy eyes, their odd-looking drivers mounted high above, rocking with that peculiar motion which the camel's pace

ALEXANDRIA.

produces — all this, and infinitely more, formed a scene that looked like a fancy fair got up for the amusement of strangers.

Before leaving the bazaar, let us look into this coffeeshop open from the street. There is no ornament of

WOMEN — RIDING AND WALKING.

any kind in it, nor does it aim at the magnificence and glitter seen in our whisky and gin shops at home — such palaces being unknown in the East. It is of the humblest description, having no ornament of any kind but a few mats on its floor and upon its raised dais. Capital is not

FROM ENGLAND TO PALESTINE.

required — a little charcoal, a coffee-pot, and some coffee forming the whole stock in trade.

Odd-looking, turbaned men, smoking their nargiles, are each a picture of quiet contentment. But the chief attraction to me was a blind man, who sat cross-legged on the dais, with a rude sort of fiddle, on which, resting it perpendicularly on his knee, he played a monotonous accompaniment to his chant. He was apparently an improvisatore, who had to think for a little time before composing his verse, or more probably he was only a reciter of old Arab poems. While chanting and scraping on the fiddle, there was a smile of good-humour on his face. Xo sooner were two or three lines repeated, than his audience exhibited the greatest satisfaction, and turned their eyes to a young man who sat on the opposite dais, quietly smoking — a competitor, apparently, with the blind musician and ballad-singer. He seemed sometimes puzzled for a moment, as he blew a few rapid whiffs from his pipe, while the blind man listened with the greatest attention. But no sooner was his response given than a general movement was visible among the auditors, who turned to the blind minstrel as if saying, " Match that, old fellow, if you can ! "

Along the whole bazaar there were little episodes of this sort, presenting features of social life totally different from our own. My excellent friend laughed heartily at my enthusiasm, assuring me that I would think nothing of all this by the time I reached Damascus, and begged I would come away, as we must have a drive and see a

ALEXANDRIA.

few sights before dinner ; although, to tell the truth, I was much more pleased with the sort of sights around me than with the prospect of beholding even Pompey's- Pillar.

Obeying orders, we were soon in the square, or long parallelogram which forms the respectable part of the town and where the chief hotels are situated ; but it had no more interest for me than Euston Square. Not so the drive.

Soon after leaving the hotel we were again in the East, with its dust, poverty, picturesqueness, and confusion. We visited an old Greek church, which had been excavated out of a mass of debris. We gazed with interest upon its walls dimly frescoed with Christian subjects, and looked into its dark burial vaults, and thought of " the Alexandrian school," and of those who had worshipped, probably more than a thousand years ago, in this old edifice. We passed lines of camel-hair tents perched upon a rising ground and occupied by the Bedouin, who had come from the desert, perhaps to buy or to sell ; we passed the brown clay huts of the Fellaheen, with their yelling dogs and naked children ; we passed crowds of donkeys bearing water-skins, resembling black pigs that had been drowned and were oozing with water ; we saw with delight that feature of the East — groves of palms (needing no glass to cover them) drooping their feathered heads in the sunny sky; we stood, where many generations had stood before beneath what is called Pompey's Pillar, and repeated the speculations of past ages as to how it could have been or* 0Z