When the professor concluded his lecture for the forenoon, the audience scattered, some of them feeling the need of more exercise; but Captain Ringgold went to the pilot-house. Like the cabin passengers, he immediately gave his attention to the mountains of the peninsula; for the African shore was little better than a blank, with nothing there worthy of notice. The pilot was an intelligent man, and he proceeded to question him in regard to the peaks in sight.
Just then there was nothing difficult in the navigation; and Twist, the quartermaster, was at the wheel, steering the course which had been given out, south south-west half west. The pilot knew the mountains as though they had been old friends of his for a lifetime. It did not take the commander long to learn his lesson; and he returned to the deck, where the passengers were gazing at the lofty points, thirty to forty miles distant, but still very distinctly seen in the clear air of the day. As soon as the captain appeared they gathered around him. He had ordered all the spy-glasses on board to be brought out, and those who had opera or field glasses had been to their staterooms for them.
"Isn't it time to see something, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, to whom he had directed his steps.
"There is always something to be seen in a narrow gulf like this, though we shall be out of sight of land to-morrow morning when you come on deck. We are now abreast of a plateau 1,600 feet high, which extends for about thirty miles along the coast. It is a part of the desert of Kaa, which extends to the southern point of the peninsula, over which you would have had to travel first by camel for nearly twenty miles, if we had gone to Mount Sinai by the only route open to us.
"We have seen about deserts enough," added the lady.
"Then you are the better prepared for the immense contrast between plains of sand and the rich lands of India, covered with the most luxuriant foliage. Now we have it at its best!" exclaimed the commander.
"What do we have? I don't see anything."
"We have Mount Serbal, which some believe is the genuine Mount Sinai," continued the commander, as he pointed out the loftiest peak in sight, and which was readily distinguished from all others.
All the passengers had by this time gathered near him; for all of them were anticipating a sight at the lofty height which had given a name to the peninsula, though its real name is Arabia Petræa, as we used to read about it in "Stephens's Travels" sixty years ago.
"That mountain is the highest on the peninsula;and if it is not the real Mount Sinai, where the law was delivered to Moses, some insist that it ought to be, for they say it is loftier, grander, nobler, and more worthy the great event than the one which is generally assigned as its location," said the captain. "As you have been informed before, Serbal is 8,712 feet high."
Mrs. Blossom did not appear to be satisfied. Evidently she desired to "gush" over the Holy Mountain; but the doubt as to "which was which," as she stated it, bothered her very seriously, and she was not at all friendly to the "pesky Bible critics," who had raised the doubt as to its identity.
"Jebel Musa!" shouted the commander a couple of hours later; and the party gathered around him again.
"What on earth is that?" demanded the good lady.
"Keep cool, Sarah," said Mrs. Belgrave to her. "The captain will tell you all about it in due time."
"Jebel, or gebel, means a mountain in Arabic; Musa is sometimes spelled Moosa; and the whole name, I suppose, is 'Mountain of Moses,'" the commander explained as soon as he had enabled every one to see the peak that went by this name. "In other words, that is what nearly everybody who knows anything about the matter believes to be the true Mount Sinai."
"Mount Sinai!" almost screamed Mrs. Blossom, who had apparently determined not to be harassed by any more doubts, for what everybody believed tobe true must be so. "I should like to die on that mountain," she declared, wringing her hands in a sort of rapture.
"Don't make yourself ridiculous, Sarah," interposed Mrs. Belgrave in a whisper.
"How can a body look on Mount Sinai without being stirred up?" demanded the good woman.
But whether it was Jebel Serbal or Jebel Musa, Mount Sinai was there; and doubtless most of the company were as much impressed by the fact as the excellent lady from Von Blonk Park, though they were less demonstrative about it. Mrs. Belgrave was silent for a time; and then she struck up one of Watts's familiar hymns, in which the others joined her:—
"Not to the terrors of the Lord,The tempest, fire, and smoke,Not to the thunder of that wordWhich God on Sinai spoke;But we are come to Zion's hill,The city of our God,Where milder words declare his will,And spread his love abroad."
"Not to the terrors of the Lord,The tempest, fire, and smoke,Not to the thunder of that wordWhich God on Sinai spoke;But we are come to Zion's hill,The city of our God,Where milder words declare his will,And spread his love abroad."
As the gong sounded for lunch the ship was off Tur, but too far off to see the place, if there was anything there to see; and the commander mentioned it only as the port to which they would have sailed if they had gone to Mount Sinai. The "Big Four" were more interested in the Arabian craft they saw near the shore, for they always keep close to the land.Their captains are familiar with all the intricate reefs where large vessels never go. They are very cautious sailors, and on the least sign of foul weather they run into one of the creeks which indent the coast. They never sail at night; and if they have to cross the sea, they wait for settled weather.
At the hour appointed for the afternoon conference the passengers were all in their places; and however the report of his lectures may read, the listeners were deeply interested, partly because they were inspired by a desire for knowledge, and partly on account of their proximity to the countries described. A map of the peninsula of Arabia had been unrolled on the frame, with enough of its surroundings to enable the audience to fix its location definitely in their minds. The professor came up smiling and pleasant as he always was, and the boys saluted him with a round of applause.
"My subject this time is Arabia, which the natives call Jezirat-al-Arab, and the Turks and Persians Arabistan. It is a peninsula, the isthmus of which reaches across from the south-eastern corner of the Mediterranean to the head of the Persian Gulf," the professor began, indicating on the map the localities mentioned with the pointer. "Asia abounds in peninsulas, and Arabia is the great south-western one. From north-west to south-east it extends 1800 miles, and is about 600 wide. It has an area of 1,230,000 square miles, which is a very indefinite statement to the mind, though given in figures, and I will adoptthe commander's method of giving a better idea by comparison with some of the States of your own country.
"It is nearly five times as large as the State of Texas, the most extensive of the Union, and almost twenty-six times as large as the State of New York. They do not take a census here; and estimates from the best information that could be obtained make the population five millions, which is less than that of the State of New York. Mr. Gaskette has colored a strip of it along the Red Sea, about a hundred miles wide, in green, as he has Palestine and the other parts of Turkey in Asia shown before you. A large portion of Arabia consists of deserts, the principal of which is the Syrian in the north.
"Ptolemy, not the king but the geographer, divided Arabia into three sections,—Arabia Petræa, after the city of Petra; Arabia Deserta, the interior; and Arabia Felix (Arabie Heureuse in French), which does not mean 'the happy land,' as generally translated. Milton says, 'Sabean odors from the spicy shores of Araby the blest.' The words meant the land lying to the right, or south of Mecca, the Oriental principal point of the compass being the east and not the north.
"The proper divisions at the present time are the Sinai peninsula, Hedjaz, which is the northern part of the green strip; Yemen, the south part (formerly Arabia Felix); Hadramaut, which borders the Arabian Gulf, the ante-sea of the Red; and Oman, a mountainousregion at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, an independent country, under the government of the sultan or imam of Muscat, as the territory is also called.
"We do not know much about the interior of Arabia, one-third of which is a desert, part of a zone reaching over all of Africa and Asia. El-Hasa, along the Persian Gulf in the east, for such a country, is level and fertile, and is really a Turkish province, like those on the west coast. A short rainy season occurs on the west coast, which only fills up the low places; and there is hardly a river, if there is anything entitled to the name, which is strong enough to go alone to the sea from any distance inland. Fine fruits are raised, especially in Yemen, as well as coffee, grain, tobacco, cotton, spices, aloes, frankincense, and myrrh.
"Sheep, goats, oxen, camels, and horses are raised for domestic use. Gazelles and ostriches live in some of the oases, where also the lion, panther, hyena, and jackal seek their prey. The magnificent Arabian horse has been raised here for a thousand years. The camel is one of the most useful animals of this country; and some suppose he is an original native, for his likeness is not found among Egyptian drawings and sculptures. There are plenty of fish and turtle along the coast.
"The original Arab is found here, and there is something about him to challenge our admiration. He is muscular, though of medium height, and issharp and quick-witted by nature. He has some leading virtues, such as hospitality and good faith; he is courageous and temperate, perhaps because wine and spirits are forbidden in the Koran. But he is a sort of a natural robber, and seeks a terrible revenge for serious injuries. His wife, and there are often several of her, does the work, keeps house, and educates the children. Some Arabs are settled in towns or oases, and others lead a wandering life.
"'Blessed is the country that has no history,' for it is usually the record of wars. Arabia has nothing that can properly be called history; but it has been concerned in the wars of Turkey and Egypt. What there is relates to the birth and life of Mohammed, and his wars to promote the increase of his followers; and I shall tell you the story of the Prophet at another time."
The professor retired after the usual applause. Some walked the deck, watching whatever was to be seen, especially the Arabian dhows, and occasionally a large steamer passed; and some went to sleep in their staterooms. The course of the Guardian-Mother had been varied as much as the soundings would permit as she approached the Jubal Strait, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, in order to give the passengers a view of some interesting scenery.
"There is the Jebel Zeyt," said the commander, as he pointed out a group of hills, called mountains bycourtesy, of a reddish hue. "Those hills are 1,530 feet high, and this locality is famous in story. The material of the elevations is hæmatite, which Dr. Hawkes can explain better than I can."
"It is a native sesquioxide of a reddish color, with a blood-like streak," added the surgeon, laughing.
"Do you understand it, Mrs. Blossom?" asked the captain, turning to that worthy lady.
"I am sure I don't," protested she, blushing.
"The sesquipedality of that word is trying to all of us, I fancy, and I am in the same box as the lady; for I am as sure as she is that I don't know the meaning of the word," added the professor.
"Of course you don't, for it is a technical term," replied the doctor. "It means an oxide in which two atoms of a metal combine with three atoms of oxygen. Please to remember it, Mrs. Blossom."
"I don't even know what an ox-hide is," returned the lady promptly; for the professor had vindicated her by not understanding a definition himself.
"We will settle that another time, if you please," interposed the commander. "These rocks are said to be so powerfully magnetic as to affect the compasses of ships passing them. The water is sometimes marked about here with patches of oil. Large sums were expended in this vicinity in boring for petroleum; but none of any account was found. Probably the red mountain has given its name to the sea, though that is not known."
"Possibly Sinbad the Sailor was in this strait whenthe loadstone drew out the bolts in his ship, though he does not give the latitude and longitude of the place in the story of his adventure," suggested Louis. In the evening the passengers looked at the lights, and retired at a seasonable hour.
The passengers of the Guardian-Mother fell back into their former sea habits when there was nothing particular to be seen, and only the young men appeared on deck before seven o'clock. Mrs. Belgrave and Louis were the first to meet the commander on the second morning. He had been to the pilot-house several times during the night; but he was an early riser, and had already looked over the log slate, and visited every part of the ship.
"Good-morning, Mrs. Belgrave; good-morning, Louis; I hope you have both slept well," said the captain, saluting them.
"I have slept like a rock all night long," replied the lady.
"I have fallen into sailors' ways, so that I go to sleep whenever I lie down," added Louis. "I could sleep my four hours on board of the Maud, and wake at the right time without being called. But where are we now, sir?"
"You see the lighthouse ahead; that is in latitude 25°. We are now nearly as far south as the first cataract on the Nile, as far south as we went in Africa."
"I can understand that better than simple figures," said Mrs. Belgrave.
"But we went a little farther south than that off Cuba," suggested Louis.
"We shall cross the Tropic of Cancer while we are at luncheon," added the commander. "You learned at school that this boundary was at twenty-three and a half degrees north of the equator, and it is generally so stated, though it is not quite accurate."
"I wish you would explain this at the next conference, Captain Ringgold, for what you say is a surprise to me," said Louis.
"I will do it in a general way, though I am not an astronomer in the scientific sense of the word," answered the captain. "We are approaching the Dædalus lightship. I suppose you remember the name."
"I know that Dædalus was a very ingenious artist of Athens, who planned the Cretan labyrinth, invented carpentry and some of the tools used in the trade; but I don't know why his name was given to this lighthouse."
"I cannot inform you why it is so called, if there was any reason for doing so; very likely it was given to it for no reason at all, as some of the ships in the British navy are supplied with classical names for the mere sound of the words, as Agamemnon, Achilles, though with some reference to the trade of the originals in war."
"Why is it placed here all alone in the middle ofthis sea?" asked Louis, who had looked about it for any signs of rocks.
"It is built on a dangerous reef which is never above water, though some small round black rocks are seen at low tide awash. They look like the kettles in which cooks get up a boiled dinner; and for this reason the Arabs call the reef Abu Kizan, which means the 'father of pots.' As you perceive, the ship is now out of sight of land; for the Red Sea is a hundred and twenty miles wide at this point. But there is the gong for breakfast, and we must attend to that."
The usual hour for the conference was nine o'clock when the ship was at sea. So far the weather was remarkably pleasant; the north-west wind was very gentle, and the ship hardly pitched at all. At the regular hour the passengers had assembled on the promenade. The map of Arabia had been placed on the frame as before, and it was understood that Mohammed was to be the subject of the conference.
"What has become of Koser, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, as the commander joined the party.
"We passed it about two o'clock this morning," replied the captain.
"I felt some interest in that town; for when we were on the Nile we came to a place where the Arabs wanted us to take the journey of four days across the desert to Koser on camels," the lady explained.
"It is the first port in Egypt we come to, and wasformerly an important place, though the Suez Canal has diverted the greater part of its trade. It was one of the chief outlets for the productions of Egypt, especially grain, while those of Arabia and other Eastern countries passed in by the same route. The poorer Mohammedans of Egypt make their pilgrimage to Mecca this way, journeying across the Arabian Desert on foot or by camel, and by steamers or dhows to Yembo.
"General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the British army at Abukir when the French had possession of Egypt, landed at this port, marched across the desert to the Nile, which he descended to Cairo, where he found that the French army had surrendered to the English. The population has fallen from seven thousand to twelve hundred. The more wealthy Egyptians and Arabs make their pilgrimage now by the way of Suez, and in the season there are plenty of steamers to take them to Yembo.
"We are now nearing the Tropic of Cancer, and when we have passed it we shall be in the Torrid Zone, in which are situated all those places on the globe where the sun is ever directly overhead. The tropics are generally said to be twenty-three and a half degrees from the equator, which is near enough for ordinary purposes, but it is not quite accurate. When the sun is at the summer solstice, June 21, it is overhead on this tropic, and enters the constellation of Cancer, after which it is named. Nicer calculations than I can follow show that the sun is notprecisely overhead at this place every year. In January of this year the tropics were in latitude 23° 27' 11.84'', which places it nearly three miles farther south than the location usually named. I yield the floor to Professor Giroud."
"I am informed by the commander that we shall be off Yembo, the nearest seaport to Medina, at about half-past three this afternoon; and this place is a hundred and thirty-two miles from it. The two cities of Medina and Mecca are the holy places of the Mohammedans. The principal and enjoined pilgrimage of the sect is to the latter, though many devout Moslems visit the other with pious intentions.
"Mecca is the birthplace of Mohammed; but, for reasons which will presently be given, he went to Medina at the age of fifty-two, where he lived the rest of his life, and died there. What I have to say of Medina will come in better after we have followed the prophet through the first portion of his life.
"I give the name according to the best English authorities at the present time, though some call it Mahomet still, as we call it in French. The word means 'praised' in Arabic. Mohammed the Prophet was born at Mecca abouta.d.570; but the precise year is not known, though the date I give is within a year of it. His father's name was Abdallah, a poor merchant, who died about the time of the child's birth. A great many stories have been invented in later years about the mother and the child.
"The father was said to be the handsomest man ofhis time, and it is claimed that his wife Aminah was of a noble family. She was of a nervous temperament, and fancied she was visited by spirits. She was inclined to epilepsy, which may explain her visions. Mohammed was her only child. As soon as he was born, his mother is said to have raised her eyes to heaven, exclaiming: 'There is no God but God, and I am his Prophet.' It is also declared that the fire of the fire-worshippers, which had burned without going out for a thousand-years, was suddenly quenched, and all the idols in the world dropped from their pedestals."
"Goodness, gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.
"The mother of the Prophet handed him over to a Bedouin woman to bring up, in order that he might have the benefit of the desert air; but the child appears to have been afflicted with his mother's malady, and the nurse returned him because he was subject to frequent fits. When he was six years old his mother died, and his grandfather adopted him; but the old man lived only two years after, and then he was taken by Abu Talib, his uncle, who, though poor himself, gave him a home, and continued to be his best friend through life.
"At first the boy gained a precarious living by tending the flocks of the Meccans. When he was twenty-five years old he went into the service of a rich widow named Khadija, having the blood of the same ancestors in their veins. Up to this time his position had been in a low grade of poverty. Hedid not take the advice of Mr. Weller, and 'beware of the vidders,' and his fortunes suddenly changed. Doubtless he was a handsome man, as his father was said to be; and he was too much for the susceptible Khadija, twice widowed, and fifteen years older than her employe, and she offered him her hand and heart, which he accepted.
"They had two sons and four daughters; but both of the former died in early life. He established himself as a merchant after his marriage; and he continued in the business, though he spent most of his time in meditation by himself. Up to the age of forty Mohammed was a strict devotee in the religion of his fathers, which was a species of idolatry. When he was about thirty years old Christianity had made its way into Arabia through Syria on one side, and Abyssinia on the other, and there were Jewish colonies in the peninsula. Though the missionaries of the new faith pervaded Mecca and Medina, the future Prophet was not converted, more is the pity!
"It was at this time that he was moved to teach a new religion which should displace the idolatry of the people, and come into competition, as it were, with the teachings of the missionaries of Judaism and Christianity. He was forty years old when he received what he claimed as his first divine communication, on a mountain near Mecca. He declared that Gabriel appeared to him there, and commanded him to preach the true religion. It is now generally admitted that he was no vulgar and tricky impostor,and it cannot be known to what extent his inherited epilepsy or hysteria governed the alleged revelations.
"After his long and lonely vigils passed in meditation, he proclaimed what he insisted had been revealed to him; and at these times he appears to have been little better than a lunatic, for he was moved to the most frightful fanatical vehemence. He frothed at the mouth, his eyes became red, and the perspiration rained from his head and face. He roared like a camel in his wrath, and such an exhibition could hardly fail to make a strong impression upon his ignorant audience.
"His first revelations were related to Khadija and other members of his household; and they accepted his teachings, while his other relatives rejected them with scorn. His uncle called him a fool; and his adopted father never believed in him as a prophet, though for the honor of the family he remained his friend. After four years of preaching he mustered forty converts, slaves and men of the lowest social rank. Then he spoke more publicly, in response to new revelations commanding him to do so, denouncing boldly the superstitions of his people, exhorting them to lead pious and moral lives, and to believe in the one all-wise, almighty, and all-merciful God, who had chosen him as his Prophet. He held out the reward of paradise to those who accepted his religion, and the penalty of hell to those who rejected it.
"Two of the most sacred objects of the Arabianswere the fetich of a black stone and the spring of Zemzem, both of which were believed to be endowed with miraculous powers for the healing of the body and the soul. These imparted a sanctity above any other charms to the Kaaba in which the stone and the fountain were to be visited. In the valley by the city stands the great mosque, in which there is an immense square holding 35,000 people. In the centre of it is the Kaaba, which is not a Mohammedan invention, for it existed ages before the Prophet was born. Pilgrimages had been made to it from Medina for many generations. The stone is perhaps a meteorite, set in a corner at a proper height for kissing.
"The Kaaba was one of the superstitions with which the Prophet had to contend; and he was too politic, as well as too deeply rooted in his own belief, to think of abolishing it. He therefore converted the heathen shrine into an altar of his own faith, inventing the legend that it had been constructed by Abraham when he sent away his son Ishmael to found a nation. Though Mohammed was prudent in many things, he offended the people, particularly by prohibiting certain kinds of food. He condemned the Bedouin for killing their newly born daughters, and for other barbarous practices.
"Though the number of proselytes increased more rapidly, he had raised a fierce opposition against him. About this time his faithful wife Khadija died, and then his devoted uncle. His misery over these events was increased by the fact that his business failedhim, and he was reduced to poverty. He tried to improve his fortunes by emigration; but the scheme was a failure. He was so persecuted by the Meccans that he had on occasions narrowly escaped with his life. After his return he married again; and afterwards he had as many as nine wives at one time, though he never took a second while Khadija was living.
"Now, good friends, I think we all need a rest, which the commander instructed me to give you at a convenient place in my remarks."
The professor retired from the rostrum, and the company scattered over the ship.
Captain Ringgold permitted the day, which was only the second of the voyage, to pass away until half past three o'clock in the afternoon without again calling the conference together. The passengers appeared to be well occupied; for the boys had brought shuffle-board and the potato game on the planks, and everybody was enjoying these plays, either by taking part or looking on. The commander had taught them these amusements early in their sea experience, and they always became very hilarious over them.
Besides, he was prudent and judicious in the conduct of the study department; for the adults were not in training as students, and he was somewhat afraid of overworking them, and creating a dislike for the conferences. As he expressed it, he desired to make them hungry for lectures. The schoolroom, which had been made of the after cabin, and contained the extensive library of the ship, had been deserted for several weeks so far as its regular use was concerned.
Miss Blanche, Louis, Morris, and Scott formed a class, or rather several of them, and pursued their studies systematically under the professor; but theyhad been interrupted by the visit to Egypt and the trip to Cyprus, and their work was not resumed till the ship sailed from Suez. The recitations and the study were not confined to the classroom, but some of them were given on deck and in the cabin to individuals as the convenience of both permitted; and some of the hours of the first two days had been used in this manner.
"Now you can see Yembo," said the commander at half-past three in the afternoon, as he pointed out a town on the shore of Arabia. "The name is spelled in so many different ways it is hard to find it in the books. Sometimes it is Yembo, Yanba, and Yembu, and again it is Zembo, Zambu, and Zanba. It is Yembo on my charts, and for that reason I use it. It is of not much importance except as the port of Medina, the later home of Mohammed, where the professor will take you at the next conference this afternoon.
"But it is one hundred and thirty miles from its principal, and there are no railroads or stages here, and it must be a journey of four or five days by camel over the desert. A pilgrimage to Medina is recommended to the faithful; but it is not required, as it is at least once in a lifetime to Mecca. Mohammed was buried there, and it stands next to Mecca as the holiest city of the world to the followers of Islam. But I will not purloin the professor's thunder. On the other side of the Red Sea is Berenice, the seat of the Egyptian trade with India inthe time of Ptolemy Philadelphus; but there is not much besides ruins there at the present time."
The conference met at four o'clock, and the map of Arabia still hung on the frame. The professor took his place, and pointed out Yembo on it, adding that Medina was two hundred and seventy miles north of Mecca.
"When I suspended my remarks this morning, Mohammed had failed to improve his fortunes by emigration, had returned to Mecca, and had married again," the professor began. "At his death he left nine wives, and how many more he may have had I am not informed."
"The wretch!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.
"The Prophet did not live in Von Blonk Park," suggested the instructor.
"If he had, he would have been driven out of town by a mob," added the lady rather spitefully for her.
"On this subject, if I should refer you to some of the patriarchs of the Bible, you would be able to see how much Christianity has improved the world in this respect. Among the wives of the Prophet was Ayeshah, the daughter of Abu Bekr, one of Mohammed's most enthusiastic disciples, a man of great influence in Mecca, belonging to the Koreish tribe, the religious aristocracy of the city.
"Everything except matrimony, though he had not married all these wives at this time, was in a bad way with Mohammed; for he had lost his property, and had excited a violent opposition to himself amongthe people, though some of his proselytes remained faithful to him. The pilgrimages to the Kaaba brought many people to Mecca from all quarters, including Medina. Among those from the latter he succeeded in converting several; for he still preached, and still had remarkable visions.
"At the next pilgrimage he obtained twelve more converts, and the one following seventy. All these new disciples sowed the seed of his teachings; and Medina, from which all of them came, appeared to contain the richest soil for the growth of his doctrines. Cast out and persecuted in his own city, the Prophet decided to emigrate to Medina; for he was in close alliance with the converts from that place. In 622 he started on his flight from the city of his birth. This was the Hegira, which means 'the going away;' and from it the Mohammedans reckon their dates, as we do from the birth of Christ.
"The Prophet was attended by Abu Bekr, and followed by about a hundred families of his Meccan adherents; and his going away was not without danger, for his enemies were many and vindictive. But with his multitude he made his way over the desert, and reached his destination in safety. He was received for all he claimed to be by his converts there, and the current of his fortunes as a religious leader was suddenly and entirely changed. He was no longer a madman and an impostor. He had come out of his former obscurity, and now all the details of his daily life became matters of record.
"His modesty did not seem to stand in his way; and he now assumed the functions of the most powerful judge, lawgiver, and ruler of the two most influential Arabic tribes. He devoted his time and study to the organization of the worship of God according to Mohammed, his sole prophet. He was gathering in converts all the time, and his new home was entirely favorable to this work.
"There were many Jews there to whom he turned his attention, preaching to them, and proclaiming that he was the Messiah whose coming they awaited; but they ridiculed his pretensions, and he became furious against them, remaining their enemy till the last day of his life. Whatever good precepts Mohammed promulgated, there appears to have been but little of the 'meek and lowly' spirit of Him 'who spake as never man spake;' for in the first year of the Hegira he gave it out that it was the will of God, expressed by his chosen prophet, that the faithful should make war on the enemies of Islam; which was a sort of manifesto directed against the Meccans who had practically cast him out.
"But he had not the means to carry on war at his command at first in the open field: he assailed the caravans through his agents on their way to and from Syria, and succeeded in seriously disturbing the current of trade. His employment of the sons of the desert enabled him to form alliances with them, and thus obtain the semblance of an army. His first battle was fought between 314 Moslems and about600 Meccans, and the inspiration of his fanaticism gave him the victory in spite of his inferior force.
"This event gave him a degree of prestige, and many adventurers flocked to his standard. With an increased force he continued to send out expeditions against both of his old enemies, the Meccans and the Jews, exiling the latter. He was generally successful; and after one battle he caused 700 prisoners to be beheaded, and their women and children to be sold into slavery. But in 625 the Meccans defeated him; and he was dangerously wounded in the face by a javelin, some of his teeth having been knocked out. The enemy then besieged Medina; but Mohammed defeated them with the aid of earthworks and a ditch. In the sixth year of the Hegira, he proclaimed a pilgrimage to Mecca; and though the Meccans prevented it from being carried out, it led to a treaty of peace with them for ten years.
"This event enabled him to send out missionaries all over Arabia; and the next year he conducted a pilgrimage to Mecca with 2,000 followers, remaining there undisturbed for three days. After this he carried on war vigorously against more potent powers, whose rulers he summoned to become converts. Some yielded, and others scorned him, one of them beheading the Prophet's messengers. This brought on battles of greater magnitude, and in one he was badly beaten.
"He accused the Meccans of taking part against him, and marched against their city at the head of10,000 men. It surrendered, and Mohammed was publicly recognized as ruler, and prophet of God. I will read one of his sayings, that you may better understand the man and his religion: 'The sword is the key of heaven and hell: a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, or a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. Whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven him, and at the day of judgment the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of cherubim.'
"In one of his expeditions against the Jews, a Jewess who had lost a relative in a fight against him placed a piece of poisoned roast meat before him. He barely tasted it, but he carried the effects of the poison to his grave.
"His religion seemed to be firmly established, not only in Arabia, but it had been carried to foreign lands by the sword or by missionaries. He had it in his mind to conquer Syria; but the want of a sufficient army deterred him, and he was forced to content himself with the homage of a few inferior princes. In the tenth year of the new calendar he made his last solemn pilgrimage to Mecca, and then fixed for all future time the ordinance of the pilgrimage with its ceremonial, which is still observed in all Moslem countries.
"On his return from this visit he busied himself again with the project of conquering Syria; for some great scheme seemed to be necessary to keep his followers in alliance, and extend his religion. While soengaged he was taken dangerously sick. He selected the abode of Ayeshah as his home. The house was close to the mosque, and afterwards became a part of it. He continued to attend the public prayers as long as he was able. When he felt that his end was near, he preached once more to the people, recommending Abu Bekr and Osama as the generals of the army whom he had chosen. In the last wanderings of his mind he spoke of angels and heaven only, and died in the arms of Ayeshah. He was buried in the night in the house of his faithful wife, which was for that reason taken into the mosque.
"His death produced great distress and an immense excitement among his followers. Even before he was dead the struggle began, and an influential official had prevented him from naming his successor by preventing him from obtaining the use of writing materials; but Abu Bekr was preferred, and received the homage of the chief men of Medina. Undoubtedly Mohammed was a man of great ability, and the possessor of some extraordinary gifts. There was much that was good in the person and his religion; much that Christianity preaches as the true faith to-day. He believed in the one God, however much he failed to comprehend his attributes.
"He claimed to be the Prophet of God, and preached piety and righteousness, and recommended chiefly that his followers should protect the weak, the poor, and the women, and to abstain from usury. In his private character he was an amiable man,faithful to his friends, and tender in his family. In spite of the power he finally obtained, he never appeared in any state, with pomp and parade; for he lived in the utmost simplicity, and when at the height of his power he dwelt like the Arabs in general in a miserable hut. He mended his own clothes, and freed his slaves when he had them.
"He was a man of strong passions, of a nervous temperament, and his ecstatic visions were perhaps the result of his inherited malady. He is not to be judged by our standard any more than King Solomon is; but there was a great deal of good in him, with a vast deal that was emphatically bad; for he was cunning and deceitful when it suited his purpose, extremely revengeful, as shown in his dealings with the Meccans and the Jews, and a wholesale murderer in the spirit of retaliation.
"He had read the Christian Bible, and not a little of his religion was borrowed from that. Glancing over the world, we cannot help seeing that Christian nations have been the most progressive, while those of the Mohammedan faith have been far behind them, and have borrowed their principal improvements from those whose emblem is the Cross. To the end of time the Crescent will be overshadowed by the Cross."
The passengers had been much interested in the story of the Prophet, and the professor was warmly applauded as he gathered up his papers and retired from the stand.
"Unless we slow down I am afraid you will seenothing of Jiddah, which is the port of Mecca, and our nearest point to it," said the commander. "Though thousands of pilgrims are landed there every year on their way to obey the injunction of Mohammed, there is nothing there to see; and it is not a case of sour grapes."
"I wanted to ask the professor about the coffin of the Prophet being suspended in the air," interposed Mrs. Belgrave.
"That is pure fiction, madam," replied the professor. "The body of Mohammed is believed to rest within the mausoleum in the mosque; and there is no reason to doubt that it is on the spot occupied by Ayeshah's house, added to the sacred building. His body is supposed to lie undecayed at full length, on the right side, the right hand supporting the head, with the face directed towards Mecca."
The professor had to answer many other questions of no great importance.
The ancient kingdoms of the world had been disposed of by the professor, and all the countries of the Red Sea had been treated historically and geographically; and though the passengers still occupied the promenade, no more conferences were needed for the present. But it became a place for conversation, and all kinds of subjects were discussed there.
The commander pointed out the location of all the important places, or where any notable event had occurred; but none of them were of any great consequence, and they were too far off to be seen distinctly. The ship had reached the widest part of the sea, and all the rest of the course to the entrance was through the deep water in the middle; for the shores were studded with reefs, reaching out from forty to sixty miles from the land.
"How deep is the water here, Captain Ringgold?" asked Dr. Hawkes, at one of these conversation parties on the third day from Suez.
"The last time I looked at the chart, just on the parallel of 20° of north latitude, the sounding was 500 fathoms," replied the commander.
"Indeed? That is 3,000 feet; I did not suppose it was so deep as that," added the doctor.
"The bottom is very irregular in all parts of the Red Sea; and in some places it is more than double the figure just mentioned. When we were about sixty miles north of Jiddah, the sounding was 1,054 fathoms, or 6,234 feet."
"How deep has the water been found to be in the ocean?"
"As much as 4,000 fathoms of line have been paid out, with no bottom as the result. Soundings of 3,000 fathoms have been obtained. In the library you will find the 'Cruise of the Challenger,' which is the latest authority on this subject."
"I shall refer to it; thank you, Captain."
"On a little rocky island on our right," continued the commander, pointing to the location, "is the town of Suakin, as it is generally called, though the proper word is Sawakin. It is a town of ten thousand inhabitants. It is abreast of Nubia, the Soudan, and is the outlet of its commerce. When the Mahdi War became a serious matter, England took possession of this port; and several battles were fought in the vicinity with the followers of the Mahdi, who seemed to imitate the example of Mohammed to some extent in his crusade. The place is still held by a British garrison, and about seven thousand pilgrims embark here every year for Mecca by the way of Jiddah."
"We all remember the war in the Soudan in which the Mahdi figured so largely," said Uncle Moses. "I should like to know something more about him."
"The meaning of the word is the guide, 'the well-directedone.' There have been at least half a dozen Mahdis in the history of Mohammedans, just as there have been Messiahs in Christian lands, all of them impostors of course. One appeared in Arabia, who claimed to be a successor of Mohammed who had disappeared; another presented himself in the northern part of Africa. One appeared in Egypt during the French invasion, and was killed in battle.
"The last one was Mohammed Ahmed; and like the rest of them he claimed to be a lineal descendant of the Prophet, divinely commissioned to extend his religion, and especially to drive the Christians out of the Soudan. He was in his earlier life an employe of the Egyptian government, but quarrelled with the governor of his province, and became a trader and a slave-dealer. At the age of forty he assumed therôleof the Mahdi; and in that capacity he did a great deal of mischief. He captured the chief city of Kordofan, and made it the capital; he overwhelmed the army of Hicks Pacha, and finally shut up General Gordon in Khartoom, as has been related before. He died in 1885, and was succeeded by Abdallah. But he had deprived Egypt of even the nominal possession of the Soudan."
"He was a terrible fighter," added Uncle Moses.
"Fanatics usually are."
The voyage continued without any unusual incident till the ship was approaching the entrance to the sea. The shores on both sides became more precipitous, and heights of two thousand feet were to be seen.The commander pointed out Mocha, which has the reputation of sending out the finest coffee in the world; but this is said to come from Hodeida, a port north of it.
"Those hills on the left indicate the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which was written Babelmandel in the old geographies when I went to school. Bab means a gate wherever you find it; and this is the 'Gate of Tears,' so called from the perils it presented to the small craft of the Arabians; and many of them were wrecked here," said the commander when the party were gathered on the promenade as usual if anything was to be seen. "We are now in latitude 12° 30', and I notice that some of the ladies are becoming tolerably diligent in the use of their fans."
"It is time for us to begin to reduce our clothing," suggested Mrs. Belgrave.
"Be prudent about that, ladies; for I think we shall have some cool weather again when we get out from the land, though it has been growing warmer since yesterday," added the doctor.
"There is a strong current here, and some of the water comes up from the region of the equator; and, as you have been informed before, the temperature of it runs up to a hundred degrees," said the captain. "Here is the Island of Perim, a barren rock, three miles and a half long by two and a half wide, shaped like a crescent, with a good harbor between the two horns. The English took possession of it and held it for a year in 1799, and again occupied it in 1857, and later it was made into a coaling-station.
"As you perceive, it is fortified, and it has a British garrison. It has hardly any other population than coolie coal-heavers. It is a desolate-looking place, and there does not appear to be even a blade of grass growing upon it."
"Is it still Egypt on the other side of the strait?" asked Mrs. Belgrave.
"No; it is Abyssinia," replied the captain. "It is a country containing 200,000 square miles, nearly three-fourths of the size of Texas. It consists of tableland about 7,000 feet high, and there are peaks within its borders 15,000 feet high. It has a lake sixty miles long, and you have been told something about its rivers in connection with the sources of the Nile. It is rich in minerals, but the mines are hardly worked at all.
"There has been the usual amount of quarrelling as in former times among the chiefs of the various tribes in Abyssinia; but finally an adventurer named Kassa, after defeating various chiefs, caused himself to be crowned as King Theodore. He tried to form an active alliance with England and France; but no notice was taken of his propositions. He was so enraged at this neglect on the part of England, that he began to maltreat the missionaries and consuls of that country. The British sent agents to treat for the release of the prisoners; but the king shut them up in the fortress of Magdala, though they brought a royal letter and presents.
"Of course England could not stand this, and shesent an army of 16,000 men to attend to the matter. They landed on the coast, and marched to Magdala. Theodore occupied a fort on a height with 6,000 men, and he hurled nearly the whole of his force upon a detachment of 1,700 British encamped on the plain below. The repeated attacks were repulsed every time, and the king was beaten. Then he sued for peace, and released the prisoners he held in the castle; but as he refused to surrender, the fortress was stormed and captured. Theodore was found dead where he had shot himself. The fort was demolished, and the British retired from the country. The expedition cost 45,000,000 dollars; but England always protects her citizens, wherever they are."
"Is it a Mohammedan country, like Egypt?" asked Mrs. Belgrave.
"It is not; it is nominally a Christian country, though its religion is of the very lowest type that ever was called by that name, wholly external, and morals are at a very low ebb. After the British left, a prince defeated his rival, and was crowned as Emperor John; but it is a single-horse monarchy. It has been at war with Egypt, which never got possession of the country as it desired. In 1885 Italy occupied Massowah, though for what purpose was never definitely stated. Three companies of its army were attacked by the Abyssinians, and nearly the whole of them were massacred; but the Italians did not avenge this assault."
The ship continued on her course along the coast ofYemen ninety miles to Aden, which the commander had before given out as his first stopping-place. Steam had been reduced so that the arrival should not be in the night. The passage had been made in about four days. The pilot came on board at six o'clock in the morning, and the passengers were already on the promenade. Two large steamers were at anchor in the roads, and were engaged in coaling and watering. A boat came off as soon as the ship anchored, containing an agent of the great Parsee merchants, who do most of the business of the town. He wished to see the captain, who was in his cabin.
"Good-morning, Captain," said the man, speaking very good English. "I have taken the liberty to bring off some newspapers."
"I am greatly obliged to you, for we are getting hungry for newspapers," replied Captain Ringgold as he took the package. "Excuse me for a moment and I will send them to the passengers, for I have not time to look at them now."
He tossed the bundle of papers up to Dr. Hawkes, and returned to his cabin.
"I shall be happy to take your orders for whatever you may need at this port, including coal and water, as well as provisions and other supplies," continued the agent.
The commander ordered both coal and water; for he knew about the Parsee merchants, and referred Mr. Gaskill, as he gave his name, to Mr. Melancthon Sage, the chief steward.
"What sort of goods do you furnish here, Mr. Gaskill?" asked the commander.
"Every sort, Captain Ringgold. This steamer does not belong to any regular line, I think," said the agent.
"It does not to any line, regular or irregular; and yet she is not a tramp," replied the commander with a smile.
"Is she a man-of-war?" inquired the visitor, opening wide his big eyes.
"She is not; she is a yacht, with a pleasure party on board who are making a voyage around the world."
"Ah, yes, Captain; I understand. There is another steam-yacht in the roads, over beyond the P. & O. steamer nearest to you. Perhaps you have seen her; she is painted white all over."
"I did not notice her. What flag does she carry?"
"She sails under the British flag. But you suggested that you might need other supplies. We can furnish your party with all the English goods they want, and there are first-class tailors and dressmakers here."
"My passengers must speak for themselves," answered the captain. "I fear you cannot furnish the supplies I need."
"We can furnish everything that can be named," persisted the agent of the Parsee merchants. "What do you require?"
"Two twenty-four pounders, brass, naval carriages,and all the ammunition needed for their use," replied the commander; and he felt as though he had made an impossible demand.
"We can furnish anything and everything you may desire in this line; in fact, we can fit out your ship as a man-of-war. But do you need only two such guns as you describe, Captain Ringgold?" asked the business-driving Mr. Gaskill. "We have a lot of four of them, and we should like to dispose of them together."
"I will see the guns before I say anything more about the matter. When can you fill our water-tanks and coal-bunkers?" inquired the commander.
"We are very busy to-day, for we have several steamers to supply; but it shall be done before to-morrow noon."
"Now I will introduce you to our chief steward."
Mr. Sage insisted upon seeing his supplies before he named the quantity needed, and made an appointment on shore.
Captain Ringgold knew something about Aden before he decided to make a stopping-place of it, and it was certainly a more agreeable location than Perim. The town—or towns, for there appear to be several of them—is described by a former resident as a sort of crater like that of a volcano, formed by a circular chain of steep hills, the highest of which is 1,775 feet above the sea level. The slope outside of them reaching to the waters of the Arabian Gulf, or the Gulf of Aden as it is now called, has several strings of hills in that direction, with valleys between them, radiating from the group to the shore.
Aden is a peninsula connected with Hadramaut, the southern section of Arabia, by a narrow isthmus, covered at the spring tides by the surrounding waters. Over it is a causeway conveying an aqueduct which is always above the sea level. The region looks as though it might have been subject to volcanic convulsions at some remote period. Within the circle of hills are the town and a portion of the military works. In its natural location, as well as in the strength of its defences, it bears some resemblance to Gibraltar.
This was the substance of what the commander told his passengers before they landed, and proceeded to give points in the history of the peninsula, which he had studied up, as he always did when approaching a new locality; and though he was a walking encyclopædia, he had not obtained this reputation without much study and labor in addition to his extensive voyages and travels "all over the world."
"A learned biblical scholar of the last century, who studied Oriental history in connection with the sacred record, identifies Aden as the Eden mentioned by Ezekiel in describing the wealth of Tyrus," continued the commander.
"But who was Tyrus, Captain?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who was wide awake when any scriptural name was used.
"He wasn't anybody, Mrs. Blossom; and when Ezekiel and some other of the prophets used the word Tyrus, they meant Tyre; and doubtless you have read about Tyre and Sidon."
"I never heard it called by that name before," added the worthy lady with a blush.
"Read Ezekiel xxvii. and you will find it. This place was known before the time of Christ, and was the centre of an extensive commerce with India, though it was also carried on by the Indus and the Oxus, the latter formerly flowing into the Caspian Sea. In the fourth century after Christ, the son of the Emperor Constantine established a Christian church here. In more modern history Aden hasbeen a part of Yemen, along whose shores we sailed for more than a day on the Red Sea. The lines from Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' partly quoted before,