FOOT AND STOMACH OF THE CAMEL.1, Fore-foot; 2, sole; 3, hind-foot, side; 4, structure of the stomach.
His nostrils are formed so that he can close them at will to keep out the drifting sand, and his stomach is so contrived that it will hold a supply of water sufficient for six or eight days. There are numerous cells or cups in the animal's stomach, and when he has plenty of time for drinking he fills all these cells, and thus accumulates a store for future use. His scent is very keen, and he can discover water at a great distance, and will sometimes break his halter and rush in search of a pool or spring of whose existence his master is not aware. He can get along with a very small quantity of food, and can, moreover, lay in a supply for hard times.
HEAD OF A CAMEL.
When he is not at work, and has good pasturage, the camel becomes fat, and his hump is especially round and full—it is a mass of fat; and when he is overworked and poorly fed, as he generally is in the desert, the fat goes away from the hump to nourish the rest of the body. This is particularly noticeable of the camels in Asia Minor, where they are in very active use till they get worn to skeletons, and are then turned out to rest and recover their fat.
THE DROMEDARY REGIMENT OF NAPOLEON I.
Camels are not unfrequently used by the Egyptian Government for military purposes, not only for carrying provisions and other munitions of war, but for mounting troops in regions where it is necessary to make long marches over the desert. Napoleon Bonaparte, during his expedition to Egypt in 1798, organized a regiment of this kind, and found it of great service. Officers and men were mounted on camels or dromedaries, and on one occasion they made a march of ninety miles without halting for food or rest. Napoleon was greatly pleased at the success of his scheme, as it enabled him to move his men more rapidly than by any other means.
It required some time for the party to set out on the ride from Assouan, as there was a good deal of difficulty in getting everybody comfortably seated. As we have before stated, Frank and Fred selected their camels before breakfast, and the Doctor did not take many minutes for making his choice. The three set out in advance of the rest, and proceeded to the quarries that furnished the stone for the obelisks, the coffins of the sacred bulls, and many other things that have become famous in the history of ancient Egypt.
In the quarries is an obelisk partly finished, but not completely detached from its bed. According to measurements, it would have been ninety-five feet long and eleven feet square at the base. Nobody can tell by what king it was ordered, or why it was never finished and removed.A crack extends across it, but the general belief is that it was made long after the abandonment of the work. A little distance from the quarries is a large coffin which became injured during its removal, and was consequently given up.
The stone is of that peculiar red granite known as sienite, and admits of a very high polish. In response to a question by one of the youths, the Doctor said that ordinary granite is composed of mica, felspar, and quartz, while in sienite there is little or no mica, and its place is filled by hornblende. Sienite is harder than most of the other granites, and this quality, combined with its color, causes it to be preferred for ornamental work. He farther remarked that the rocks around Assouan are not exclusively sienite; on the contrary, they are mostly true granite, with occasional variations of porphyry. Some geologists assert that four or five kinds of rock may be found there, and interesting specimens may be gathered for mineralogical cabinets.
The process of quarrying among the ancients was easy to comprehend, owing to the unfinished state of the obelisk to which we have referred. A crevice or trench was cut in the rock, and then wedges of dry wood were driven in; water was applied to the wedges; the wood swelled, and finally its great expansive force caused the rock to split asunder. It was slow work, but generally sure. The same plan is still in use in some parts of India, and the stones for the construction of King Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem were quarried in the same way.
From the quarries the ride was continued to the bank of the Nile, opposite the island of Philæ. The boys were elated to think they were really in Nubia, a country of which they had read and heard, but considered so far away that they were not very likely to see it. They had crossed the boundary between Egypt and Nubia, and, by a free use of their imaginations, found no great difficulty in placing themselves in Central Africa.
VIEW OF PHILÆ FROM THE HEAD OF THE CATARACT.
The approach to Philæ was the occasion of many expressions of admiration, as the scenery was different from any on which their eyes had yet rested. The river is set in an irregular basin of desert hills, and their barren sides contrast, in a very marked degree, with the waving palms on the famous isle. The rocks of the cataract serve to render the picture still more fantastic, and as the whole scene bursts suddenly into view, it gives an impression to be long remembered. Remarkable as the view is from the bank of the Nile, it is still unequal to that from the ruins of the temple on the island itself.
THE BANK OF THE RIVER BELOW PHILÆ.
While waiting for the boat to carry them over to Philæ, Frank andFred amused themselves with the antics of the natives in the water. They had observed several short logs on the bank as they arrived, and wondered what they were for. As soon as they had dismounted the Doctor explained the uses of these pieces of wood.
"They are the ferry-boats of the natives," said he, "and are the common property of the inhabitants."
Frank asked what he meant by ferry-boats, and how it was possible to use a short log for crossing a river.
"Wait a moment and you'll see," replied the Doctor. "There's a boy making ready to launch one."
A Nubian urchin of ten or twelve years removed his very scanty clothing and made it into a bundle, which he placed on the top of his head; then he rolled one of the logs—a stick six feet long and ten inches in diameter—into the river and sprung in after it. Using the log as a float to support himself, he paddled away, and was soon on the island.
Other boys and men followed his example; but, instead of swimming to the island, they remained around the landing-place till the boat started, and then they accompanied it. The Doctor told the youths that when a native wishes to cross he makes a bundle of his clothing to tie on his head, and then swims over, leaving the log on the bank for his own or some other person's return. He takes the first log that comes in his way, and everybody does likewise. "You see," he continued, "how the logs serve as public ferry-boats."
PHARAOH'S BED AND THE RUINS OF THE TEMPLE.
"We crossed the river," said Frank in his journal, "in akangia, or native boat, such as we have already described, and as the wind was favorable it was not long in making the passage. We landed just below the ruins of the temple, in what is called 'Pharaoh's bed,' but were unable to ascertain if any of the monarchs of that name ever slept there, and, if so,how late they slept. We thought the place a very pretty one, and Fred wished he could sit down and write some verses about it, as everything around seemed to favor such a performance. Doctor Bronson says the island of Philæ has been the theme of the poets for many centuries, and farthermore, that a great deal of poetical prose has been composed concerning it. On learning this Fred concluded that he could not improve on what had been done before him, and wisely desisted from the attempt.
"From the landing-place we went to the ruins of the temple, where we spent a couple of hours. The building seems to have been the work of several architects at different periods, as it is very irregular in shape, and the floors are not all on the same level. It is more modern than any of the temples we have yet seen, as none of the dates which have been found upon it are earlier than the thirtieth dynasty, or about 400b.c. The propylon towers are sixty feet high, and there is a fine view from their top. We climbed up without difficulty, though in some places the steps are considerably broken. The solidity of the towers has preserved them from serious injury.
"The colors on the walls and towers are better preserved than in the other temples, and some of them are exceedingly beautiful. At the timethe temple was built the lotos flower seems to have been very popular among the artists, as it was extensively used in the ornamentation, and for the tops of the pillars that supported the roof of the grand hall.
VIEW FROM PHILÆ LOOKING UP THE RIVER.
"Philæ was one of the most sacred spots known to the ancient Egyptians, as it was the resting-place of the god Osiris, to whom they attributed the annual overflow of the Nile, and the consequent fertility of the land. There was a fable that his body was deposited beneath the cataract, and that once a year he rose and 'troubled the waters' so that the Nile burst its banks, and spread over the land of Egypt, to insure an abundant harvest.
"The temple was dedicated to this god, and to his wife and sister Isis. On the monuments she has many titles: sometimes she is called 'Mistress of Heaven,' at others 'Regent of the Gods,' and at others 'The Eye of the Sun.' Both Isis and Osiris represented the good and beautiful on earth, and perhaps it is for this reason that the lovely island was chosen as the site of their temple.
"We had an agreeable surprise in two ways: we found the papyrus plant represented on the walls of the temple, and the guide took us to a spot near the ruins where the papyrus was growing. We had often heard of this plant, and longed to see it. You know, probably, that it was thesubstance from which the Egyptians made their scrolls, whereon most of their writing was done, and it is from 'papyrus' that our modern word 'paper' is derived.
THE PAPYRUS JUNGLES OF THE NILE.
"The plant that we saw was a small one, or rather there was a little cluster of small plants growing in a pond among other aquatic products. It is uncertain whether the papyrus ever grew naturally in this part of Egypt; at all events, it is not easy to find it at present, except where it is artificially cultivated. In Abyssinia and farther up the Nile the papyrus grows in marshy ground, and sometimes little else can be seen for miles and miles. It has a mass of roots that spread out in the mud, and throw up a cluster of stalks from five to ten feet high. The plant is a very graceful one, and it is no wonder that the Egyptians made free use of it in their ornamentation.
"In making paper from the papyrus plant the Egyptians used to cut it into thin slices, which they laid side by side, and then covered with other slices at right angles to the first. In this form it was slightly moistened and pressed down, and the sheet could be made of any size bysimply extending it and connecting the edges. It was used for many other purposes than the manufacture of paper: boats, baskets, and boxes were made from the papyrus plant; cordage was spun from the fibres, the pith was eaten as food, a salve was made from the pulp and applied to sores, and the roots were burnt as fuel in houses, or fashioned into useful or ornamental articles. Altogether the papyrus seems to have been nearly as useful to the inhabitants of Egypt three thousand years ago as the bamboo is to the native of China and Japan to-day.
"Wherever there was space to scratch or write a name on the walls, we found that previous travellers had not scrupled to convert the Temple of Philæ into an autograph album. Names of those who had come there in the last two hundred years were visible in great numbers; the most prominent memorial of this kind was a tablet recording the occupation of Philæ by General Desaix's army at the time Egypt was held by Napoleon I.This tablet was defaced by some Englishmen in 1848, but was afterward restored by French visitors, and has since been undisturbed.
"When it was time to leave the island we again entered our boat, and were taken to the cataract. The famous cataract of the Nile is nothing more than a rapid, or rather a succession of rapids, with an aggregate fall of not more than fifteen feet. The river divides into a series of channels among the rocks, and boats are taken through these channels without much trouble, though with a considerable expenditure of time and muscle, with the aid of tow-ropes and Arabs. The Arabs at the cataract are about as skilled in rascality as their brethren of the pyramids; they can easily take a boat up in a single day, but manage to consume three or four days in the operation, and extort a great deal of backsheesh for not being longer about it. The descent of the falls takes only a few minutes, as the principal rapid is about two hundred feet long by seventy wide: the water foams and rushes furiously, but with a skilful pilot there is no danger. Accidents happen occasionally, but they are almost invariably due to bad management.
"We stood on the bank and saw a dozen Arabs 'shoot the rapids,' which they did on the short logs they use as ferry-boats. It was apparently dangerous, and we did not grudge the backsheesh they demanded when the show was over. They slid down very gracefully, and probably the risk was no greater for a good swimmer than is the process of coasting downhill for a school-boy. Travellers' tales in the early part of the century represented the cataract of the Nile to be something like Niagara, when, in fact, it is not much worse than a large mill-race. The place is rather picturesque, on the whole, and we are very glad to have seen it.
"From Mahatta, a little village at the head of the falls, we returned by the bank of the river to Assouan. Our ascent of the Nile is ended, and we will now turn our faces to the northward."
A part of the next day was passed on the island of Elephantine, opposite Assouan. By reference to the books in their possession, Frank and Fred learned that Elephantine was a place of considerable importance two or three thousand years ago, and a large town once stood there. Its ruins are now covered by a modern village, whose inhabitants are all Nubians; in fact, there are no Arabs living on the island, and it is said that Elephantine has been the home of none but Nubians from time immemorial. Frank asked for the elephants, but could not learn that any had ever been seen there; he concluded that the island received its name from the entire absence of the largest of animals, or even of any fossil remains of him.
AN ANCIENT POULTRY-SHOP.
There were two temples, or rather their ruins, on the island at the beginning of the present century—but they were destroyed in order that the stone could be utilized for building the houses of Assouan. A gate-way of one of them is yet standing, and there are some walls built by the Romans, who are said to have made Elephantine a military post.
The Nubians offered Roman coins, polished stones, and other curiosities for sale; the coins were supposed to have been dug up on the island, but there was an appearance of newness about them which revealed their falsity. The quantity of false coins increases year by year, and in many instances the Arabs do not take the trouble to submit them to theaction of acids, in order to give them an antiquated look. The manufacturers of antiquities in Cairo and Luxor generally manage to make their goods have an appearance of genuineness; but sometimes the demand is unexpectedly great, and they rush off their fabrications in a hurry. On several occasions Roman coins were offered to our friends that did not appear to have been out of the mint more than a day or two. One of them bought a copper denarius of the time of the Emperor Hadrian that was bright and fresh as though stamped an hour before; it was so new that the oil used for facilitating its passage through the mint had not been worn off, and was easily perceptible to the fingers.
The boys regretted their inability to go farther than the first cataract of the Nile, and as the steamer headed down the river they gave a longing and lingering look behind them. They were consoled with the reflection that they had seen a great deal in their journey from Cairo, and were farther relieved when Doctor Bronson informed them that comparatively few travellers ever went beyond the first cataract. "Down to within twenty years," said he, "the island of Philæ was theUltima Thuleof nearly all tourists on the Nile, and any one who had penetrated farther was regarded as a sort of Mungo Park or Dr. Livingstone. Once in a while somebody went to the second cataract, two hundred and forty miles above the first, and on rare occasions an Englishman or other foreigner visited Khartoom, at the junction of the Blue and White Nile. Bayard Taylor was one of these adventurous travellers, and he went some distance up the White Nile to the country of the Shillook negroes.
"In 1850," he continued, "very little was known of the Nile beyond the point reached by our enterprising countryman. Exploring parties had been up the river considerably beyond the Shillook region, but in most instances the explorers had died while beyond the limits of civilization, or their accounts were insignificant. For a long time it was supposed that the Blue Nile was the principal stream, and as its head-waters had been reached by the famous traveller Bruce, he was credited with the discovery of the sources of the mysterious river. But it was afterward found that the White Nile was the longer of the two and the greater in volume, and many lives were sacrificed in the attempt to find its origin. The discovery and exploration of the lakes of Central Africa, where the Nile rises, belongs to our day; and the names of Burton, Speke, Grant, Livingstone, Stanley, Baker, Long, and others, will go down in history for solving a mystery which has puzzled the world for centuries."
One of the boys asked what they would have seen in case they had been able to ascend the Nile a few hundred miles farther?
AN ARAB AND HIS CAMEL.
"That is a difficult question to answer," was the Doctor's reply, "but I will try to meet it. The second cataract is much like the first, and is a succession of rapids rather than a fall. It is two hundred and forty miles from Assouan to Wady Halfa, a village at the second cataract, and the point where nearly all tourists who go beyond here turn back. On the way thither you pass a few ruined temples and other remains of ancient Egypt; but there are none of great importance, with the exception of Abou Simbel, which ranks next after the pyramids and the temples of Thebes. There are two temples there hewn in the solid rock, and dating from the time of Rameses the Great. A good deal of the history of that monarch has been gathered from the sculptures in these temples, and the door-way of the principal one of them is guarded by a couple of enormous statues that recall the Sitting Colossi of Thebes. They have been pronounced the finest statues of their size in all Egypt, and certainly I do not know of any that can rival them in grandeur and beauty.
COLOSSAL HEADS IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE OF ABOU SIMBEL.
"These statues were formed by cutting away the solid rock, just as the statues of the temples of Ellora, in India, were made. Like most of the royal statues of Egypt, they represent the king seated on his throne. They are partly covered with the sand that has drifted about them, and sometimes little more than the heads of the figures are visible. They are said to be sixty-six feet high without their pedestals. A friend of mine measured the head of one of them, and gave me the following notes: Length of the nose, 3 feet 5 inches; height of the forehead, 28 inches; width of the mouth, 8 feet; length of the ear, 3 feet.
"The head of the statue is twelve feet high, without including the cap or crown that covers it. Compare these figures with the measurements of the broken figure of Rameses at the Memnonium, and you will realize the grandeur of the work.
PUBLIC SQUARE AT KHARTOOM.PUBLIC SQUARE AT KHARTOOM.
"The second cataract is more difficult of passage than the first, and can only be accomplished when the Nile is at its full height. Above it the river makes a wide bend, and, as the navigation is difficult, the land route to the Upper Nile is preferable. Travellers leave the Nile atKorosko, nearly a hundred miles below Wady Halfa, and cross the desert to Khartoom. It is a journey of eight days by camels, and there is only one oasis on the route where water can be procured. Khartoom is a town of considerable size—about twenty thousand inhabitants—and has a curiously mixed population of Egyptians, Nubians, Turks, Arabs, and half a dozen other races and tribes. It has a fine trade in ivory, ostrich feathers, and other products of Central Africa, and formerly was the centre of the slave-trade between Egypt and the regions to the south. The situation is said to be quite picturesque, as it is on the angle between the Blue and White Nile, and the boats from both these rivers lie at its banks.
"From Khartoom there is good navigation on the Nile for a long distance, till theSudd, or bank of reeds, is reached. The river is blocked by a great mass of aquatic plants, which have drifted down and accumulated so that they cover several miles of the course of the stream. Imagine a small brook in which a load of hay has been overturned, and you have an idea of what the Sudd is like.
EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS ON CAMELS.
"Beyond the Sudd the principal town is Gondokoro, in Abyssinia, and as we go farther up the Nile we enter the countries of the savage rulers of Central Africa. You can read about them in the works of Livingstone, Stanley, and other travellers who have gone there, and then—"
"Dinner is ready!" said one of the stewards, and the description of Africa by the Doctor was indefinitely postponed.
The return voyage to Cairo was quickly made, as the steamer halted but a few times, and then only briefly, at some of the principal points. There was no time for sight-seeing, as all of the visits to temples and tombs were planned for the upward journey. The principal incidents of the trip were a few slight quarrels among the passengers, growing out of the general lack of something to do, and a glimpse of a crocodile. Everybody had been on the lookout for crocodiles during the voyage up the river, but none had been seen. The presence of these inhabitants of the Nile had been nearly forgotten, when suddenly one afternoon somebody on deck called out,
"Crocodile!"
Instantly there was a rush from seats and lounging places, and those who happened to be in the cabin came out as though a shell had exploded among them. Some ran one way and some another, and several went to the wrong side of the boat.
The crocodile was lying on a sand-bank two hundred yards or morefrom the course of the steamer. He was evidently enjoying a sun-bath when disturbed by the sound of the paddle-wheels, and concluded that the wisest plan for him to follow was to drop into the water.
While he remained quiet he could easily have been mistaken for a blackened log, but as soon as he was in motion there was no doubt on the subject. Creeping rather than walking, he was soon at the edge of the water, and, without pausing to see what it was that disturbed him, he disappeared beneath the surface of the river.
The Doctor told the boys that many persons made the tour of the Nile nowadays without getting a single glimpse of a crocodile below the first cataract. Above Assouan crocodiles are more frequent, andbeyond Khartoom they are so abundant that dozens of them may be counted in a single day. Thirty years ago they were numerous in the vicinity of Thebes and Keneh, and it was dangerous to venture into the water lest they might take a notion to a breakfast on humanity. On the upper part of the Nile, in the vicinity of Gondokoro, they are large and ferocious, and hardly a day passes that they do not carry off a native who has incautiously ventured into the river or near its edge.
It is the ambition of every tourist who ascends the Nile in a dahabeeah to bring back the skin of at least one crocodile as a trophy. The best way of killing this kind of game is to shoot him when he is taking his nap on a sand-bank; and if proper caution is observed, and the position is favorable, the sportsman may approach within forty or fifty yards without disturbing his prey. The scales of the reptile are so thick and hard that an ordinary rifle-ball glances off as from an iron plate. The only vulnerable point is behind the fore-leg, and a good chance for a shot is not always presented.
Of late years considerable havoc has been made among crocodiles by means of explosive bullets, which burst as they strike and tear a hole in the crocodile, in addition to making a general disturbance internally if the proper spot has been reached.
A large package of letters was at the hotel in Cairo for our friends, and they sat till far into the night perusing and discussing these welcome missives. Everybody at home was well, and there were lots of congratulations for Frank and Fred over the intelligent use they had made of their time, and their interesting accounts of what they had seen in their travels. The presents for Mary and Miss Effie were greatly admired by those young ladies as well as by their friends, and one of the letters contained a polite intimation that similar selections in future would be as cordially welcomed. There was a renewal of the suggestion that the letters and journals of the youths ought to go into a book. Mrs. Bassett said the village editor had printed all the letters in his paper, and they had been so highly praised that he was sure they ought to be preserved in a more permanent form.
"Well," said Fred, "it seems as though we were to become authors whether we want to or not."
"I don't see any harm in it," responded his cousin. "Authors may do some good in the world if they make good books, can't they?"
"Of course they can," was the reply; "and if we become authors we'll try to make books that nobody can object to."
"I'm afraid you are counting on an impossibility," said Doctor Bronson,who had overheard the conversation. "What will please one will not please another, and you can never do your work so that somebody will not find fault with it. And there are some critics who prefer to say spiteful things, and will search a book from beginning to end to find something they can object to. If you ever write a book you must expect abuse. Do your work well, satisfy your own conscience, give your book to the public, and leave the result to take care of itself."
When the perusal of the letters was over the youths went to bed and slept soundly, despite many dreams of friends at home, mingled with pyramids, temples, tombs, mummies, Arabs, deserts, valleys, and other things and places that had come under their observation since their arrival in Cairo. They were up in good time the next morning arranging for speedy departure from the City of the Caliphs, as the Doctor had informed them it was necessary to take the afternoon train for Alexandria.
"Here is our plan," said the Doctor, as they sat down to breakfast. "We will take the train at noon, and be in Alexandria four hours later; the distance is a hundred and twenty miles, and the train is a fast one. We will have a day in Alexandria, and then take the steamer for Jaffa. From Jaffa we will go to Jerusalem, and from that city make the tour of the Holy Land, arranging our route according to circumstances."
The boys were delighted with the proposal, and were ready at the appointed time. There were no incidents of consequence in the railway journey. The boys looked earnestly at the pyramids and the tall minarets of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali as the train bore them away toward the sea, and left Cairo behind them. They were bidding farewell to ancient Egypt, and we cannot wonder that they had many regrets in so doing.
THE BARRAGE OF THE NILE.
They passed near the "Barrage," an extensive structure which was intended for a dam across the Nile to check the overflow of water during the inundation, and retain it till it was wanted for purposes of irrigation after the falling of the river. This great work was projected and begun during the time of Mohammed Ali, and an immense amount of money has been expended upon it. It consists of a long line of arches across the river, and the plan was to arrange gates at the openings of the arches, so that the flow of the water could be checked or allowed at pleasure. It has never been completed: the engineers say there was an error in the original calculations, and if the arches were closed, so as to raise the river to the proposed height, the force of water would sweep away the entire structure.
The Barrage has been partially utilized, and it is said that the governmentcontemplates its completion by strengthening the work, so that it will retain the water as desired. There is no doubt that it would be of great advantage to Lower Egypt, as it would largely increase its productiveness. There is a story that Abbas Pacha once suggested to a French engineer to pull down the pyramids and use the material for constructing the Barrage. The engineer was horrified at the idea, as he said it would cause him to be execrated by the whole world, and his name would go down to posterity covered with disgrace for having destroyed the finest monument of ancient Egypt.
Our friends passed through Tantah, a town of considerable importance, containing many handsome houses, and a palace where the Khedive occasionally passes a few days. Three times a year, in the months of January, April, and August, a fair is held at Tantah which lasts eight days. Sometimes as many as two hundred thousand people come to this fair; their ostensible object is to pray at the tomb of a Moslem saint, but the most of their time is passed in amusements and in trading. There is a large business in camels, horses, and general merchandise, and in former times a good many slaves were sold there. All around the town there are tents and booths devoted to singing and to the performances of jugglers, snake-charmers, and others whose living is derived from the amusement they furnish to the public.
The train swept along the bank of the Mahmoodieh Canal, which connects Alexandria with the Nile; it is fifty miles long and a hundred feet wide, and was built in less than a year by order of Mohammed Ali. Two hundred and fifty thousand men were employed upon it, and of this number twenty thousand died of hunger, plague, and cholera. For several miles the route of the railway lay through a marsh, and as they neared Alexandria our friends caught a glimpse of Lake Mareotis, a shallow body of water, whose principal use is to supply the Alexandria market with fish.
GENERAL VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA.
Pompey's Pillar came into view, and so did the domes and minarets of Alexandria. There was the usual crowd of porters, guides, and the like at the railway-station, and with some difficulty the Doctor and the youths made their way through the dense assemblage, and drove to the hotel. The boys found that the streets were paved with large blocks of stone, but the pavement was broken in many places, and had much need of repair. In rainy weather there are deep holes filled with mud, and the incautious pedestrian runs a great risk of taking an involuntary and very disagreeable bath.
The morning after their arrival the party started out to see Alexandria and engage passage for Jaffa. The passage was secured, and then there was leisure for visiting the points of interest in and around the city.
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE AT ALEXANDRIA.
There is comparatively little remaining of the great city of Alexandria, which once contained half a million inhabitants, and boasted of the finest library in the world. The library was burnt, the buildings disappeared, the city dwindled in importance, till at the end of the last century its population was barely six thousand. Since 1798 it has been steadily reviving, till it now contains nearly a quarter of a million inhabitants, of whom a fourth are Europeans. It is the commercial capital of Egypt,and the viceroy lives there during the summer. Of its ancient monuments Pompey's Pillar is almost all that can be found. There are some tombs near the city, but they are scarcely worth visiting: there were formerly two obelisks near the water's edge, but they have gone, one to England and the other to the United States. The latter was removed by Commander H. H. Gorringe, of the United States Navy—the cost of the work being paid by Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt—and has been set up in Central Park, New York. It was famous in history as Cleopatra's Needle; the obelisk that was taken to England and set up on the bank of the Thames above Waterloo Bridge had been lying prostrate for centuries.
POMPEY'S PILLAR.
Pompey's Pillar is a single shaft of red granite, seventy feet high and about ten in diameter, standing on a broad base and crowned with a capital, the whole rising a hundred feet from the ground. It is supposed that a statue once stood on the top, and there are some old pictures of Alexandria where a statue appears on the pillar.
Frank and Fred wanted to climb to the top of the column, but were unable to see how they could do so, as there is no ladder or stairway, and the shaft is polished like a pane of glass.
The Doctor told them it had been twice ascended in the present century—once by an enterprising woman, and once by a party of sailors. In each case a kite was flown so that it came against the top of the pillar, then the string was used to draw up a cord, the cord drew up a rope, and the rope drew up a ladder. The ascent is easy enough when the ladder is properly secured, but it trembles so much that a steady head and strong hand are requisite to insure safety.
After seeing the pillar the three visitors wandered through the bazaars, which repeated, on a small scale, the sights of the bazaars of Cairo. They spent an hour or more in the great square in the centre of the city, where there are several rows of shade-trees and some bronze statues, and they visited two or three private gardens, which were very pretty, and contained rare varieties of plants. They went to the celebrated "Pharos," which is one of the earliest light-houses ever known to mariners, and was built by Ptolemy Philadelphus at enormous expense. It is said to have been a square building of white marble in several stories, each smaller than the one below it. A winding road led to the top, and, according to history, Cleopatra once drove a pair of horses to the summit, and then drove them down again. The name of the "Pharos" is perpetuated in the French word for light-house (phare), but very little of the ancient structure exists to-day. It is still maintained as a light-house, and is a welcome sight to ships seeking the harbor of Alexandria.
At an early hour the next morning a procession left the door of the hotel and proceeded in the direction of the harbor. It was composed as follows:
Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson mounted on donkeys, and attended by the drivers of the little beasts.
Doctor Bronson similarly mounted and escorted.
A servant from the hotel superintending the transportation of the baggage of the trio on the backs of a couple of Arab porters.
A miscellaneous array of beggars, peddlers, and their kindred, shouting for backsheesh.
There were at least twenty individuals in the party, not counting the donkeys; but a good many of the beggars dropped off after a few dozen yards. Their places were taken by others, so that there was no material loss of numbers on arrival at the landing, where the baggage was placed in a boat, after a gift of a couple of francs to a customs official, to save it from inspection. From the shore to the boat was a short journey, and any possible monotony was prevented by the boatmen. They had made a bargain to carry our three friends on board the steamer for five francs; about half-way they stopped rowing and demanded ten francs, which were refused.
Then the fellows turned, and threatened to row to the shore again, but the Doctor prevented this performance by proposing to hand them over to the police. They did not proceed until he rose to his feet and shouted for the police-boat, and then they concluded it was best to do as they had agreed. The boatmen of Alexandria are worse than those of any other port of the Mediterranean, and it is a disgrace to the Egyptian Government that they are allowed to continue their practices.
VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE SEA.
And now behold our friends safely on board the French steamer. The smoke pours from her funnels, the anchor is lifted, the engine throbs, the screw revolves, churning the water into foam—the entrance of the harbor is passed, the shore fades from sight, and Egypt is left behind.
Bon voyage!
The steamer stopped a few hours at Port Said, the northern terminus of the Suez Canal, and the second morning after her departure from Alexandria she dropped anchor in front of Jaffa. The time at sea between Alexandria and Jaffa is from twenty to thirty hours, according to the speed of the steamer and the state of the weather. There are three companies—one carrying the French flag, one the Austrian, and one the Russian—each making a fortnightly service from Alexandria; and there are several irregular lines, so that a traveller may be reasonably sure of being able to go from Egypt to the Holy Land every four or five days. The French steamers are the best, the Austrian the next in order, and the Russian and the irregular steamers the worst of all.
The steamer that carried our friends anchored about a mile from land, and the Doctor explained to the youths that there is no harbor at Jaffa which a ship can enter. In a calm sea, or when the wind blows from the north or east, passengers may land or embark with safety; but if a westerly or southerly wind is blowing a landing is impossible. In winter the prevailing wind is from the west, and many a traveller who takes his ticket for Jaffa in that season has the vexation of being carried past the port, for the simple reason that he cannot be put on shore.
Fortunately for our friends the sea was perfectly calm when they came to anchor, and there was no hinderance to their going on shore. The steamer was quickly surrounded by boats, and a bargain was made with one of them for transportation to land. The strong arms of the Arab boatmen sent the little craft spinning over the water; the oars rose and fell together as the men kept time by a song that was a trifle monotonous to the ears of Frank and Fred. But never mind its monotony; it carried the travellers from ship to shore, and every moment the walls of Jaffa became more and more distinct through its measured cadence.
They seemed to be heading for some jagged rocks that jutted a little distance from the line of the shore. The sharp eyes of the boys discoveredan opening in the rocks, and when the boat was within a few yards of it the men paused in obedience to a signal from the steersman. Then, watching the rise and fall of the waves, they dashed forward at the proper moment through the opening ten or twelve feet wide, and were borne into the smooth water of the little harbor. There is a wider entrance farther to the north, but it is rendered dangerous by several sunken rocks, and the narrow one is generally used by the boatmen.
FRONT OF AN EASTERN SUMMER-HOUSE.
"This harbor is mentioned several times in Scripture," said Doctor Bronson, while the boatmen were waiting the proper moment to enter. "It was here that Hiram, King of Tyre, sent ships laden with wood from Lebanon for the use of King Solomon in building his temple at Jerusalem, and some of the apostles, when they went out to preach the gospel through the world, sailed away from Jaffa or Joppa, as it was then called. According to tradition, the prophet Jonah sailed from Joppa just before he was swallowed by the whale. And there is another tradition that Andromeda was chained to the rocks at the entrance of the harbor, in order that a sea-monster might devour her. The correctness of this latter tradition was maintained until the sixteenth century by the exhibition of the chains and rings by which she was held."