COCHIN CHINABriefly I must mention the interesting countries of Anam and Siam.Saigon, a city of Anam, that country which the French gobbled up from the helpless natives, is to me, the most beautiful city in the world.The Mongolian natives here are modest-nice for hot climate people.The females wear loose gauze habits, protecting from the neck to the bare toes.It is amusing to see a group of these ladies on an afternoon outing, riding in a wooden cart drawn by one lazy ox. I have often felt like patting both the ox and the ladies.Paddy fish come ashore here in great schools, flopping into and damaging the gardens and rice fields.In the park they have on exhibition a sacred elephant, which they claim saved the life of one of their kings more than one thousand years ago. He is really covered with moss, apparently blind and quite feeble. This is the home of the spotted fawn, of which their babies seem so dear.In Siam the women and the men wear only a breach cloth. Both sexes wear their hair cut short, so it is difficult to distinguish one from the other.Monkeys here are as tame as robins at home, and lizards two feet long crawl over one's bed, but they do not bite.Of the nineteen million inhabitants over one million are priests. It takes three hundred of them to do the praying in the one temple here in Bangkok. This is where the eagles, three feet tall, gather from the mountains to devour the bodies of the dead who had not left money enough to pay the priests for the cremation ceremony.The present king has five hundred wives, seventy-five sons and seven white elephants on his hands, and yet he is not happy. It was from here that General Grant went into the forest to see wild elephants. The herds are not feeding here now, so with two French tourists I have stopped over at Tringano, on the west coast of the Gulf of Siam.The elephants of India are being rapidly thinned out, as they with the tigers hold forest lands which when developed are very productive.The elephant herds move slowly on irregular circuit, eating everything about them.We found no great number together as in a herd of cattle; sometimes only one and never more than five in a group.It can be no trick for the exultant European sportsmen to shoot them, for they are not wild and will hurt no one, unless it be an old defeated bull, who are said to be ferocious at times.Ivory now in use is not, as a rule, from the now living elephants. The natives search it out from under the forest debris, where the remains of elephants who lived thousands of years ago are found.MESOPOTAMIAAfter visiting the interior of Japan, China, Anam, Siam, Ceylon, India, Persia, Arabia, I found myself, in the evening of November 2, 1899, at Bagdad, Turkey, in close communion with our American consul, Rudolph Hurner, who had held that position from the United States to Mesopotamia for about thirty years. Bagdad is about 400 miles from the Persian gulf, and is now the largest Mesopotamian city of the old Babylonian empire, whose kings once caused the world to wince.Mesopotamia, like the valley of the Yangtsekiang, is by nature very productive. Either, if properly cultivated, would supply rice sufficient to sustain the world, but here the outrageous taxes, together with the wild men of the desert scare away all enterprise, while in China the Yaw-men actually absorb the products of the soil through the imposition of exchange.i255WITH CONSUL HURNER'S SERVANTS IN BAGDAD, MESOPOTAMIA.RUD HURNER"Now, Mr. Richardson," said Consul Hurner, as in the twilight we stood in his tropical garden, which overlooks the Tigris River, "you had better take my advice and not go beyond Hille. It is better to take the course of other travelers. Go to the border of civilization and then get some well-informed native to give you particulars, which you can polish up and call it experience, like the assumed traveler in the Star and Crescent, who boxed our dead in coffins, a custom unknown here."I have represented the United States here for years and have probably entertained every American traveler who has visited Baylon, Nipper and other biblical landmarks here. None have been so hazardous as to go among a people who are so bigoted that they consider it their religious duty to kill those who would interfere with their mode of worship. From reports of stragglers, or desert herdsmen, there are, I presume, twenty thousand people in Nazzip or Me-Schwad, mostly children of Bedouins. They have no schools, no maps of the world, do not know north from south and their wealth has been gained through wild raids on the Mohammedan fanatics bringing their dead to the ancient shrine of Nazzip, mostly from Persia and India.""I came out to see the elephant, Mr. Hurner," I said, "and while I appreciate your advice, I am not afraid of those people. I go open-handed with little money, which they could use, and with a disposition to appreciate insteadof criticize. My experience with the uncivilized has been that if one mind his own business, and do not stray from the crowd, their confidence is soon gained, and they soon show indications of sympathy and love. Do you think my men will back out of the agreement?""Well, let me see. Old Shammo has been acting as cook and guide around here for twenty-five years. He boasts that he conducted a funeral party down the Shat-El-Chebar and over to Me-Schwad twenty years ago. He may be lying about that, but I think for the price you offer he will stick to you. Then Moses is a daring fellow, whom you can rely upon. You ought to know him; he just came up on the boat with you. He has been to Africa, has he not? He will help you, as he speaks a little broken English. I think by what I can learn, he is the best fitted man in Bagdad for you. Alker his half-brother, will probably stick by you also. Tatus, the wealthy man's son, is anxious to learn about the south, and will probably go where Moses goes and stay where Moses stays. I think they are all Shea-Mohammedans, and while they are looked upon with suspicion they are in much less danger than you are."You see, I have your passport signed and sealed by the Turkish authorities, so you must exhibit that continually, and if the Sheiks are not able to read one word of it they will recognize the quail tracks, and think it is an order from Constantinople for you and your escort to pass through. Then with our arrangements for Nim Burr's old solid-wood-wheeled stage and the six mounted police, you will get through to Babylon all right, that is if they do not lay down on you and make you pay them over again. I think if you furnish, as you seem to be doing, a quarter of mutton to each man for lunch, theywill go through all right, for it cannot be more than thirty or forty miles to Babylon."From Hille, which is built from the ruins of old Babylon, to Chuffel, with a good mounted squad, you will make it easily, for they will think you are rabbinical tourists to Burr's Nimrod and Ezekiel's tomb."If you could be satisfied to visit Karbilla, where there is also a temple for the Mohammedan dead, you could probably run across the desert from Burr's Nimrod in safety, but if you approach the wealthy interior city called Me-Schwad or Nazzip, where the temple is, in which they claim Allah, the brother-in-law of Mohammet, was buried, you may find a decidedly warm reception and you may not—I do not know. I often thought I would like to go there myself."You may think it strange, Mr. Richardson, that there is no map of that district, or statistics, or census of the inhabitants of so vast a country and city, which like the sphinx of the Nile, sits with its face to the broad valley before it and its back to the great desert, which is inhabited by roving Bedouins, who respect no law, pay no taxes, and love their horses more than they do their wives and children, but it is practically true."You see, Mr. Richardson, it is this way: like a Russian Jew who will spend a life's careful savings for one journey to the tomb of Abraham, so these Shea-Mohammedans, who are scattered over Arabia, Persia, Messopotamis and even into India, who have amassed a small fortune, arrange that when they die their relatives start with their embalmed bodies—not in coffins, but wound in tarred linen—to carry them on horses or camels either to Mecca, Me-Schwad or Karbilla."When they arrive, the ceremony for the dead is inaccordance with the amount of money they bring. After the funeral, the friends of the dead stay in town on a protracted spree until their money is spent, then beg or steal their way home. Thus you see that the sacred temples are a source of income, and wealth has its influence in the Orient just the same as in your own Yankeedom. When those mourners are returning home, either from ignorance or fear, they keep mum as to the city, conditions, the final disposal of the bodies and everything else. Simply it is an honor to lug along a putrid carcass and lay it in the gilded temple of Allah."Now, my good friend Richardson, while it may be that Moses will bring you back safe, still you better take my advice and give up Me-Schwad. When you get to Babylon get a heavy escort of cavalry and run down to Nipper, a ruins more ancient than Babylon, where you will find an old Yankee from Boston rooting around the debris expecting every day to unearth the private library of Adam with the spinning wheel of Mother Eve, and place them on exhibition in the world's gallery of fame. Now, will you give up that trip to Nazzip, or must you go into the stamping grounds of the dare-devil Mohammedans?""Consul," I said, as I laid my hand on his arm and smiled into his face, "your caution is appreciated, but it does not budge me a hair." Then we both laughed loud, and he ordered more coffee or something else, after which I continued: "I have been among the cannibals and they treated me royally. Of course, it is necessary for one to take good care not to be ambushed and eat food only from their own cook, with, of course, a proper guard when on the desert. Now, that isn't all, Mr. Hurner. I am going to join the big caravan on its way fromPersia to Palestine, and you do not like that either, do you?""Mr. Richardson, I wish you could see your finish before you start. Of course, Oriental traders, half-breeds and camel drivers, who sometimes speak a little English, often take refuge in those caravans, but they are not like tourists. During my consulship here, no tourist has passed over the Dier and Tadmore route. You know you will be as lousy as a badger in three days, and if you die, they may not even bury you in the sand, but leave you for the vultures to eat.""Nonsense, if I avoid accidents and do not stray from the camp I shall be all right, for no well man can get sick in six weeks if he sticks to his tea, rusk, eggs and mutton.""All right, my American invincible, just one more word and I am through. You remember the first night that you came to Bagdad, how I took you out on the desert to show you where we had a fair two years ago, and pointed out the spot where the Bedouins came down upon us and at the point of their daggers took our collection and not one of them were arrested. I do this to impress upon your mind the fact that the Sabeans who fell upon the family of Job still linger on the desert wild. Now as we have argued so long you must be weary, so please join me again in refreshments before my guard takes you to your room."OFF FOR BABYLONAt four o'clock in the morning, November 6, 1899, we crossed the Tigris River in a tropical downpour, and struck out for the ruins of Babylon. About nine o'clock we halted for breakfast, where the hotel reminded me of a blacksmith shop, with several fireplaces and no roof. The plan in that country is for wayfarers to furnish their own food, cook it themselves, and when they can find the landlord, pay about one-third cent each for the accommodation, while the lodging is free anywhere on the ground. Of course, everyone pays their bills there, for the custom of the Turks and Bedouins is to kill thieves and burn them with their families and their entire belongings.No sooner had our squad been filled with eggs and chickens than they began to grumble that they could not take us to Babylon on the price paid, but must leave us at Messaya on the Euphrates, where we could descend the river in a boat.Moses now showed his teeth. Shammo began to bawl and everyone took a hand in the row but myself. They all talked so fast and loud that all I could understand was the profanity of Moses, who was a brave fellow and stood up for my rights as best as he could.After the excitement had subsided, Moses explained that he could force them to take us through, but was afraid they might move slow and purposely leave us on the desert for the night, so I ordered them to turn overto Messaya, where we arrived about four o'clock p. m., when I decided the safest way was to have boats take us across the river at dark, and when out of sight of the village, pay the oarsmen big money, or force them to take us all the way down the river to Babylon, the distance of which, as near as I could learn, was somewhere between three and thirty miles. Our offer was gladly accepted, and we considered ourselves safe, as the Bedouins around Messaya would not know where we were.ON THE EUPHRATESWhile gliding down the fourth Bible river, the Euphrates, the moon came up and seemed to turn its soft face upon the silence and as I began singing "Old Black Joe," the jackals along the shore joined in, possibly thinking by my voice that we were all descendants from one father. All were soon asleep but the oarsmen and myself, and I became lonesome as I thought of the days of the Aecadian priesthood, the Babylonian kings, Ezekiel and his people, Alexander the Great, who died here, all felled by the sickle of the reaper, Time, and here in silence I seemed to ask, "Where have they gone?"We arrived at Babylon at three o'clock in the morning, when I was given the bed of Mr. Nelson, the hospitable German explorer, and the next morning we took in the ruins, and slept in Hille the next night. The following day we rode on donkeys to Burr's Nimrod, a wonderful ruins built of pot-shaped bricks, each weighing several tons. The tower or temple Ziggurat must have been built at the top of an artificial mountain on the plain, about seven or eight miles from the ruins of Babylon. Many think that the ancient city like Nineveh extended beyond Burr's Nimrod. From Burr's Nimrod on camels we rode to Chuffel, a village on the Chebar River, where we entered Ezekiel's tomb, of which the Mohammedons allow no Jew to enter. Still around the open space there were several tents occupied by orthodox Jews, who had come from afar to worship at the shrine of their beloved ancestors.ON THE SHAT-EL-CHEBARAt Chuffel our trouble began. The Sheik would not let us stay over night in the town, we had no tent, even if we had dared to sleep in the open, and the next city, Koofa, was open only to Mohammedans, on their way to Nazzip with their dead. I began to laugh, which provoked even Moses, but we soon found relief in a man with one wall eye, minus a hat, shoes or pants, who with his helpers was accustomed to conduct funeral parties down the Chebar River to Koofa. He held us up for the enormous sum of one silver dollar for the ride, and for another dollar would venture to land us in the corpse room at Koofa, that is if it was not already occupied by other corpses. Again I smiled as I thought what would my son Arthur say if he could step into this boat just now and learn of the encouraging prospects. Moses and his helpers now became a trifle alarmed at the situation, and while we were eating our chicken, fried in camel's tallow, I kept laughing, which made Alkar mad, and he remarked to Moses that he believed I was a fool, traveling on borrowed money.After the owner of the boat and his helpers had paddled us down the river until about ten o'clock at night, we hove in sight of a few dim lights, which made me scratch my head a trifle, when I learned it was Koofa. My men were all wearing a sort of sickly grin since we had learned that the Sheik of Koofa had never before been imposed upon in this way, and I was beginning tofeel that there might have been a trifle of virtue in Consul Hurner's advice, but I slapped Moses on the shoulder and said, "The metal in a man shows up only in cases of an emergency," to which he smiled complacently, as though he had been assured that he had all night to live.KOOFA, ARABIAAt the mud landing, more than fifty had assembled, each hoping to earn a half-penny by carrying a corpse up the hill where, according to tradition, the Prophet Ezekiel had probably walked on his bare feet many times, for Koofa was a city on the west bank of the Shat-El-Chebar, long before Abraham left this region for the land of Canaan.When all was ready for the funeral march and Shammo had been loaded with the luggage, which consisted of pillows, blankets and cooking utensils, his face actually did take on the mournful hue of an undertaker carrying the dead across the dark river.Our guide sang out something which I supposed indicated that a burial troop was following as he dashed through the crowd, up the cliff, dodging this way and that through the dark, alley-like streets and rooms, where tall men with dark visages sat on high benches and scowled at our approach, until he landed us in a square cement room, about 12×12, with no ventilation save a hole over the door, when he mysteriously disappeared, taking his dim oil light with him.Soon officers appeared whom, I could see, were confused. Moses tried to pacify them by saying I was a rich man and would pay much money, but they did not seem to pacify, because the rich man was neither a Mohammedan nor a dead man. Their howling was to the effect that the owner of the room was ruined, as no dead Mohammedanwould consent to be laid in that room after we had occupied it. At last, after Moses had killed all the time he possibly could, I demanded to see the Sheik, which request is never refused among the Arabs.THE SHEIK OF KOOFASoon a guard of about twenty appeared and started with Moses and myself to consult the Sheik; while all the town, men, women and children, ran on either side of us, eager to get a glimpse of my pants, as, apparently, neither sex had ever seen before, or much less, donned such tight-fitting garments.After walking probably a mile we entered a dark alley, where, on one of the side walls, our escort began pounding and crying out until a gruff voice, which came as through a tube back of us, answered, and after a long wait we saw a dim light right back of where we were standing, but no one appeared.While we were waiting Moses jokingly inquired of me, "Do you wish you were in Chicago?" "No," I replied, "it is eleven o'clock in the morning there now and they are all working hard, while I am enjoying touring just waiting here in the shadows for permission to go to bed." "You're a queer sort of a cuss," was his smiling retort.At length, after the voice and the officer had talked back and forth through the hole, of which I overheard them speak the words English, Christian, Devil, Mohammedan, Bagdad, Nazzip and a few other words which I could understand, there seemed to be a stir, as some one from the inside began taking down boards; and with two of the party, Moses and myself crept up the rickety stairway, feeling our way through a long, dark hall whichopened into a room about 20×40. In this room, which was the palace of the Sheik, there was no furniture save a bed, table and a long bench. On the table was burning an oiled rag, one end soaking in a dish shaped like a wooden shoe.In the center of the large bed, which was, as near as I could see, composed of a mass of beautiful soft rugs, sat a sharp featured man with piercing black eyes and long white hair and whiskers. His face revealed no form or air of authority, but on the contrary, his sun-burned features wore a friendly smile while he gazed fixedly at me, apparently paying no attention to the officers' gabble, who were apparently over-estimating the enormity of the crime.While he studied me I studied him, and concluded that in his care I was all right. Finally he inquired of Moses if I had friends in America, and why I came to a sacred city without permission, at which Moses turned to me for explanation. After explaining my position and truthfully telling him how we came into what we knew was a forbidden town because we were afraid to stay outside, I then, through Moses, word for word, explained that Americans always heard that the chiefs of Arab tribes were great and good men, and were hospitable to strangers; especially when they did not interfere with their religion. This was the substance of my drift, although we talked back and forth for more than an hour.A skittish scene now took place; he called the chief officer to his side on the bed and by the dim light they began whispering, so Moses and I could not hear, occasionally turning their piercing gaze on me. At the conclusion he dismissed his officer and told Moses to tell me that at Me-Schwad they had a room for suchpeople, and we must go there, for which he would send a heavy guard to protect us. Then it took about ten minutes for him to express his gratitude for my confidence in him and his protecting power, and he wanted me to feel that Allah loved upright strangers in all the world.I then asked him if the guards at Me-Schwad would let us into the city, as it was now past midnight. To this he replied, "No," but said his force should furnish blankets and guard us all night.I hesitated and looked down, which made him inquire of Moses if I was sorry, at which I looked him kindly in the face as Moses interpreted each word, and said that I was sorry to go home and tell my people that the Sheik of Koofa had sent me away in the desert in the dark.Now he called the guard again, and after another continued whispering decided we could stay in the room over night, but must be prepared to leave at sunrise in the morning. As I left the room I felt his powerful influence on me, and turning quickly, I again met that kindly gaze as the old chief raised his thin, bloodless hand adieu. That night in my prayers I thanked God that the magnanimity of Abraham still tinged the veins of his people, even though they were deprived of the world's bounties through non-progressive bigotry.Soon I was peacefully resting in the unventilated room, which my friends on the other side of the world would have spurned, but to me it was experience, and I was glad to know that pity, love and sympathy were not confined to any one people, but were God-given attributes to humanity.My sweet dreams, if such they were, were cut short by Shammo, who began frying camel steak, goat or someother kind of meat close by my head, and soon we learned that the Sheik had ordered his special body guard to take us to Me-Schwad, Arabia, which was about twenty-five mile southwest from Koofa, over the trackless desert.i273DESERT LIFE AMONG THE ARABS.WILD, YET BEAUTIFULAt sunrise, leaving Shammo to care for the luggage, we mounted spirited horses selected for us, and with an escort of about one hundred cavalry picked our way, Indian file, up through the lane-like streets of Koofa until we reached the summit, from which we had a view of the surrounding country, especially ancient Nazzip, now called both Nazzip and Me-Schwab, which lay on a rise of ground before us, just far enough away to conceal its grossness.The morning sun at our backs cast its golden rays across the desert wild interspersed with clumps of verdure green. Over and beyond lay, face to us, the silver side-hill city of Nazzip, like the Arab himself, whose ambition is an array of dashing splendor. The Mohammedan pride appeared decorated with polished steeples and spires coated with sheets of silver and polished bronze, while the great Allah temple sat as a center piece. As we neared the scene it became grotesque, but in the far away it looked like a dazzling gem, set in soft Oriental drapery. A thoughtless vision seemed to confuse me with the scene as I said to myself, "Oh, if my Chicago friends were here to enjoy this enthusiasm."Now all the horses, with heads high, who could run like greyhounds, amid the whoops and howls of the braves of the desert, struck out wildly for the Oriental Silver Shrine. This was too much for me, and forgetting that I was to avoid all risks I stood in my stirrups andurged my horse forward in the race, which had broken its ranks, and soon found myself near the front of the now go-as-you-please, bawling to my steed like a regular Buffalo Bill, and this was kept up all the way to Me-Schwab. When I liberally recompensed the chief he kissed me, and I kissed him; then he put his arm around me and shook me and kissed me again, then they all cheered and were off.NAZZIPOn entering through the gates we found ourselves in an open space of probably twenty-five acres, with high walls on the north, east and south, apparently set aside for plays, prayers, public trade or exchange and, possibly, a place of protection for Bedouin rovers. It was a pretty place, and when at certain hours the priest calls out his Allah song from the tower, to see hundreds of people drop on their knees and faces in the attitude of worship is a sight long to be remembered.Our quarters, or jail, was a porch on the south, facing the open space of which we were not allowed to step outside, except to the roof, unless accompanied by officers.After coffee and rest, I begged permission to be taken about town, which was refused. Again I demanded to see the Sheik, which was always granted. But the Sheik actually looked astonished, and smiled at my audacity when Moses informed him that I wished to be shown through the great temple of Allah, but he was courteous and explained that their people, the Sheas, were very strict. They were better than the Seanees, who would eat with foreigners, while the Sheas would throw away any piece of furniture or dish once used by them. He finally consented for the guard to take us through the streets we wished to visit, where I found that they would sell their own manufacture, lace, rugs, bronze, etc., to their own people only, but through strategy I purchased some amber beads.THE MAN I HAD SEEN BEFOREWhile the officers were conducting us through the town I noticed a dark fellow, whom I had somewhere seen before, following us and laughing at my jokes, which were spoken to Moses mostly in English. When I spoke to him he feigned not to understand English, and began drawing me out of the few Arabic words which I had learned, at which he laughed and said he could speak ten tongues, including English. He said he knew all about me, but I had forgotten him. I then had Moses question him, but could get so little satisfaction that we concluded he was a fake, but he followed us and managed to advise me that I had better leave Me-Schwab in the dark; also that the Sheik might not consent for us to stay over again. Then I tried hard to think where I had seen him, but I could not.After we had been hustled back to our jail a party who owned the only wooden-wheeled wagon in that world came to bargain with me to take us to Karbilla. Two women, they said, were wanting to go with us, and we had better go through in the night, to which I objected, but after much wrangling we fixed on one o'clock in the morning for the start.Again I appeared before the Sheik, for permission to visit the Mohammedan cemeteries. He was reluctant, but finally consented, with whispered instructions to the guard, who took us outside the gate to a little hill, where we could see the graveyard about a mile distant, and then hustled us right back to our pen.At one o'clock, after we had swallowed our camelsteak and coffee, we were taken to the carry-all, where we found two masked women just arriving, whom I knew were quite young by their movements. A soft rug was stretched across to separate us from the women, who seemed to be housekeeping in the rear flat of the wagon, and we in the front. As our start was delayed, I snuggled back against the rug which partitioned us from the females, and soon realized that someone on the other side was snuggling up against me. When I aroused to inquire about our departure she would speak to the other woman, then we would resume our comfortable position, until her head dropped on my shoulder and nature's sweet repose drove all our cares away—of course both of us were asleep. Thus we waited until after light, all grumbling except us who were asleep.About sunrise the driver, with six Arabian steeds, in true Bedouin style, circled the open space on a wild run, then dashing out through the gates struck out for the north, which took us between the two cemeteries to which we had been refused admittance the previous evening. They ran the down grade at high speed, apparently so we could not see the tombs; but, when just at the point of curiosity, one wheel ran off and we were dumped in the sand, where the women lost their masks. One of them looked slyly at me with her soul brim full of laughter, as she placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me playfully; I did not understand her affection, although under those circumstances I appreciated it and wished we could each tell our story to the other.REAL BEDOUINS AFTER USI concluded that this ruse was being given to intimidate me, but later we experienced something more serious.The road between Nazzip and Karbilla is supposed to be more safe than the Koofa route, as it is guarded by squads of Turkish cavalry. At noon we changed horses and ate barley cakes for dinner, cooked by slapping the dough on the inside of a heated cement barrel. When we were ready to start again we could not find out why we did not go.We had now recrossed the desert and descended from the plateau into the valley of the Messopotamia, where our trail ran between the Chebar River and the cliffs on the west. All the while we had been waiting our two drivers had remained on the cliffs, where we could not see them, but I was not nervous, as I had become accustomed to waiting. Our suspicion was not aroused until we started, when the drivers yelled our six-horse team into a wild run, shaking the old crate wagon from side to side, for about five miles, when we heard reports of firearms, and suddenly came to a stop. Then the drivers, together with the passengers, sisters and all, ran up the craggy steeps onto the open plain, where in the distance we saw about ten Bedouins leaning on their horses' necks running for dear life, followed by a squad of Turkish cavalry who were firing at them with no effect, for they were too far away.I declared at once that it was a plot to frighten meout of the Mohammedan Stamping Grounds, but our guard, who had been riding to the west of our route all day, said that the teamsters who came down with our carry-all from Karbilla a few days previous had killed a camel man of the great herd which we were about to pass through, and that the Bedouins were the dead man's friends from the camel camp, who intended to kill all of us for revenge. Also, that the reason we stayed so long in the night and where we lunched was for the cavalry to arrive from Nazzip to chase the Bedouins away. Then I decided that, if our guard had told the truth, the Arabs were not so bad after all.We soon struck a herd of about 8,000 camels feeding on the grass and briars along the Shat-El-Chebar. It was a sight to see them, with their two or three hundred Arabian family tents, surrounded by horses, dogs, goats, sheep, chickens and children, leading the sleepy life of our wayside gypsies, seeming to have no inspiration for a change in their condition, as one generation follows another. On each voyage, or tour, said to occupy about five years, they go collecting camels at the round-up on the wilds of the great desert and driving them to Persia, of course selling and trading all the way along the creatures, both human and dumb, reproducing on the way. The pasturage is free but the government taxes are heavy, being nearly fifty per cent of the value of the animal, which is paid in such stock as they own. Arabian herdsmen are generous and hospitable, but, when aroused by what they consider wrong, they are exceedingly ferocious. We camped with them several days, and if I had a better grip on their language I would like to travel a year or two in one of those herdsmen's caravans and write them up as the family from which Abraham was called, for from thetime of the historical events of Abraham to now there has probably been little or no change in their daily life. Their helpfulness and hospitality, without expecting recompense, often reminded me of the story of Moses helping the Midian girls to water their flocks.SUSPICION AROUSEDUpon my return to Bagdad the Consul took me home to dinner, where he related a long, amusing story, of which I will make a short one. He said that the morning after I left Bagdad the Turkish Emissary from Constantinople sent his deputy to him to inquire who the stranger from America was and what he wanted, to which the Consul referred to my passport, which had been presented to them, and then told them all he knew about me. Again, in the evening, they sent to him to learn where I had gone, whereupon Hurner, thinking I would be more likely to go to Niffer than the interior, told them I had gone to visit my United States friend who was exploring the ruins at that place.Again they sent, to inquire if any treasure had been found at Niffer, to which the Consul jokingly replied, "Why, haven't you heard that they have found a subterranean pocket of valuables? And I suppose Richardson is here to take them out of the country by way of the Persian Gulf. I hear he has several camels on the spot; but this is all hearsay, through the Bedouins, and may not be true."In less than an hour, said Hurner, two hundred cavalry, with shining sabres, were on the dash over the sixty miles of straight across desert sand to intercept the American thief. Their approach was a surprise to the old Bostonian, who was simply examining each brickas they came out of the debris, and innocently declared he had seen no treasure or anything of the American.JONA AND HIS WIVESThe next morning I received a caller whom I recognized at once as the stranger I had met in Nazzip. After I inquired how he got to Bagdad so soon, he told me he had joined the horsemen from Nazzip who protected me. I asked him what he meant by saying he knew me."Were you at Jask, Persia?" he began."Yes," I said, "Jask is where I saw, in the distance, those rocky, book-like mountains, so beautiful.""Did you go ashore?""I did.""Did you see me?""No.""On your return to the steamer did you assist two Mohammedan women?""I did. Americans always assist the ladies.""Did you go ashore at Bahrein, Arabia?"I said, "Yes, that is where S. M. Zwemer, a missionary from the Dutch Reform Church of Holland, Michigan, rode with us on donkeys to Riggeb-Gem, that ruin more ancient than Babylon.""On the return to the steamer did you assist those women again?""I did, I stood in the water to my hips and assisted each from their wet donkey to the barge. When on board one gave me a pomegranite, and when she saw I did not know what it was, she took it from me with a laugh and fixed it with sugar so I could eat it.""Those women, stranger, were my wives. Did you know that your frankness gained their affection?""Your wives! Gee-whiz, were those women at Me-Schwad the same women I met on the steamer? Say, friend, where did you come from, and where are you going?""My name is Jona. I am a nabob, my home is the desert thirty days journey from Muscat, but we will not burden each other with our history. I have learned that you are bound for Tadmor, and so am I. Now, can you tell me anything more about the last days of Jesus of Nazareth and the last days of Mary Magdalene than is found in your testament, with which I am familiar?"I hesitated, and then said: "I did not come into this country as a missionary, I came to study the people. I would not interfere with your Mohammedan faith.""You Christians mistake our position in regard to Jesus. Jesus, as Mohammed, was a wonderful spiritual teacher from the living God, but until all worshipers of the spiritual God drop their materialism, of which the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus is the most ungodlike, this world will continue to be the abode of ignorance, which is the generator of sin; but enough on that score for now, for I intend to join you on your journey to Tadmor, and I trust you will hereafter pass my wives unnoticed.""If I see one of your wives falling, head downward from a camel, shall I save her from breaking her neck?""Not if she falls intentionally; but let us return to the object of my call, the story of Mary Magdalene and Jesus in their last days.""Mary Magdalene was all right, friend, but how about your girl wife, who shook me so fondly when I saw her face?""Oh, she admired your frankness; she is mad, soplease pass her unnoticed on our journey to Tadmor. Now to change the subject."All organized nations, Syria not being the least, after the fame of Jesus spread abroad, sent scribes to listen at his feet and report, which report was included in the collection for our Family Tree Tribe, with a record of the life and death of Mary Magdalene in which she shines forth as a feminine beauty of wonderful spiritual comprehension. This report, with that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the final attempt to crush out Christianity, has been carried by us in tradition but lost in record for many centuries. Lately we have been told that the original manuscripts still exist in the ruins of our ancient citadel in Tadmor (Palmyra.)THE RECHABITES"We styled ourselves Rechabites because we lived in open air, drank no wine and mingled with no other tribes. We descended from Adam through the Kenites. Our rendezvous at the time of David was at Jabes, but in the days of Jeremiah we came to Tadmor, where we assembled yearly to pay tithes for over a thousand years."Now we are dispersed throughout the Orient, and pay no tithes, yet we hold sacred our peaceful attitude toward strangers, our education as scribes, our nomad life and our abhorrence to strong drink. The family tree is disappearing, for we are intermarrying; even my mother was an Indian from Karachi."My object in this journey is, if possible, to collect the Aramaic manuscripts of the tribe, that they may be handed down in an unbroken line, thus completing our family tree. I can tell you more particulars about our people, and many incidents about Mary Magdalene, even if we do not find the manuscripts. For we will journey together.""Please let me ask you one question, Mr. Jona, and then you can proceed. Do you intend me to understand that you expect to find the original report or document at Tadmor, or is it a legend of a later author of your tribe who was familiar with traditional accounts of Jesus and Mary Magdalene?""I do not want you to understand anything only that I hope to find manuscripts which will satisfy all thatJesus of Nazareth was a spiritual representative of God, and that after His death He appeared to Mary Magdalene.""I understand you now, go on about your rendezvous.""As I said concerning our people, the Hebrews, who thought God had chosen them to disseminate His love and care over this world, became bigoted through priesthood and set up a cry that they were retainers instead of disseminators. This caused a breach between us and the Gentiles, who made war with us; but our tribe, the Rechabites, held aloof, enjoying our nomad life until Babylonia, spurred on by Syria, began preparations for that world-wide foraging tour toward Canaan. Then our tribe, fearful of an onslaught, held council and decided to take shelter within the walls of Jerusalem, and did so until Jehoiakim, through Jeremiah, attempted to get us drunk, when we again held council and decided to throw ourselves upon the mercy of the Babylonian King, who in turn permitted us to assemble at Tadmor, exempt from army service."Tadmor now became our home, and upon the brow of the mountain which overlooks the city we excavated a broad and deep channel in the rock, around a center on which we built a wonderful castle, the crown to the gem of the desert, Tadmor. In its sacred archives were kept all the manuscripts of our tribe. Since we abandoned it I have heard they still call it by our family name, 'The Castle of the Rechabs.'"Recently we have heard that some kind of documents or manuscripts are still in keeping by a descendant of our clan, so my people have deputized me to go on this journey.""If it would be agreeable to you, Mr. Jona, I wouldlike that we group our sub-caravans for the journey.""Thanks for your hospitality, but for reasons previously expressed we will tent separately. You and I will ride side by side, that I may enjoy the influence of your inspiring thoughts; but, really, you would not enjoy the company of the woman, who you could neither see or understand.""Why in the d——l, Jona, do you not let them throw off those masks, just for this journey, and allow the sweet sunshine, which the flowers on the desert are permitted to enjoy, be experienced by your wives, whom, by your barbarous custom, you place in dark coffins before they die?""Oh, Mr. Richardson, I understand you all right, but my people would not. Please do not mention that subject again. Now please attend to the details of your wants for our journey with the Persian caravan, which is now arriving, for we must be ready for the forward movement, which will take place in about four days."Not willing to let up on the subject, I continued: "Do your women ever find fault with the way you treat them?""Yes, all women are dissatisfied.""They are not. Our women at home are the sunshine of our lives.""Please do not talk any more on that subject," he said as he wiped the sweat from his neck with his flowing sleeve.Many were the peculiar incidents in our caravan of over fifteen hundred souls on our long journey of twenty-nine days up the Euphrates and over the desert, all of which I must pass over, noticing only Jona and his group as they appeared on the desert.Jona, astride of his beautiful, fleet Arabian, was followed by a mammoth black camel loaded down with about eight hundred pounds of luggage. Following next was a tall, gaunt, mouse-colored camel on which was a platform fastened to the saddle; of which, on either side over the camel's sides, were attached covered seats which looked like dog houses. In each of these dog houses was a wife, his favorite and her assistant, Fatima. Each wore a veil over her head, jewels on her fingers, ankles, wrists, ears and neck, attired in a loose wrapper. Oriental nabobs usually travel with two wives, their favorite and her assistant. The elder, in this case, was his favorite; she bossed him around just like American wives do their husbands, not by force but through influence; as Abraham obeyed Sarah, and sent the guileless Hagar into the wilderness, regardless of his feelings.A sort of Jacob's ladder, on which the women descended to and from their roost, was among the luggage on the pack camel, and notwithstanding the charge of my Rechabite friend that I was not to disquiet his wives, I continually placed the ladder and assisted Fatima and his favorite to ascend as soon as we struck camp; for if I had not, Jona was liable to leave his wives and other luggage on the camel until we had been on the sand for an hour. Fatima and I were usually side by side evenings, when her aptness in catching the English words and returning them to me in Arabic surprised me.
COCHIN CHINABriefly I must mention the interesting countries of Anam and Siam.Saigon, a city of Anam, that country which the French gobbled up from the helpless natives, is to me, the most beautiful city in the world.The Mongolian natives here are modest-nice for hot climate people.The females wear loose gauze habits, protecting from the neck to the bare toes.It is amusing to see a group of these ladies on an afternoon outing, riding in a wooden cart drawn by one lazy ox. I have often felt like patting both the ox and the ladies.Paddy fish come ashore here in great schools, flopping into and damaging the gardens and rice fields.In the park they have on exhibition a sacred elephant, which they claim saved the life of one of their kings more than one thousand years ago. He is really covered with moss, apparently blind and quite feeble. This is the home of the spotted fawn, of which their babies seem so dear.In Siam the women and the men wear only a breach cloth. Both sexes wear their hair cut short, so it is difficult to distinguish one from the other.Monkeys here are as tame as robins at home, and lizards two feet long crawl over one's bed, but they do not bite.Of the nineteen million inhabitants over one million are priests. It takes three hundred of them to do the praying in the one temple here in Bangkok. This is where the eagles, three feet tall, gather from the mountains to devour the bodies of the dead who had not left money enough to pay the priests for the cremation ceremony.The present king has five hundred wives, seventy-five sons and seven white elephants on his hands, and yet he is not happy. It was from here that General Grant went into the forest to see wild elephants. The herds are not feeding here now, so with two French tourists I have stopped over at Tringano, on the west coast of the Gulf of Siam.The elephants of India are being rapidly thinned out, as they with the tigers hold forest lands which when developed are very productive.The elephant herds move slowly on irregular circuit, eating everything about them.We found no great number together as in a herd of cattle; sometimes only one and never more than five in a group.It can be no trick for the exultant European sportsmen to shoot them, for they are not wild and will hurt no one, unless it be an old defeated bull, who are said to be ferocious at times.Ivory now in use is not, as a rule, from the now living elephants. The natives search it out from under the forest debris, where the remains of elephants who lived thousands of years ago are found.
Briefly I must mention the interesting countries of Anam and Siam.
Saigon, a city of Anam, that country which the French gobbled up from the helpless natives, is to me, the most beautiful city in the world.
The Mongolian natives here are modest-nice for hot climate people.
The females wear loose gauze habits, protecting from the neck to the bare toes.
It is amusing to see a group of these ladies on an afternoon outing, riding in a wooden cart drawn by one lazy ox. I have often felt like patting both the ox and the ladies.
Paddy fish come ashore here in great schools, flopping into and damaging the gardens and rice fields.
In the park they have on exhibition a sacred elephant, which they claim saved the life of one of their kings more than one thousand years ago. He is really covered with moss, apparently blind and quite feeble. This is the home of the spotted fawn, of which their babies seem so dear.
In Siam the women and the men wear only a breach cloth. Both sexes wear their hair cut short, so it is difficult to distinguish one from the other.
Monkeys here are as tame as robins at home, and lizards two feet long crawl over one's bed, but they do not bite.
Of the nineteen million inhabitants over one million are priests. It takes three hundred of them to do the praying in the one temple here in Bangkok. This is where the eagles, three feet tall, gather from the mountains to devour the bodies of the dead who had not left money enough to pay the priests for the cremation ceremony.
The present king has five hundred wives, seventy-five sons and seven white elephants on his hands, and yet he is not happy. It was from here that General Grant went into the forest to see wild elephants. The herds are not feeding here now, so with two French tourists I have stopped over at Tringano, on the west coast of the Gulf of Siam.
The elephants of India are being rapidly thinned out, as they with the tigers hold forest lands which when developed are very productive.
The elephant herds move slowly on irregular circuit, eating everything about them.
We found no great number together as in a herd of cattle; sometimes only one and never more than five in a group.
It can be no trick for the exultant European sportsmen to shoot them, for they are not wild and will hurt no one, unless it be an old defeated bull, who are said to be ferocious at times.
Ivory now in use is not, as a rule, from the now living elephants. The natives search it out from under the forest debris, where the remains of elephants who lived thousands of years ago are found.
MESOPOTAMIAAfter visiting the interior of Japan, China, Anam, Siam, Ceylon, India, Persia, Arabia, I found myself, in the evening of November 2, 1899, at Bagdad, Turkey, in close communion with our American consul, Rudolph Hurner, who had held that position from the United States to Mesopotamia for about thirty years. Bagdad is about 400 miles from the Persian gulf, and is now the largest Mesopotamian city of the old Babylonian empire, whose kings once caused the world to wince.Mesopotamia, like the valley of the Yangtsekiang, is by nature very productive. Either, if properly cultivated, would supply rice sufficient to sustain the world, but here the outrageous taxes, together with the wild men of the desert scare away all enterprise, while in China the Yaw-men actually absorb the products of the soil through the imposition of exchange.i255WITH CONSUL HURNER'S SERVANTS IN BAGDAD, MESOPOTAMIA.
After visiting the interior of Japan, China, Anam, Siam, Ceylon, India, Persia, Arabia, I found myself, in the evening of November 2, 1899, at Bagdad, Turkey, in close communion with our American consul, Rudolph Hurner, who had held that position from the United States to Mesopotamia for about thirty years. Bagdad is about 400 miles from the Persian gulf, and is now the largest Mesopotamian city of the old Babylonian empire, whose kings once caused the world to wince.
Mesopotamia, like the valley of the Yangtsekiang, is by nature very productive. Either, if properly cultivated, would supply rice sufficient to sustain the world, but here the outrageous taxes, together with the wild men of the desert scare away all enterprise, while in China the Yaw-men actually absorb the products of the soil through the imposition of exchange.
i255
WITH CONSUL HURNER'S SERVANTS IN BAGDAD, MESOPOTAMIA.
WITH CONSUL HURNER'S SERVANTS IN BAGDAD, MESOPOTAMIA.
WITH CONSUL HURNER'S SERVANTS IN BAGDAD, MESOPOTAMIA.
RUD HURNER"Now, Mr. Richardson," said Consul Hurner, as in the twilight we stood in his tropical garden, which overlooks the Tigris River, "you had better take my advice and not go beyond Hille. It is better to take the course of other travelers. Go to the border of civilization and then get some well-informed native to give you particulars, which you can polish up and call it experience, like the assumed traveler in the Star and Crescent, who boxed our dead in coffins, a custom unknown here."I have represented the United States here for years and have probably entertained every American traveler who has visited Baylon, Nipper and other biblical landmarks here. None have been so hazardous as to go among a people who are so bigoted that they consider it their religious duty to kill those who would interfere with their mode of worship. From reports of stragglers, or desert herdsmen, there are, I presume, twenty thousand people in Nazzip or Me-Schwad, mostly children of Bedouins. They have no schools, no maps of the world, do not know north from south and their wealth has been gained through wild raids on the Mohammedan fanatics bringing their dead to the ancient shrine of Nazzip, mostly from Persia and India.""I came out to see the elephant, Mr. Hurner," I said, "and while I appreciate your advice, I am not afraid of those people. I go open-handed with little money, which they could use, and with a disposition to appreciate insteadof criticize. My experience with the uncivilized has been that if one mind his own business, and do not stray from the crowd, their confidence is soon gained, and they soon show indications of sympathy and love. Do you think my men will back out of the agreement?""Well, let me see. Old Shammo has been acting as cook and guide around here for twenty-five years. He boasts that he conducted a funeral party down the Shat-El-Chebar and over to Me-Schwad twenty years ago. He may be lying about that, but I think for the price you offer he will stick to you. Then Moses is a daring fellow, whom you can rely upon. You ought to know him; he just came up on the boat with you. He has been to Africa, has he not? He will help you, as he speaks a little broken English. I think by what I can learn, he is the best fitted man in Bagdad for you. Alker his half-brother, will probably stick by you also. Tatus, the wealthy man's son, is anxious to learn about the south, and will probably go where Moses goes and stay where Moses stays. I think they are all Shea-Mohammedans, and while they are looked upon with suspicion they are in much less danger than you are."You see, I have your passport signed and sealed by the Turkish authorities, so you must exhibit that continually, and if the Sheiks are not able to read one word of it they will recognize the quail tracks, and think it is an order from Constantinople for you and your escort to pass through. Then with our arrangements for Nim Burr's old solid-wood-wheeled stage and the six mounted police, you will get through to Babylon all right, that is if they do not lay down on you and make you pay them over again. I think if you furnish, as you seem to be doing, a quarter of mutton to each man for lunch, theywill go through all right, for it cannot be more than thirty or forty miles to Babylon."From Hille, which is built from the ruins of old Babylon, to Chuffel, with a good mounted squad, you will make it easily, for they will think you are rabbinical tourists to Burr's Nimrod and Ezekiel's tomb."If you could be satisfied to visit Karbilla, where there is also a temple for the Mohammedan dead, you could probably run across the desert from Burr's Nimrod in safety, but if you approach the wealthy interior city called Me-Schwad or Nazzip, where the temple is, in which they claim Allah, the brother-in-law of Mohammet, was buried, you may find a decidedly warm reception and you may not—I do not know. I often thought I would like to go there myself."You may think it strange, Mr. Richardson, that there is no map of that district, or statistics, or census of the inhabitants of so vast a country and city, which like the sphinx of the Nile, sits with its face to the broad valley before it and its back to the great desert, which is inhabited by roving Bedouins, who respect no law, pay no taxes, and love their horses more than they do their wives and children, but it is practically true."You see, Mr. Richardson, it is this way: like a Russian Jew who will spend a life's careful savings for one journey to the tomb of Abraham, so these Shea-Mohammedans, who are scattered over Arabia, Persia, Messopotamis and even into India, who have amassed a small fortune, arrange that when they die their relatives start with their embalmed bodies—not in coffins, but wound in tarred linen—to carry them on horses or camels either to Mecca, Me-Schwad or Karbilla."When they arrive, the ceremony for the dead is inaccordance with the amount of money they bring. After the funeral, the friends of the dead stay in town on a protracted spree until their money is spent, then beg or steal their way home. Thus you see that the sacred temples are a source of income, and wealth has its influence in the Orient just the same as in your own Yankeedom. When those mourners are returning home, either from ignorance or fear, they keep mum as to the city, conditions, the final disposal of the bodies and everything else. Simply it is an honor to lug along a putrid carcass and lay it in the gilded temple of Allah."Now, my good friend Richardson, while it may be that Moses will bring you back safe, still you better take my advice and give up Me-Schwad. When you get to Babylon get a heavy escort of cavalry and run down to Nipper, a ruins more ancient than Babylon, where you will find an old Yankee from Boston rooting around the debris expecting every day to unearth the private library of Adam with the spinning wheel of Mother Eve, and place them on exhibition in the world's gallery of fame. Now, will you give up that trip to Nazzip, or must you go into the stamping grounds of the dare-devil Mohammedans?""Consul," I said, as I laid my hand on his arm and smiled into his face, "your caution is appreciated, but it does not budge me a hair." Then we both laughed loud, and he ordered more coffee or something else, after which I continued: "I have been among the cannibals and they treated me royally. Of course, it is necessary for one to take good care not to be ambushed and eat food only from their own cook, with, of course, a proper guard when on the desert. Now, that isn't all, Mr. Hurner. I am going to join the big caravan on its way fromPersia to Palestine, and you do not like that either, do you?""Mr. Richardson, I wish you could see your finish before you start. Of course, Oriental traders, half-breeds and camel drivers, who sometimes speak a little English, often take refuge in those caravans, but they are not like tourists. During my consulship here, no tourist has passed over the Dier and Tadmore route. You know you will be as lousy as a badger in three days, and if you die, they may not even bury you in the sand, but leave you for the vultures to eat.""Nonsense, if I avoid accidents and do not stray from the camp I shall be all right, for no well man can get sick in six weeks if he sticks to his tea, rusk, eggs and mutton.""All right, my American invincible, just one more word and I am through. You remember the first night that you came to Bagdad, how I took you out on the desert to show you where we had a fair two years ago, and pointed out the spot where the Bedouins came down upon us and at the point of their daggers took our collection and not one of them were arrested. I do this to impress upon your mind the fact that the Sabeans who fell upon the family of Job still linger on the desert wild. Now as we have argued so long you must be weary, so please join me again in refreshments before my guard takes you to your room."
"Now, Mr. Richardson," said Consul Hurner, as in the twilight we stood in his tropical garden, which overlooks the Tigris River, "you had better take my advice and not go beyond Hille. It is better to take the course of other travelers. Go to the border of civilization and then get some well-informed native to give you particulars, which you can polish up and call it experience, like the assumed traveler in the Star and Crescent, who boxed our dead in coffins, a custom unknown here.
"I have represented the United States here for years and have probably entertained every American traveler who has visited Baylon, Nipper and other biblical landmarks here. None have been so hazardous as to go among a people who are so bigoted that they consider it their religious duty to kill those who would interfere with their mode of worship. From reports of stragglers, or desert herdsmen, there are, I presume, twenty thousand people in Nazzip or Me-Schwad, mostly children of Bedouins. They have no schools, no maps of the world, do not know north from south and their wealth has been gained through wild raids on the Mohammedan fanatics bringing their dead to the ancient shrine of Nazzip, mostly from Persia and India."
"I came out to see the elephant, Mr. Hurner," I said, "and while I appreciate your advice, I am not afraid of those people. I go open-handed with little money, which they could use, and with a disposition to appreciate insteadof criticize. My experience with the uncivilized has been that if one mind his own business, and do not stray from the crowd, their confidence is soon gained, and they soon show indications of sympathy and love. Do you think my men will back out of the agreement?"
"Well, let me see. Old Shammo has been acting as cook and guide around here for twenty-five years. He boasts that he conducted a funeral party down the Shat-El-Chebar and over to Me-Schwad twenty years ago. He may be lying about that, but I think for the price you offer he will stick to you. Then Moses is a daring fellow, whom you can rely upon. You ought to know him; he just came up on the boat with you. He has been to Africa, has he not? He will help you, as he speaks a little broken English. I think by what I can learn, he is the best fitted man in Bagdad for you. Alker his half-brother, will probably stick by you also. Tatus, the wealthy man's son, is anxious to learn about the south, and will probably go where Moses goes and stay where Moses stays. I think they are all Shea-Mohammedans, and while they are looked upon with suspicion they are in much less danger than you are.
"You see, I have your passport signed and sealed by the Turkish authorities, so you must exhibit that continually, and if the Sheiks are not able to read one word of it they will recognize the quail tracks, and think it is an order from Constantinople for you and your escort to pass through. Then with our arrangements for Nim Burr's old solid-wood-wheeled stage and the six mounted police, you will get through to Babylon all right, that is if they do not lay down on you and make you pay them over again. I think if you furnish, as you seem to be doing, a quarter of mutton to each man for lunch, theywill go through all right, for it cannot be more than thirty or forty miles to Babylon.
"From Hille, which is built from the ruins of old Babylon, to Chuffel, with a good mounted squad, you will make it easily, for they will think you are rabbinical tourists to Burr's Nimrod and Ezekiel's tomb.
"If you could be satisfied to visit Karbilla, where there is also a temple for the Mohammedan dead, you could probably run across the desert from Burr's Nimrod in safety, but if you approach the wealthy interior city called Me-Schwad or Nazzip, where the temple is, in which they claim Allah, the brother-in-law of Mohammet, was buried, you may find a decidedly warm reception and you may not—I do not know. I often thought I would like to go there myself.
"You may think it strange, Mr. Richardson, that there is no map of that district, or statistics, or census of the inhabitants of so vast a country and city, which like the sphinx of the Nile, sits with its face to the broad valley before it and its back to the great desert, which is inhabited by roving Bedouins, who respect no law, pay no taxes, and love their horses more than they do their wives and children, but it is practically true.
"You see, Mr. Richardson, it is this way: like a Russian Jew who will spend a life's careful savings for one journey to the tomb of Abraham, so these Shea-Mohammedans, who are scattered over Arabia, Persia, Messopotamis and even into India, who have amassed a small fortune, arrange that when they die their relatives start with their embalmed bodies—not in coffins, but wound in tarred linen—to carry them on horses or camels either to Mecca, Me-Schwad or Karbilla.
"When they arrive, the ceremony for the dead is inaccordance with the amount of money they bring. After the funeral, the friends of the dead stay in town on a protracted spree until their money is spent, then beg or steal their way home. Thus you see that the sacred temples are a source of income, and wealth has its influence in the Orient just the same as in your own Yankeedom. When those mourners are returning home, either from ignorance or fear, they keep mum as to the city, conditions, the final disposal of the bodies and everything else. Simply it is an honor to lug along a putrid carcass and lay it in the gilded temple of Allah.
"Now, my good friend Richardson, while it may be that Moses will bring you back safe, still you better take my advice and give up Me-Schwad. When you get to Babylon get a heavy escort of cavalry and run down to Nipper, a ruins more ancient than Babylon, where you will find an old Yankee from Boston rooting around the debris expecting every day to unearth the private library of Adam with the spinning wheel of Mother Eve, and place them on exhibition in the world's gallery of fame. Now, will you give up that trip to Nazzip, or must you go into the stamping grounds of the dare-devil Mohammedans?"
"Consul," I said, as I laid my hand on his arm and smiled into his face, "your caution is appreciated, but it does not budge me a hair." Then we both laughed loud, and he ordered more coffee or something else, after which I continued: "I have been among the cannibals and they treated me royally. Of course, it is necessary for one to take good care not to be ambushed and eat food only from their own cook, with, of course, a proper guard when on the desert. Now, that isn't all, Mr. Hurner. I am going to join the big caravan on its way fromPersia to Palestine, and you do not like that either, do you?"
"Mr. Richardson, I wish you could see your finish before you start. Of course, Oriental traders, half-breeds and camel drivers, who sometimes speak a little English, often take refuge in those caravans, but they are not like tourists. During my consulship here, no tourist has passed over the Dier and Tadmore route. You know you will be as lousy as a badger in three days, and if you die, they may not even bury you in the sand, but leave you for the vultures to eat."
"Nonsense, if I avoid accidents and do not stray from the camp I shall be all right, for no well man can get sick in six weeks if he sticks to his tea, rusk, eggs and mutton."
"All right, my American invincible, just one more word and I am through. You remember the first night that you came to Bagdad, how I took you out on the desert to show you where we had a fair two years ago, and pointed out the spot where the Bedouins came down upon us and at the point of their daggers took our collection and not one of them were arrested. I do this to impress upon your mind the fact that the Sabeans who fell upon the family of Job still linger on the desert wild. Now as we have argued so long you must be weary, so please join me again in refreshments before my guard takes you to your room."
OFF FOR BABYLONAt four o'clock in the morning, November 6, 1899, we crossed the Tigris River in a tropical downpour, and struck out for the ruins of Babylon. About nine o'clock we halted for breakfast, where the hotel reminded me of a blacksmith shop, with several fireplaces and no roof. The plan in that country is for wayfarers to furnish their own food, cook it themselves, and when they can find the landlord, pay about one-third cent each for the accommodation, while the lodging is free anywhere on the ground. Of course, everyone pays their bills there, for the custom of the Turks and Bedouins is to kill thieves and burn them with their families and their entire belongings.No sooner had our squad been filled with eggs and chickens than they began to grumble that they could not take us to Babylon on the price paid, but must leave us at Messaya on the Euphrates, where we could descend the river in a boat.Moses now showed his teeth. Shammo began to bawl and everyone took a hand in the row but myself. They all talked so fast and loud that all I could understand was the profanity of Moses, who was a brave fellow and stood up for my rights as best as he could.After the excitement had subsided, Moses explained that he could force them to take us through, but was afraid they might move slow and purposely leave us on the desert for the night, so I ordered them to turn overto Messaya, where we arrived about four o'clock p. m., when I decided the safest way was to have boats take us across the river at dark, and when out of sight of the village, pay the oarsmen big money, or force them to take us all the way down the river to Babylon, the distance of which, as near as I could learn, was somewhere between three and thirty miles. Our offer was gladly accepted, and we considered ourselves safe, as the Bedouins around Messaya would not know where we were.
At four o'clock in the morning, November 6, 1899, we crossed the Tigris River in a tropical downpour, and struck out for the ruins of Babylon. About nine o'clock we halted for breakfast, where the hotel reminded me of a blacksmith shop, with several fireplaces and no roof. The plan in that country is for wayfarers to furnish their own food, cook it themselves, and when they can find the landlord, pay about one-third cent each for the accommodation, while the lodging is free anywhere on the ground. Of course, everyone pays their bills there, for the custom of the Turks and Bedouins is to kill thieves and burn them with their families and their entire belongings.
No sooner had our squad been filled with eggs and chickens than they began to grumble that they could not take us to Babylon on the price paid, but must leave us at Messaya on the Euphrates, where we could descend the river in a boat.
Moses now showed his teeth. Shammo began to bawl and everyone took a hand in the row but myself. They all talked so fast and loud that all I could understand was the profanity of Moses, who was a brave fellow and stood up for my rights as best as he could.
After the excitement had subsided, Moses explained that he could force them to take us through, but was afraid they might move slow and purposely leave us on the desert for the night, so I ordered them to turn overto Messaya, where we arrived about four o'clock p. m., when I decided the safest way was to have boats take us across the river at dark, and when out of sight of the village, pay the oarsmen big money, or force them to take us all the way down the river to Babylon, the distance of which, as near as I could learn, was somewhere between three and thirty miles. Our offer was gladly accepted, and we considered ourselves safe, as the Bedouins around Messaya would not know where we were.
ON THE EUPHRATESWhile gliding down the fourth Bible river, the Euphrates, the moon came up and seemed to turn its soft face upon the silence and as I began singing "Old Black Joe," the jackals along the shore joined in, possibly thinking by my voice that we were all descendants from one father. All were soon asleep but the oarsmen and myself, and I became lonesome as I thought of the days of the Aecadian priesthood, the Babylonian kings, Ezekiel and his people, Alexander the Great, who died here, all felled by the sickle of the reaper, Time, and here in silence I seemed to ask, "Where have they gone?"We arrived at Babylon at three o'clock in the morning, when I was given the bed of Mr. Nelson, the hospitable German explorer, and the next morning we took in the ruins, and slept in Hille the next night. The following day we rode on donkeys to Burr's Nimrod, a wonderful ruins built of pot-shaped bricks, each weighing several tons. The tower or temple Ziggurat must have been built at the top of an artificial mountain on the plain, about seven or eight miles from the ruins of Babylon. Many think that the ancient city like Nineveh extended beyond Burr's Nimrod. From Burr's Nimrod on camels we rode to Chuffel, a village on the Chebar River, where we entered Ezekiel's tomb, of which the Mohammedons allow no Jew to enter. Still around the open space there were several tents occupied by orthodox Jews, who had come from afar to worship at the shrine of their beloved ancestors.
While gliding down the fourth Bible river, the Euphrates, the moon came up and seemed to turn its soft face upon the silence and as I began singing "Old Black Joe," the jackals along the shore joined in, possibly thinking by my voice that we were all descendants from one father. All were soon asleep but the oarsmen and myself, and I became lonesome as I thought of the days of the Aecadian priesthood, the Babylonian kings, Ezekiel and his people, Alexander the Great, who died here, all felled by the sickle of the reaper, Time, and here in silence I seemed to ask, "Where have they gone?"
We arrived at Babylon at three o'clock in the morning, when I was given the bed of Mr. Nelson, the hospitable German explorer, and the next morning we took in the ruins, and slept in Hille the next night. The following day we rode on donkeys to Burr's Nimrod, a wonderful ruins built of pot-shaped bricks, each weighing several tons. The tower or temple Ziggurat must have been built at the top of an artificial mountain on the plain, about seven or eight miles from the ruins of Babylon. Many think that the ancient city like Nineveh extended beyond Burr's Nimrod. From Burr's Nimrod on camels we rode to Chuffel, a village on the Chebar River, where we entered Ezekiel's tomb, of which the Mohammedons allow no Jew to enter. Still around the open space there were several tents occupied by orthodox Jews, who had come from afar to worship at the shrine of their beloved ancestors.
ON THE SHAT-EL-CHEBARAt Chuffel our trouble began. The Sheik would not let us stay over night in the town, we had no tent, even if we had dared to sleep in the open, and the next city, Koofa, was open only to Mohammedans, on their way to Nazzip with their dead. I began to laugh, which provoked even Moses, but we soon found relief in a man with one wall eye, minus a hat, shoes or pants, who with his helpers was accustomed to conduct funeral parties down the Chebar River to Koofa. He held us up for the enormous sum of one silver dollar for the ride, and for another dollar would venture to land us in the corpse room at Koofa, that is if it was not already occupied by other corpses. Again I smiled as I thought what would my son Arthur say if he could step into this boat just now and learn of the encouraging prospects. Moses and his helpers now became a trifle alarmed at the situation, and while we were eating our chicken, fried in camel's tallow, I kept laughing, which made Alkar mad, and he remarked to Moses that he believed I was a fool, traveling on borrowed money.After the owner of the boat and his helpers had paddled us down the river until about ten o'clock at night, we hove in sight of a few dim lights, which made me scratch my head a trifle, when I learned it was Koofa. My men were all wearing a sort of sickly grin since we had learned that the Sheik of Koofa had never before been imposed upon in this way, and I was beginning tofeel that there might have been a trifle of virtue in Consul Hurner's advice, but I slapped Moses on the shoulder and said, "The metal in a man shows up only in cases of an emergency," to which he smiled complacently, as though he had been assured that he had all night to live.
At Chuffel our trouble began. The Sheik would not let us stay over night in the town, we had no tent, even if we had dared to sleep in the open, and the next city, Koofa, was open only to Mohammedans, on their way to Nazzip with their dead. I began to laugh, which provoked even Moses, but we soon found relief in a man with one wall eye, minus a hat, shoes or pants, who with his helpers was accustomed to conduct funeral parties down the Chebar River to Koofa. He held us up for the enormous sum of one silver dollar for the ride, and for another dollar would venture to land us in the corpse room at Koofa, that is if it was not already occupied by other corpses. Again I smiled as I thought what would my son Arthur say if he could step into this boat just now and learn of the encouraging prospects. Moses and his helpers now became a trifle alarmed at the situation, and while we were eating our chicken, fried in camel's tallow, I kept laughing, which made Alkar mad, and he remarked to Moses that he believed I was a fool, traveling on borrowed money.
After the owner of the boat and his helpers had paddled us down the river until about ten o'clock at night, we hove in sight of a few dim lights, which made me scratch my head a trifle, when I learned it was Koofa. My men were all wearing a sort of sickly grin since we had learned that the Sheik of Koofa had never before been imposed upon in this way, and I was beginning tofeel that there might have been a trifle of virtue in Consul Hurner's advice, but I slapped Moses on the shoulder and said, "The metal in a man shows up only in cases of an emergency," to which he smiled complacently, as though he had been assured that he had all night to live.
KOOFA, ARABIAAt the mud landing, more than fifty had assembled, each hoping to earn a half-penny by carrying a corpse up the hill where, according to tradition, the Prophet Ezekiel had probably walked on his bare feet many times, for Koofa was a city on the west bank of the Shat-El-Chebar, long before Abraham left this region for the land of Canaan.When all was ready for the funeral march and Shammo had been loaded with the luggage, which consisted of pillows, blankets and cooking utensils, his face actually did take on the mournful hue of an undertaker carrying the dead across the dark river.Our guide sang out something which I supposed indicated that a burial troop was following as he dashed through the crowd, up the cliff, dodging this way and that through the dark, alley-like streets and rooms, where tall men with dark visages sat on high benches and scowled at our approach, until he landed us in a square cement room, about 12×12, with no ventilation save a hole over the door, when he mysteriously disappeared, taking his dim oil light with him.Soon officers appeared whom, I could see, were confused. Moses tried to pacify them by saying I was a rich man and would pay much money, but they did not seem to pacify, because the rich man was neither a Mohammedan nor a dead man. Their howling was to the effect that the owner of the room was ruined, as no dead Mohammedanwould consent to be laid in that room after we had occupied it. At last, after Moses had killed all the time he possibly could, I demanded to see the Sheik, which request is never refused among the Arabs.
At the mud landing, more than fifty had assembled, each hoping to earn a half-penny by carrying a corpse up the hill where, according to tradition, the Prophet Ezekiel had probably walked on his bare feet many times, for Koofa was a city on the west bank of the Shat-El-Chebar, long before Abraham left this region for the land of Canaan.
When all was ready for the funeral march and Shammo had been loaded with the luggage, which consisted of pillows, blankets and cooking utensils, his face actually did take on the mournful hue of an undertaker carrying the dead across the dark river.
Our guide sang out something which I supposed indicated that a burial troop was following as he dashed through the crowd, up the cliff, dodging this way and that through the dark, alley-like streets and rooms, where tall men with dark visages sat on high benches and scowled at our approach, until he landed us in a square cement room, about 12×12, with no ventilation save a hole over the door, when he mysteriously disappeared, taking his dim oil light with him.
Soon officers appeared whom, I could see, were confused. Moses tried to pacify them by saying I was a rich man and would pay much money, but they did not seem to pacify, because the rich man was neither a Mohammedan nor a dead man. Their howling was to the effect that the owner of the room was ruined, as no dead Mohammedanwould consent to be laid in that room after we had occupied it. At last, after Moses had killed all the time he possibly could, I demanded to see the Sheik, which request is never refused among the Arabs.
THE SHEIK OF KOOFASoon a guard of about twenty appeared and started with Moses and myself to consult the Sheik; while all the town, men, women and children, ran on either side of us, eager to get a glimpse of my pants, as, apparently, neither sex had ever seen before, or much less, donned such tight-fitting garments.After walking probably a mile we entered a dark alley, where, on one of the side walls, our escort began pounding and crying out until a gruff voice, which came as through a tube back of us, answered, and after a long wait we saw a dim light right back of where we were standing, but no one appeared.While we were waiting Moses jokingly inquired of me, "Do you wish you were in Chicago?" "No," I replied, "it is eleven o'clock in the morning there now and they are all working hard, while I am enjoying touring just waiting here in the shadows for permission to go to bed." "You're a queer sort of a cuss," was his smiling retort.At length, after the voice and the officer had talked back and forth through the hole, of which I overheard them speak the words English, Christian, Devil, Mohammedan, Bagdad, Nazzip and a few other words which I could understand, there seemed to be a stir, as some one from the inside began taking down boards; and with two of the party, Moses and myself crept up the rickety stairway, feeling our way through a long, dark hall whichopened into a room about 20×40. In this room, which was the palace of the Sheik, there was no furniture save a bed, table and a long bench. On the table was burning an oiled rag, one end soaking in a dish shaped like a wooden shoe.In the center of the large bed, which was, as near as I could see, composed of a mass of beautiful soft rugs, sat a sharp featured man with piercing black eyes and long white hair and whiskers. His face revealed no form or air of authority, but on the contrary, his sun-burned features wore a friendly smile while he gazed fixedly at me, apparently paying no attention to the officers' gabble, who were apparently over-estimating the enormity of the crime.While he studied me I studied him, and concluded that in his care I was all right. Finally he inquired of Moses if I had friends in America, and why I came to a sacred city without permission, at which Moses turned to me for explanation. After explaining my position and truthfully telling him how we came into what we knew was a forbidden town because we were afraid to stay outside, I then, through Moses, word for word, explained that Americans always heard that the chiefs of Arab tribes were great and good men, and were hospitable to strangers; especially when they did not interfere with their religion. This was the substance of my drift, although we talked back and forth for more than an hour.A skittish scene now took place; he called the chief officer to his side on the bed and by the dim light they began whispering, so Moses and I could not hear, occasionally turning their piercing gaze on me. At the conclusion he dismissed his officer and told Moses to tell me that at Me-Schwad they had a room for suchpeople, and we must go there, for which he would send a heavy guard to protect us. Then it took about ten minutes for him to express his gratitude for my confidence in him and his protecting power, and he wanted me to feel that Allah loved upright strangers in all the world.I then asked him if the guards at Me-Schwad would let us into the city, as it was now past midnight. To this he replied, "No," but said his force should furnish blankets and guard us all night.I hesitated and looked down, which made him inquire of Moses if I was sorry, at which I looked him kindly in the face as Moses interpreted each word, and said that I was sorry to go home and tell my people that the Sheik of Koofa had sent me away in the desert in the dark.Now he called the guard again, and after another continued whispering decided we could stay in the room over night, but must be prepared to leave at sunrise in the morning. As I left the room I felt his powerful influence on me, and turning quickly, I again met that kindly gaze as the old chief raised his thin, bloodless hand adieu. That night in my prayers I thanked God that the magnanimity of Abraham still tinged the veins of his people, even though they were deprived of the world's bounties through non-progressive bigotry.Soon I was peacefully resting in the unventilated room, which my friends on the other side of the world would have spurned, but to me it was experience, and I was glad to know that pity, love and sympathy were not confined to any one people, but were God-given attributes to humanity.My sweet dreams, if such they were, were cut short by Shammo, who began frying camel steak, goat or someother kind of meat close by my head, and soon we learned that the Sheik had ordered his special body guard to take us to Me-Schwad, Arabia, which was about twenty-five mile southwest from Koofa, over the trackless desert.i273DESERT LIFE AMONG THE ARABS.
Soon a guard of about twenty appeared and started with Moses and myself to consult the Sheik; while all the town, men, women and children, ran on either side of us, eager to get a glimpse of my pants, as, apparently, neither sex had ever seen before, or much less, donned such tight-fitting garments.
After walking probably a mile we entered a dark alley, where, on one of the side walls, our escort began pounding and crying out until a gruff voice, which came as through a tube back of us, answered, and after a long wait we saw a dim light right back of where we were standing, but no one appeared.
While we were waiting Moses jokingly inquired of me, "Do you wish you were in Chicago?" "No," I replied, "it is eleven o'clock in the morning there now and they are all working hard, while I am enjoying touring just waiting here in the shadows for permission to go to bed." "You're a queer sort of a cuss," was his smiling retort.
At length, after the voice and the officer had talked back and forth through the hole, of which I overheard them speak the words English, Christian, Devil, Mohammedan, Bagdad, Nazzip and a few other words which I could understand, there seemed to be a stir, as some one from the inside began taking down boards; and with two of the party, Moses and myself crept up the rickety stairway, feeling our way through a long, dark hall whichopened into a room about 20×40. In this room, which was the palace of the Sheik, there was no furniture save a bed, table and a long bench. On the table was burning an oiled rag, one end soaking in a dish shaped like a wooden shoe.
In the center of the large bed, which was, as near as I could see, composed of a mass of beautiful soft rugs, sat a sharp featured man with piercing black eyes and long white hair and whiskers. His face revealed no form or air of authority, but on the contrary, his sun-burned features wore a friendly smile while he gazed fixedly at me, apparently paying no attention to the officers' gabble, who were apparently over-estimating the enormity of the crime.
While he studied me I studied him, and concluded that in his care I was all right. Finally he inquired of Moses if I had friends in America, and why I came to a sacred city without permission, at which Moses turned to me for explanation. After explaining my position and truthfully telling him how we came into what we knew was a forbidden town because we were afraid to stay outside, I then, through Moses, word for word, explained that Americans always heard that the chiefs of Arab tribes were great and good men, and were hospitable to strangers; especially when they did not interfere with their religion. This was the substance of my drift, although we talked back and forth for more than an hour.
A skittish scene now took place; he called the chief officer to his side on the bed and by the dim light they began whispering, so Moses and I could not hear, occasionally turning their piercing gaze on me. At the conclusion he dismissed his officer and told Moses to tell me that at Me-Schwad they had a room for suchpeople, and we must go there, for which he would send a heavy guard to protect us. Then it took about ten minutes for him to express his gratitude for my confidence in him and his protecting power, and he wanted me to feel that Allah loved upright strangers in all the world.
I then asked him if the guards at Me-Schwad would let us into the city, as it was now past midnight. To this he replied, "No," but said his force should furnish blankets and guard us all night.
I hesitated and looked down, which made him inquire of Moses if I was sorry, at which I looked him kindly in the face as Moses interpreted each word, and said that I was sorry to go home and tell my people that the Sheik of Koofa had sent me away in the desert in the dark.
Now he called the guard again, and after another continued whispering decided we could stay in the room over night, but must be prepared to leave at sunrise in the morning. As I left the room I felt his powerful influence on me, and turning quickly, I again met that kindly gaze as the old chief raised his thin, bloodless hand adieu. That night in my prayers I thanked God that the magnanimity of Abraham still tinged the veins of his people, even though they were deprived of the world's bounties through non-progressive bigotry.
Soon I was peacefully resting in the unventilated room, which my friends on the other side of the world would have spurned, but to me it was experience, and I was glad to know that pity, love and sympathy were not confined to any one people, but were God-given attributes to humanity.
My sweet dreams, if such they were, were cut short by Shammo, who began frying camel steak, goat or someother kind of meat close by my head, and soon we learned that the Sheik had ordered his special body guard to take us to Me-Schwad, Arabia, which was about twenty-five mile southwest from Koofa, over the trackless desert.
i273
DESERT LIFE AMONG THE ARABS.
DESERT LIFE AMONG THE ARABS.
DESERT LIFE AMONG THE ARABS.
WILD, YET BEAUTIFULAt sunrise, leaving Shammo to care for the luggage, we mounted spirited horses selected for us, and with an escort of about one hundred cavalry picked our way, Indian file, up through the lane-like streets of Koofa until we reached the summit, from which we had a view of the surrounding country, especially ancient Nazzip, now called both Nazzip and Me-Schwab, which lay on a rise of ground before us, just far enough away to conceal its grossness.The morning sun at our backs cast its golden rays across the desert wild interspersed with clumps of verdure green. Over and beyond lay, face to us, the silver side-hill city of Nazzip, like the Arab himself, whose ambition is an array of dashing splendor. The Mohammedan pride appeared decorated with polished steeples and spires coated with sheets of silver and polished bronze, while the great Allah temple sat as a center piece. As we neared the scene it became grotesque, but in the far away it looked like a dazzling gem, set in soft Oriental drapery. A thoughtless vision seemed to confuse me with the scene as I said to myself, "Oh, if my Chicago friends were here to enjoy this enthusiasm."Now all the horses, with heads high, who could run like greyhounds, amid the whoops and howls of the braves of the desert, struck out wildly for the Oriental Silver Shrine. This was too much for me, and forgetting that I was to avoid all risks I stood in my stirrups andurged my horse forward in the race, which had broken its ranks, and soon found myself near the front of the now go-as-you-please, bawling to my steed like a regular Buffalo Bill, and this was kept up all the way to Me-Schwab. When I liberally recompensed the chief he kissed me, and I kissed him; then he put his arm around me and shook me and kissed me again, then they all cheered and were off.
At sunrise, leaving Shammo to care for the luggage, we mounted spirited horses selected for us, and with an escort of about one hundred cavalry picked our way, Indian file, up through the lane-like streets of Koofa until we reached the summit, from which we had a view of the surrounding country, especially ancient Nazzip, now called both Nazzip and Me-Schwab, which lay on a rise of ground before us, just far enough away to conceal its grossness.
The morning sun at our backs cast its golden rays across the desert wild interspersed with clumps of verdure green. Over and beyond lay, face to us, the silver side-hill city of Nazzip, like the Arab himself, whose ambition is an array of dashing splendor. The Mohammedan pride appeared decorated with polished steeples and spires coated with sheets of silver and polished bronze, while the great Allah temple sat as a center piece. As we neared the scene it became grotesque, but in the far away it looked like a dazzling gem, set in soft Oriental drapery. A thoughtless vision seemed to confuse me with the scene as I said to myself, "Oh, if my Chicago friends were here to enjoy this enthusiasm."
Now all the horses, with heads high, who could run like greyhounds, amid the whoops and howls of the braves of the desert, struck out wildly for the Oriental Silver Shrine. This was too much for me, and forgetting that I was to avoid all risks I stood in my stirrups andurged my horse forward in the race, which had broken its ranks, and soon found myself near the front of the now go-as-you-please, bawling to my steed like a regular Buffalo Bill, and this was kept up all the way to Me-Schwab. When I liberally recompensed the chief he kissed me, and I kissed him; then he put his arm around me and shook me and kissed me again, then they all cheered and were off.
NAZZIPOn entering through the gates we found ourselves in an open space of probably twenty-five acres, with high walls on the north, east and south, apparently set aside for plays, prayers, public trade or exchange and, possibly, a place of protection for Bedouin rovers. It was a pretty place, and when at certain hours the priest calls out his Allah song from the tower, to see hundreds of people drop on their knees and faces in the attitude of worship is a sight long to be remembered.Our quarters, or jail, was a porch on the south, facing the open space of which we were not allowed to step outside, except to the roof, unless accompanied by officers.After coffee and rest, I begged permission to be taken about town, which was refused. Again I demanded to see the Sheik, which was always granted. But the Sheik actually looked astonished, and smiled at my audacity when Moses informed him that I wished to be shown through the great temple of Allah, but he was courteous and explained that their people, the Sheas, were very strict. They were better than the Seanees, who would eat with foreigners, while the Sheas would throw away any piece of furniture or dish once used by them. He finally consented for the guard to take us through the streets we wished to visit, where I found that they would sell their own manufacture, lace, rugs, bronze, etc., to their own people only, but through strategy I purchased some amber beads.
On entering through the gates we found ourselves in an open space of probably twenty-five acres, with high walls on the north, east and south, apparently set aside for plays, prayers, public trade or exchange and, possibly, a place of protection for Bedouin rovers. It was a pretty place, and when at certain hours the priest calls out his Allah song from the tower, to see hundreds of people drop on their knees and faces in the attitude of worship is a sight long to be remembered.
Our quarters, or jail, was a porch on the south, facing the open space of which we were not allowed to step outside, except to the roof, unless accompanied by officers.
After coffee and rest, I begged permission to be taken about town, which was refused. Again I demanded to see the Sheik, which was always granted. But the Sheik actually looked astonished, and smiled at my audacity when Moses informed him that I wished to be shown through the great temple of Allah, but he was courteous and explained that their people, the Sheas, were very strict. They were better than the Seanees, who would eat with foreigners, while the Sheas would throw away any piece of furniture or dish once used by them. He finally consented for the guard to take us through the streets we wished to visit, where I found that they would sell their own manufacture, lace, rugs, bronze, etc., to their own people only, but through strategy I purchased some amber beads.
THE MAN I HAD SEEN BEFOREWhile the officers were conducting us through the town I noticed a dark fellow, whom I had somewhere seen before, following us and laughing at my jokes, which were spoken to Moses mostly in English. When I spoke to him he feigned not to understand English, and began drawing me out of the few Arabic words which I had learned, at which he laughed and said he could speak ten tongues, including English. He said he knew all about me, but I had forgotten him. I then had Moses question him, but could get so little satisfaction that we concluded he was a fake, but he followed us and managed to advise me that I had better leave Me-Schwab in the dark; also that the Sheik might not consent for us to stay over again. Then I tried hard to think where I had seen him, but I could not.After we had been hustled back to our jail a party who owned the only wooden-wheeled wagon in that world came to bargain with me to take us to Karbilla. Two women, they said, were wanting to go with us, and we had better go through in the night, to which I objected, but after much wrangling we fixed on one o'clock in the morning for the start.Again I appeared before the Sheik, for permission to visit the Mohammedan cemeteries. He was reluctant, but finally consented, with whispered instructions to the guard, who took us outside the gate to a little hill, where we could see the graveyard about a mile distant, and then hustled us right back to our pen.At one o'clock, after we had swallowed our camelsteak and coffee, we were taken to the carry-all, where we found two masked women just arriving, whom I knew were quite young by their movements. A soft rug was stretched across to separate us from the women, who seemed to be housekeeping in the rear flat of the wagon, and we in the front. As our start was delayed, I snuggled back against the rug which partitioned us from the females, and soon realized that someone on the other side was snuggling up against me. When I aroused to inquire about our departure she would speak to the other woman, then we would resume our comfortable position, until her head dropped on my shoulder and nature's sweet repose drove all our cares away—of course both of us were asleep. Thus we waited until after light, all grumbling except us who were asleep.About sunrise the driver, with six Arabian steeds, in true Bedouin style, circled the open space on a wild run, then dashing out through the gates struck out for the north, which took us between the two cemeteries to which we had been refused admittance the previous evening. They ran the down grade at high speed, apparently so we could not see the tombs; but, when just at the point of curiosity, one wheel ran off and we were dumped in the sand, where the women lost their masks. One of them looked slyly at me with her soul brim full of laughter, as she placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me playfully; I did not understand her affection, although under those circumstances I appreciated it and wished we could each tell our story to the other.
While the officers were conducting us through the town I noticed a dark fellow, whom I had somewhere seen before, following us and laughing at my jokes, which were spoken to Moses mostly in English. When I spoke to him he feigned not to understand English, and began drawing me out of the few Arabic words which I had learned, at which he laughed and said he could speak ten tongues, including English. He said he knew all about me, but I had forgotten him. I then had Moses question him, but could get so little satisfaction that we concluded he was a fake, but he followed us and managed to advise me that I had better leave Me-Schwab in the dark; also that the Sheik might not consent for us to stay over again. Then I tried hard to think where I had seen him, but I could not.
After we had been hustled back to our jail a party who owned the only wooden-wheeled wagon in that world came to bargain with me to take us to Karbilla. Two women, they said, were wanting to go with us, and we had better go through in the night, to which I objected, but after much wrangling we fixed on one o'clock in the morning for the start.
Again I appeared before the Sheik, for permission to visit the Mohammedan cemeteries. He was reluctant, but finally consented, with whispered instructions to the guard, who took us outside the gate to a little hill, where we could see the graveyard about a mile distant, and then hustled us right back to our pen.
At one o'clock, after we had swallowed our camelsteak and coffee, we were taken to the carry-all, where we found two masked women just arriving, whom I knew were quite young by their movements. A soft rug was stretched across to separate us from the women, who seemed to be housekeeping in the rear flat of the wagon, and we in the front. As our start was delayed, I snuggled back against the rug which partitioned us from the females, and soon realized that someone on the other side was snuggling up against me. When I aroused to inquire about our departure she would speak to the other woman, then we would resume our comfortable position, until her head dropped on my shoulder and nature's sweet repose drove all our cares away—of course both of us were asleep. Thus we waited until after light, all grumbling except us who were asleep.
About sunrise the driver, with six Arabian steeds, in true Bedouin style, circled the open space on a wild run, then dashing out through the gates struck out for the north, which took us between the two cemeteries to which we had been refused admittance the previous evening. They ran the down grade at high speed, apparently so we could not see the tombs; but, when just at the point of curiosity, one wheel ran off and we were dumped in the sand, where the women lost their masks. One of them looked slyly at me with her soul brim full of laughter, as she placed her hands on my shoulders and shook me playfully; I did not understand her affection, although under those circumstances I appreciated it and wished we could each tell our story to the other.
REAL BEDOUINS AFTER USI concluded that this ruse was being given to intimidate me, but later we experienced something more serious.The road between Nazzip and Karbilla is supposed to be more safe than the Koofa route, as it is guarded by squads of Turkish cavalry. At noon we changed horses and ate barley cakes for dinner, cooked by slapping the dough on the inside of a heated cement barrel. When we were ready to start again we could not find out why we did not go.We had now recrossed the desert and descended from the plateau into the valley of the Messopotamia, where our trail ran between the Chebar River and the cliffs on the west. All the while we had been waiting our two drivers had remained on the cliffs, where we could not see them, but I was not nervous, as I had become accustomed to waiting. Our suspicion was not aroused until we started, when the drivers yelled our six-horse team into a wild run, shaking the old crate wagon from side to side, for about five miles, when we heard reports of firearms, and suddenly came to a stop. Then the drivers, together with the passengers, sisters and all, ran up the craggy steeps onto the open plain, where in the distance we saw about ten Bedouins leaning on their horses' necks running for dear life, followed by a squad of Turkish cavalry who were firing at them with no effect, for they were too far away.I declared at once that it was a plot to frighten meout of the Mohammedan Stamping Grounds, but our guard, who had been riding to the west of our route all day, said that the teamsters who came down with our carry-all from Karbilla a few days previous had killed a camel man of the great herd which we were about to pass through, and that the Bedouins were the dead man's friends from the camel camp, who intended to kill all of us for revenge. Also, that the reason we stayed so long in the night and where we lunched was for the cavalry to arrive from Nazzip to chase the Bedouins away. Then I decided that, if our guard had told the truth, the Arabs were not so bad after all.We soon struck a herd of about 8,000 camels feeding on the grass and briars along the Shat-El-Chebar. It was a sight to see them, with their two or three hundred Arabian family tents, surrounded by horses, dogs, goats, sheep, chickens and children, leading the sleepy life of our wayside gypsies, seeming to have no inspiration for a change in their condition, as one generation follows another. On each voyage, or tour, said to occupy about five years, they go collecting camels at the round-up on the wilds of the great desert and driving them to Persia, of course selling and trading all the way along the creatures, both human and dumb, reproducing on the way. The pasturage is free but the government taxes are heavy, being nearly fifty per cent of the value of the animal, which is paid in such stock as they own. Arabian herdsmen are generous and hospitable, but, when aroused by what they consider wrong, they are exceedingly ferocious. We camped with them several days, and if I had a better grip on their language I would like to travel a year or two in one of those herdsmen's caravans and write them up as the family from which Abraham was called, for from thetime of the historical events of Abraham to now there has probably been little or no change in their daily life. Their helpfulness and hospitality, without expecting recompense, often reminded me of the story of Moses helping the Midian girls to water their flocks.
I concluded that this ruse was being given to intimidate me, but later we experienced something more serious.
The road between Nazzip and Karbilla is supposed to be more safe than the Koofa route, as it is guarded by squads of Turkish cavalry. At noon we changed horses and ate barley cakes for dinner, cooked by slapping the dough on the inside of a heated cement barrel. When we were ready to start again we could not find out why we did not go.
We had now recrossed the desert and descended from the plateau into the valley of the Messopotamia, where our trail ran between the Chebar River and the cliffs on the west. All the while we had been waiting our two drivers had remained on the cliffs, where we could not see them, but I was not nervous, as I had become accustomed to waiting. Our suspicion was not aroused until we started, when the drivers yelled our six-horse team into a wild run, shaking the old crate wagon from side to side, for about five miles, when we heard reports of firearms, and suddenly came to a stop. Then the drivers, together with the passengers, sisters and all, ran up the craggy steeps onto the open plain, where in the distance we saw about ten Bedouins leaning on their horses' necks running for dear life, followed by a squad of Turkish cavalry who were firing at them with no effect, for they were too far away.
I declared at once that it was a plot to frighten meout of the Mohammedan Stamping Grounds, but our guard, who had been riding to the west of our route all day, said that the teamsters who came down with our carry-all from Karbilla a few days previous had killed a camel man of the great herd which we were about to pass through, and that the Bedouins were the dead man's friends from the camel camp, who intended to kill all of us for revenge. Also, that the reason we stayed so long in the night and where we lunched was for the cavalry to arrive from Nazzip to chase the Bedouins away. Then I decided that, if our guard had told the truth, the Arabs were not so bad after all.
We soon struck a herd of about 8,000 camels feeding on the grass and briars along the Shat-El-Chebar. It was a sight to see them, with their two or three hundred Arabian family tents, surrounded by horses, dogs, goats, sheep, chickens and children, leading the sleepy life of our wayside gypsies, seeming to have no inspiration for a change in their condition, as one generation follows another. On each voyage, or tour, said to occupy about five years, they go collecting camels at the round-up on the wilds of the great desert and driving them to Persia, of course selling and trading all the way along the creatures, both human and dumb, reproducing on the way. The pasturage is free but the government taxes are heavy, being nearly fifty per cent of the value of the animal, which is paid in such stock as they own. Arabian herdsmen are generous and hospitable, but, when aroused by what they consider wrong, they are exceedingly ferocious. We camped with them several days, and if I had a better grip on their language I would like to travel a year or two in one of those herdsmen's caravans and write them up as the family from which Abraham was called, for from thetime of the historical events of Abraham to now there has probably been little or no change in their daily life. Their helpfulness and hospitality, without expecting recompense, often reminded me of the story of Moses helping the Midian girls to water their flocks.
SUSPICION AROUSEDUpon my return to Bagdad the Consul took me home to dinner, where he related a long, amusing story, of which I will make a short one. He said that the morning after I left Bagdad the Turkish Emissary from Constantinople sent his deputy to him to inquire who the stranger from America was and what he wanted, to which the Consul referred to my passport, which had been presented to them, and then told them all he knew about me. Again, in the evening, they sent to him to learn where I had gone, whereupon Hurner, thinking I would be more likely to go to Niffer than the interior, told them I had gone to visit my United States friend who was exploring the ruins at that place.Again they sent, to inquire if any treasure had been found at Niffer, to which the Consul jokingly replied, "Why, haven't you heard that they have found a subterranean pocket of valuables? And I suppose Richardson is here to take them out of the country by way of the Persian Gulf. I hear he has several camels on the spot; but this is all hearsay, through the Bedouins, and may not be true."In less than an hour, said Hurner, two hundred cavalry, with shining sabres, were on the dash over the sixty miles of straight across desert sand to intercept the American thief. Their approach was a surprise to the old Bostonian, who was simply examining each brickas they came out of the debris, and innocently declared he had seen no treasure or anything of the American.JONA AND HIS WIVESThe next morning I received a caller whom I recognized at once as the stranger I had met in Nazzip. After I inquired how he got to Bagdad so soon, he told me he had joined the horsemen from Nazzip who protected me. I asked him what he meant by saying he knew me."Were you at Jask, Persia?" he began."Yes," I said, "Jask is where I saw, in the distance, those rocky, book-like mountains, so beautiful.""Did you go ashore?""I did.""Did you see me?""No.""On your return to the steamer did you assist two Mohammedan women?""I did. Americans always assist the ladies.""Did you go ashore at Bahrein, Arabia?"I said, "Yes, that is where S. M. Zwemer, a missionary from the Dutch Reform Church of Holland, Michigan, rode with us on donkeys to Riggeb-Gem, that ruin more ancient than Babylon.""On the return to the steamer did you assist those women again?""I did, I stood in the water to my hips and assisted each from their wet donkey to the barge. When on board one gave me a pomegranite, and when she saw I did not know what it was, she took it from me with a laugh and fixed it with sugar so I could eat it.""Those women, stranger, were my wives. Did you know that your frankness gained their affection?""Your wives! Gee-whiz, were those women at Me-Schwad the same women I met on the steamer? Say, friend, where did you come from, and where are you going?""My name is Jona. I am a nabob, my home is the desert thirty days journey from Muscat, but we will not burden each other with our history. I have learned that you are bound for Tadmor, and so am I. Now, can you tell me anything more about the last days of Jesus of Nazareth and the last days of Mary Magdalene than is found in your testament, with which I am familiar?"I hesitated, and then said: "I did not come into this country as a missionary, I came to study the people. I would not interfere with your Mohammedan faith.""You Christians mistake our position in regard to Jesus. Jesus, as Mohammed, was a wonderful spiritual teacher from the living God, but until all worshipers of the spiritual God drop their materialism, of which the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus is the most ungodlike, this world will continue to be the abode of ignorance, which is the generator of sin; but enough on that score for now, for I intend to join you on your journey to Tadmor, and I trust you will hereafter pass my wives unnoticed.""If I see one of your wives falling, head downward from a camel, shall I save her from breaking her neck?""Not if she falls intentionally; but let us return to the object of my call, the story of Mary Magdalene and Jesus in their last days.""Mary Magdalene was all right, friend, but how about your girl wife, who shook me so fondly when I saw her face?""Oh, she admired your frankness; she is mad, soplease pass her unnoticed on our journey to Tadmor. Now to change the subject."All organized nations, Syria not being the least, after the fame of Jesus spread abroad, sent scribes to listen at his feet and report, which report was included in the collection for our Family Tree Tribe, with a record of the life and death of Mary Magdalene in which she shines forth as a feminine beauty of wonderful spiritual comprehension. This report, with that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the final attempt to crush out Christianity, has been carried by us in tradition but lost in record for many centuries. Lately we have been told that the original manuscripts still exist in the ruins of our ancient citadel in Tadmor (Palmyra.)
Upon my return to Bagdad the Consul took me home to dinner, where he related a long, amusing story, of which I will make a short one. He said that the morning after I left Bagdad the Turkish Emissary from Constantinople sent his deputy to him to inquire who the stranger from America was and what he wanted, to which the Consul referred to my passport, which had been presented to them, and then told them all he knew about me. Again, in the evening, they sent to him to learn where I had gone, whereupon Hurner, thinking I would be more likely to go to Niffer than the interior, told them I had gone to visit my United States friend who was exploring the ruins at that place.
Again they sent, to inquire if any treasure had been found at Niffer, to which the Consul jokingly replied, "Why, haven't you heard that they have found a subterranean pocket of valuables? And I suppose Richardson is here to take them out of the country by way of the Persian Gulf. I hear he has several camels on the spot; but this is all hearsay, through the Bedouins, and may not be true."
In less than an hour, said Hurner, two hundred cavalry, with shining sabres, were on the dash over the sixty miles of straight across desert sand to intercept the American thief. Their approach was a surprise to the old Bostonian, who was simply examining each brickas they came out of the debris, and innocently declared he had seen no treasure or anything of the American.
The next morning I received a caller whom I recognized at once as the stranger I had met in Nazzip. After I inquired how he got to Bagdad so soon, he told me he had joined the horsemen from Nazzip who protected me. I asked him what he meant by saying he knew me.
"Were you at Jask, Persia?" he began.
"Yes," I said, "Jask is where I saw, in the distance, those rocky, book-like mountains, so beautiful."
"Did you go ashore?"
"I did."
"Did you see me?"
"No."
"On your return to the steamer did you assist two Mohammedan women?"
"I did. Americans always assist the ladies."
"Did you go ashore at Bahrein, Arabia?"
I said, "Yes, that is where S. M. Zwemer, a missionary from the Dutch Reform Church of Holland, Michigan, rode with us on donkeys to Riggeb-Gem, that ruin more ancient than Babylon."
"On the return to the steamer did you assist those women again?"
"I did, I stood in the water to my hips and assisted each from their wet donkey to the barge. When on board one gave me a pomegranite, and when she saw I did not know what it was, she took it from me with a laugh and fixed it with sugar so I could eat it."
"Those women, stranger, were my wives. Did you know that your frankness gained their affection?"
"Your wives! Gee-whiz, were those women at Me-Schwad the same women I met on the steamer? Say, friend, where did you come from, and where are you going?"
"My name is Jona. I am a nabob, my home is the desert thirty days journey from Muscat, but we will not burden each other with our history. I have learned that you are bound for Tadmor, and so am I. Now, can you tell me anything more about the last days of Jesus of Nazareth and the last days of Mary Magdalene than is found in your testament, with which I am familiar?"
I hesitated, and then said: "I did not come into this country as a missionary, I came to study the people. I would not interfere with your Mohammedan faith."
"You Christians mistake our position in regard to Jesus. Jesus, as Mohammed, was a wonderful spiritual teacher from the living God, but until all worshipers of the spiritual God drop their materialism, of which the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus is the most ungodlike, this world will continue to be the abode of ignorance, which is the generator of sin; but enough on that score for now, for I intend to join you on your journey to Tadmor, and I trust you will hereafter pass my wives unnoticed."
"If I see one of your wives falling, head downward from a camel, shall I save her from breaking her neck?"
"Not if she falls intentionally; but let us return to the object of my call, the story of Mary Magdalene and Jesus in their last days."
"Mary Magdalene was all right, friend, but how about your girl wife, who shook me so fondly when I saw her face?"
"Oh, she admired your frankness; she is mad, soplease pass her unnoticed on our journey to Tadmor. Now to change the subject.
"All organized nations, Syria not being the least, after the fame of Jesus spread abroad, sent scribes to listen at his feet and report, which report was included in the collection for our Family Tree Tribe, with a record of the life and death of Mary Magdalene in which she shines forth as a feminine beauty of wonderful spiritual comprehension. This report, with that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the final attempt to crush out Christianity, has been carried by us in tradition but lost in record for many centuries. Lately we have been told that the original manuscripts still exist in the ruins of our ancient citadel in Tadmor (Palmyra.)
THE RECHABITES"We styled ourselves Rechabites because we lived in open air, drank no wine and mingled with no other tribes. We descended from Adam through the Kenites. Our rendezvous at the time of David was at Jabes, but in the days of Jeremiah we came to Tadmor, where we assembled yearly to pay tithes for over a thousand years."Now we are dispersed throughout the Orient, and pay no tithes, yet we hold sacred our peaceful attitude toward strangers, our education as scribes, our nomad life and our abhorrence to strong drink. The family tree is disappearing, for we are intermarrying; even my mother was an Indian from Karachi."My object in this journey is, if possible, to collect the Aramaic manuscripts of the tribe, that they may be handed down in an unbroken line, thus completing our family tree. I can tell you more particulars about our people, and many incidents about Mary Magdalene, even if we do not find the manuscripts. For we will journey together.""Please let me ask you one question, Mr. Jona, and then you can proceed. Do you intend me to understand that you expect to find the original report or document at Tadmor, or is it a legend of a later author of your tribe who was familiar with traditional accounts of Jesus and Mary Magdalene?""I do not want you to understand anything only that I hope to find manuscripts which will satisfy all thatJesus of Nazareth was a spiritual representative of God, and that after His death He appeared to Mary Magdalene.""I understand you now, go on about your rendezvous.""As I said concerning our people, the Hebrews, who thought God had chosen them to disseminate His love and care over this world, became bigoted through priesthood and set up a cry that they were retainers instead of disseminators. This caused a breach between us and the Gentiles, who made war with us; but our tribe, the Rechabites, held aloof, enjoying our nomad life until Babylonia, spurred on by Syria, began preparations for that world-wide foraging tour toward Canaan. Then our tribe, fearful of an onslaught, held council and decided to take shelter within the walls of Jerusalem, and did so until Jehoiakim, through Jeremiah, attempted to get us drunk, when we again held council and decided to throw ourselves upon the mercy of the Babylonian King, who in turn permitted us to assemble at Tadmor, exempt from army service."Tadmor now became our home, and upon the brow of the mountain which overlooks the city we excavated a broad and deep channel in the rock, around a center on which we built a wonderful castle, the crown to the gem of the desert, Tadmor. In its sacred archives were kept all the manuscripts of our tribe. Since we abandoned it I have heard they still call it by our family name, 'The Castle of the Rechabs.'"Recently we have heard that some kind of documents or manuscripts are still in keeping by a descendant of our clan, so my people have deputized me to go on this journey.""If it would be agreeable to you, Mr. Jona, I wouldlike that we group our sub-caravans for the journey.""Thanks for your hospitality, but for reasons previously expressed we will tent separately. You and I will ride side by side, that I may enjoy the influence of your inspiring thoughts; but, really, you would not enjoy the company of the woman, who you could neither see or understand.""Why in the d——l, Jona, do you not let them throw off those masks, just for this journey, and allow the sweet sunshine, which the flowers on the desert are permitted to enjoy, be experienced by your wives, whom, by your barbarous custom, you place in dark coffins before they die?""Oh, Mr. Richardson, I understand you all right, but my people would not. Please do not mention that subject again. Now please attend to the details of your wants for our journey with the Persian caravan, which is now arriving, for we must be ready for the forward movement, which will take place in about four days."Not willing to let up on the subject, I continued: "Do your women ever find fault with the way you treat them?""Yes, all women are dissatisfied.""They are not. Our women at home are the sunshine of our lives.""Please do not talk any more on that subject," he said as he wiped the sweat from his neck with his flowing sleeve.Many were the peculiar incidents in our caravan of over fifteen hundred souls on our long journey of twenty-nine days up the Euphrates and over the desert, all of which I must pass over, noticing only Jona and his group as they appeared on the desert.Jona, astride of his beautiful, fleet Arabian, was followed by a mammoth black camel loaded down with about eight hundred pounds of luggage. Following next was a tall, gaunt, mouse-colored camel on which was a platform fastened to the saddle; of which, on either side over the camel's sides, were attached covered seats which looked like dog houses. In each of these dog houses was a wife, his favorite and her assistant, Fatima. Each wore a veil over her head, jewels on her fingers, ankles, wrists, ears and neck, attired in a loose wrapper. Oriental nabobs usually travel with two wives, their favorite and her assistant. The elder, in this case, was his favorite; she bossed him around just like American wives do their husbands, not by force but through influence; as Abraham obeyed Sarah, and sent the guileless Hagar into the wilderness, regardless of his feelings.A sort of Jacob's ladder, on which the women descended to and from their roost, was among the luggage on the pack camel, and notwithstanding the charge of my Rechabite friend that I was not to disquiet his wives, I continually placed the ladder and assisted Fatima and his favorite to ascend as soon as we struck camp; for if I had not, Jona was liable to leave his wives and other luggage on the camel until we had been on the sand for an hour. Fatima and I were usually side by side evenings, when her aptness in catching the English words and returning them to me in Arabic surprised me.
"We styled ourselves Rechabites because we lived in open air, drank no wine and mingled with no other tribes. We descended from Adam through the Kenites. Our rendezvous at the time of David was at Jabes, but in the days of Jeremiah we came to Tadmor, where we assembled yearly to pay tithes for over a thousand years.
"Now we are dispersed throughout the Orient, and pay no tithes, yet we hold sacred our peaceful attitude toward strangers, our education as scribes, our nomad life and our abhorrence to strong drink. The family tree is disappearing, for we are intermarrying; even my mother was an Indian from Karachi.
"My object in this journey is, if possible, to collect the Aramaic manuscripts of the tribe, that they may be handed down in an unbroken line, thus completing our family tree. I can tell you more particulars about our people, and many incidents about Mary Magdalene, even if we do not find the manuscripts. For we will journey together."
"Please let me ask you one question, Mr. Jona, and then you can proceed. Do you intend me to understand that you expect to find the original report or document at Tadmor, or is it a legend of a later author of your tribe who was familiar with traditional accounts of Jesus and Mary Magdalene?"
"I do not want you to understand anything only that I hope to find manuscripts which will satisfy all thatJesus of Nazareth was a spiritual representative of God, and that after His death He appeared to Mary Magdalene."
"I understand you now, go on about your rendezvous."
"As I said concerning our people, the Hebrews, who thought God had chosen them to disseminate His love and care over this world, became bigoted through priesthood and set up a cry that they were retainers instead of disseminators. This caused a breach between us and the Gentiles, who made war with us; but our tribe, the Rechabites, held aloof, enjoying our nomad life until Babylonia, spurred on by Syria, began preparations for that world-wide foraging tour toward Canaan. Then our tribe, fearful of an onslaught, held council and decided to take shelter within the walls of Jerusalem, and did so until Jehoiakim, through Jeremiah, attempted to get us drunk, when we again held council and decided to throw ourselves upon the mercy of the Babylonian King, who in turn permitted us to assemble at Tadmor, exempt from army service.
"Tadmor now became our home, and upon the brow of the mountain which overlooks the city we excavated a broad and deep channel in the rock, around a center on which we built a wonderful castle, the crown to the gem of the desert, Tadmor. In its sacred archives were kept all the manuscripts of our tribe. Since we abandoned it I have heard they still call it by our family name, 'The Castle of the Rechabs.'
"Recently we have heard that some kind of documents or manuscripts are still in keeping by a descendant of our clan, so my people have deputized me to go on this journey."
"If it would be agreeable to you, Mr. Jona, I wouldlike that we group our sub-caravans for the journey."
"Thanks for your hospitality, but for reasons previously expressed we will tent separately. You and I will ride side by side, that I may enjoy the influence of your inspiring thoughts; but, really, you would not enjoy the company of the woman, who you could neither see or understand."
"Why in the d——l, Jona, do you not let them throw off those masks, just for this journey, and allow the sweet sunshine, which the flowers on the desert are permitted to enjoy, be experienced by your wives, whom, by your barbarous custom, you place in dark coffins before they die?"
"Oh, Mr. Richardson, I understand you all right, but my people would not. Please do not mention that subject again. Now please attend to the details of your wants for our journey with the Persian caravan, which is now arriving, for we must be ready for the forward movement, which will take place in about four days."
Not willing to let up on the subject, I continued: "Do your women ever find fault with the way you treat them?"
"Yes, all women are dissatisfied."
"They are not. Our women at home are the sunshine of our lives."
"Please do not talk any more on that subject," he said as he wiped the sweat from his neck with his flowing sleeve.
Many were the peculiar incidents in our caravan of over fifteen hundred souls on our long journey of twenty-nine days up the Euphrates and over the desert, all of which I must pass over, noticing only Jona and his group as they appeared on the desert.
Jona, astride of his beautiful, fleet Arabian, was followed by a mammoth black camel loaded down with about eight hundred pounds of luggage. Following next was a tall, gaunt, mouse-colored camel on which was a platform fastened to the saddle; of which, on either side over the camel's sides, were attached covered seats which looked like dog houses. In each of these dog houses was a wife, his favorite and her assistant, Fatima. Each wore a veil over her head, jewels on her fingers, ankles, wrists, ears and neck, attired in a loose wrapper. Oriental nabobs usually travel with two wives, their favorite and her assistant. The elder, in this case, was his favorite; she bossed him around just like American wives do their husbands, not by force but through influence; as Abraham obeyed Sarah, and sent the guileless Hagar into the wilderness, regardless of his feelings.
A sort of Jacob's ladder, on which the women descended to and from their roost, was among the luggage on the pack camel, and notwithstanding the charge of my Rechabite friend that I was not to disquiet his wives, I continually placed the ladder and assisted Fatima and his favorite to ascend as soon as we struck camp; for if I had not, Jona was liable to leave his wives and other luggage on the camel until we had been on the sand for an hour. Fatima and I were usually side by side evenings, when her aptness in catching the English words and returning them to me in Arabic surprised me.