CHAPTER IX.
M. Surûr, English agent at Damietta—Patients—Excursion to Lake Menzaleh—Mataryah—Melikýn—Pounds for cattle—Ruins of San—Broken pottery—Conjectures on its original use—Tennys—Dybeh—Botarga fishery—Fowling—Running deemed indecorous in a Turk—Menzaleh—Haunted house—Disdain of pedestrian travellers—False door—Departure for Syria—Vessel, cargo, and crew—Charms to raise the wind—Arrival at Acre, Tyre, and Abra.
M. Surûr, English agent at Damietta—Patients—Excursion to Lake Menzaleh—Mataryah—Melikýn—Pounds for cattle—Ruins of San—Broken pottery—Conjectures on its original use—Tennys—Dybeh—Botarga fishery—Fowling—Running deemed indecorous in a Turk—Menzaleh—Haunted house—Disdain of pedestrian travellers—False door—Departure for Syria—Vessel, cargo, and crew—Charms to raise the wind—Arrival at Acre, Tyre, and Abra.
We were taken to the house of Mâlem Michael Surûr, the English agent, a young gentleman of considerable abilities and property, who did everything that Oriental hospitality, so fertile in resources, dictated, for the entertainment of his guests. He had several fine horses, upon which we rode out daily. Mounted himself on a superbly caparisoned stallion, his grooms preceded him on foot, bearing perpendicularly each hiszan, or white staff, in the right hand, with which, as he went along, they beat the walls, and, at every curvet which his horse gave, cried, Mashallah, how wonderful! This, being the style of the principal Mahometans, and absolutelyprohibited to Christians, becomes one of the distinguished privileges of a Consul; and it is only to be regretted that the restraint under which the Christians live should have given a value to such empty distinctions.
I became acquainted here with the most fascinating lady that I had known during my long residence in the Levant. Her name was Syt Fersûn (or Euphrosyne) Karysáty. She and her infant daughter Benba came daily to Málem Surûr’s to consult me; and Shaykh Ibrahim used to express very pathetically his chagrin that, whilst I was admitted into the harým to converse with these ladies, he was excluded. I had several patients at Damietta, and a consideration of some of the cases which fell under my care leads me to say, that I am not disposed to accede to an assertion made by Mr. Brown in his travels—“that in no country are pulmonary diseases so rare as in Egypt.” Mr. Brown was not a medical man, and, therefore, of course makes similar remarks as the result of what he heard from the natives. It would seem that there is as large a proportion of them here[72]as in some or any European countries.
Mâlem Surûr had three black slaves and fifteen servants in all.
Shaykh Ibrahim had meditated, among the objects of his visit to Damietta, an excursion on the lake Menzaleh, and I agreed to join him in it; the more especially as there was no vessel ready to sail for Syria, to which country I was now anxious to return.
Lake Menzaleh is not of great antiquity: Macrisi speaks of it as having been made to prevent the recurrence of invasions on the side of the Syrian desert. The ruins which are still to be found in and about it have rendered it an object of curiosity. In my first visit to Damietta, in company with Lady Hester, I was prevented from indulging the wish I entertained to see it, owing to the shortness of our stay, and to the hurry which our preparations for the voyage to Syria occasioned.
Mâlem Surûr made such arrangements as he thought would render us comfortable, in furnishing us with a basket of provisions, and sending his janissary as our guard. Just before sunset, on Sunday evening, the 30th of September, we traversed the beautiful environs of the city, for about two miles, down to the edge of the lake at the place of embarkation, calledMehúb, where we found a small barge, of the kind common to these waters, waiting for us. It had a temporary awning made of rush mats. The solid construction of the boat itself rendered it so far from crank that we could walk or sit in it anywhere without rendering it lapsided. Our boatmen were three brothers: two men, Ahmed and Segáwy, and Metwelly, a lad. Shaykh Ibrahim had with him his black slave, Fadl allah and Shâaty, a servant he had hired at Damietta, and I had Giovanni. The crew were furnished with poles, to push the boat over the shallows, and to force her onwards when there was no wind. In this operation, the poles are rested against the shoulder; and, considering the great force occasionally used, it is wonderful that no injury ensues. The servant, with the provisions, not having yet arrived, we amused ourselves in observing Mâlem Surûr, who, mounted on a Mameluke saddle, exhibited more skill in horsemanship than Christians in these countries are generally possessed of. His youth, he not being more than nineteen years of age, gave him every disposition to enjoy the privileges attached to his situation.
At nightfall, Mâlem Surûr took his leave. We embarked, and had not got far from the shore when the shaykh recollected that he had brought away certain letters, prepared for Alexandria, which he had forgotten to leave. We therefore put about, and returned to Mehúb, the place of embarkation. At each place of embarkation, ofwhich there are many on the borders of the lake, a soldier is generally stationed to levy the customs, which he farms from the chief officer at Damietta. It is not necessary to ascertain what his claim was on our boat; but no sooner had Ahmed, accompanied by his brother, stepped on shore to find a boy to carry the letters to Damietta, than he was seized by the soldier, and desired to pay the dues. It was now quite dark. Ahmed assured the soldier he had no money, as he had yet received nothing from his passengers; but, not being believed, he was forcibly thrust into the guard-house, where the soldier began to beat him most unmercifully. His cries induced his brother to beseech Shaykh Ibrahim (who was on shore delivering his instructions to the messenger about the letters) to go to Ahmed’s assistance. The shaykh went; and with great promptitude broke open the door, and rescued him from the grasp of his enraged assailant, who had, in addition to a beating, drawn his yatagan, and was threatening his life. The soldier was promised a bastinadoing on our return to Damietta.
It was some time before Ahmed could now be made to hold his tongue, when he found he could vociferate without fear of reprisals; at last quiet was restored, and finally we re-embarked. We supped, and lay down to rest in our clothes, under our rush tent, and at three in the morning were disturbed by the boatmen, who told us we had arrived at Mataryah. We had passed during the night two islands, el Usbehand el Luskeh; but at what distances, and in what direction of the compass, we had not observed.
When day dawned, we found Mataryah to be a large fishing village. Of the houses which faced the lake, some were of brick, and others mud; but, as it is customary in Egypt, the buildings seemed rather decaying than improving. The shaykh’s name was Hassan el Fâal. The water-side exhibited, as usual, a scene of women filling their water-jars, men washing themselves for prayers or other causes, and naked children paddling about. We endeavoured to purchase a little milk; and, having waited until Ahmed, whose family lived here, had gone to his house and returned, at seven o’clock on the first of October, we loosened our sail, and stood south and by east.
Continuing in this direction for one hour, about nine we entered the canal, called Toret el Möez, and the mouth itself was named, by the räis, Ahmed, Halc el Naby. Mataryah bore from this point north-east and by north. As the current ran out very strong, and there was no wind, we made the boat fast to a pole thrust into the mud, and breakfasted. Close to us was a fisherman’s seat, in which he sat to watch his nets; many more of which we saw up the canal. These were made of layers of rushes, pressed down between four stakes, and formed the apex of two converging sets of stakes. The net was placed between them; and the current, as it brought down the fish, drove them into the enclosedpart, where they were entrapped. The mouth of the canal was single; but, immediately within it, the course of the canal itself was no longer distinguishable to a person unacquainted with its navigation, as various streams were seen coming in different directions to the same point; which was occasioned by the retiring of the Nile waters, now just on the decrease.
About half an hour before noon the breeze freshened; and we, fancying that our räis was only gaining time in order to make money, since his agreement was at a certain rate per day, obliged him to cast off. In about two hours, we arrived at Melikeen, a square mud hamlet on the east bank of the canal. This hamlet now stood insulated; for in front of it was the canal, and round it were meadows overflowed; so that the children were seen dabbling in the water like amphibious creatures, and men were going from hamlet to hamlet wading up to their waists, either with their clothes pulled up or entirely naked.
The inhabitants of Melikeen, our räis told us, ranked themselves in the class of dervises, and assumed the name of fakírs. They were known, when they wandered from their native town, by a bit of white rag, going under the chin and over the head, and tied down by the turban. They carried a cruise of water by their sides, to give to drink to whosoever asked them; this was their principal vow. They were bound, if beaten, to make no resistance, not to steal, and to some other observances which I now forget.
About three we arrived at another hamlet, similar to the first, but on the opposite bank of the canal, called Melikeen el fokany, or Upper Melekeen, in contradistinction to that below it. The banks hitherto had been lined with reeds and rushes; nor could we distinguish what was behind them, excepting here and there through openings which discovered an almost entire inundation. Here we found the monotony of the scene a little relieved by tamarisk bushes (turfy) growing in hedges. The banks hereabouts emerged from the waters, and might be about fifty yards apart, as far as we could judge by the eye. Our räis had pretended that the depth of the canal was greater than the length of the pole which he held in his hands—perhaps twenty feet long; and upon his assertion we had already noted it; but, wishing to assure myself farther, I sounded, and found only nine feet water.
In the afternoon we arrived at a third hamlet, called Weled Ali, much the same in appearance as the others. Indeed the square walls of mud in which they were enclosed concealed the interior from us; but it is sufficient to be familiar with one of them to know them all. Our course soon changed to South West. The canal here divided, and we kept the left branch: but we observed the two branches again to join, having thus formed a small island. From Melikeen upwards, we had remarked, besides the hamlets, certain little pounds, or pens, made of mud walls about four or five feet high, upon knolls of ground, which remained dryhere and there on the banks: these, we were told, were the retreats of the buffaloes and herdsmen at night; for, the moment the retiring waters leave the grass and rushes visible above the surface, these meadows are resorted to by the peasantry, who pasture their buffaloes on them while yet swampy; such swamps, it would seem, being best suited to the nature of those beasts. To protect them by night, they are penned in these enclosures of a few yards’ breadth; and man and beast here live more together certainly than we had ever yet witnessed in brute and reasonable animals.
Towards evening we came to another hamlet, called El Wäy, and from El Wäy might be seen another, called El Bekashy. A little distance beyond brought us to the foot of the height on which San[73]formerly stood, and where we were now to seek for its ruins. On landing, we accosted an old man with a dark brown rusty skin, and asked him to point them out to us. He was a very fit person for the purpose, as he proved to be one of many others who gained a livelihood by digging for the foundations of these ancient edifices, which they sold for limestone, and was then watching several heaps, collected on the banks of the canal, ready to be embarked. He led us on for about a quarter of a mile, until we found ourselves on a flat, partly surrounded by a hill in the form of an amphitheatre,where several huge granite masses were lying in confusion.
The site of San is what would be called in military language a height: which, at a rough guess, may be two or three miles in circumference, and rises out of a country otherwise totally flat. It is composed of several monticules, which, combined, have the shape of a horseshoe, but are separated from each other by deep gullies, apparently worn by the waters in the long course of ages. In the centre of the horseshoe is a level, and at the entrance of it were some masses of granite. The soil about us was of the same nature as that which the Nile leaves, and must, therefore, have been brought hither by the wind or by men’s hands; being above the level of the annual inundations.
Proceeding a little further, we found a granite obelisk, entirely perfect, but fallen. It measured about seventy feet in length and six in breadth. Beyond it were three more fallen obelisks, with hieroglyphics, but less distinct than those on the first. Close to the last was a hole in the ground, dug by the workmen, at the bottom of which we discovered a part of a granite colossal statue. What was bare seemed to represent the folds of drapery; but, not being able, for want of time, to dig round it, (although the means were at hand) we could not decide exactly to what it belonged.
By this time the whole squad of peasantry had left their work, out of curiosity to see what we were doing.Two among them offered to lead us to other ruins, if we would promise to reward them. They accordingly took us to the top of the height, where was a small crumbling shed, the sanctuary of a Mahometan saint, called Shaykh el Garýby. Near it was a broken granite sarcophagus without a lid. Descending the hill, on the side towards the canal, we came to the stumps of an immense colonnade of granite, which seemed to have belonged to some vast edifice. The fragments of the shafts of these pillars measured nine spans in diameter: but the upper parts had either been entirely removed or were buried in sand, as nothing remained but these lowest portions, which seemed to occupy their original situations.
Having on a boot which chafed my foot, I was compelled to halt, whilst Shaykh Ibrahim ran forward to some heaps where he thought he might discover other fragments. Whilst he was gone, I found a part of a granite statue, of the proportions of a youth, in alto relievo, with the right foot, up to the ankle, still entire. I loaded some workmen with it down to the boat, whither we were obliged to hasten, as the evening had now closed on us: for, although we could have wished to make some farther examination of this interesting spot, yet the character we had heard of the people about San made us desirous not to sleep where we should be exposed to be plundered. While perambulating the ruins, their rude jocularity, and the half insolent, half inquisitive way in which they lookedat us, led us to believe their intentions might not be good. We accordingly loosened our sail, and returned nearly down to Weled Ali, where we slept.
The disjuncted elevations which form the heights of San are covered with broken bricks and pottery.[74]Unless the conformation of these monticules be entirely changed, and the rains have worked out gullies between them, these never could have been the site of a connected town. It is rather to be inferred that the city was built on the flat; and particularly as at the foot of the elevation there was still remaining a portion of a wall of sun-baked bricks. Perishable as such materials might be supposed to be, we yet observe them, in this instance, surviving the fall of columns of marble and of obelisks of granite! Their duration, however, must not be ascribed alone to their durability; for, whatever could attract the cupidity of the Moslems and was portable has been removed by them. Sunbakedbricks can be made cheaper than transported: and to this, perhaps, it was owing that the wall still remained.
The wind blew fresh during the night. On the morning of October the 2d, in descending the canal, we bought some cheese and milk at one of the pens on the banks, and stopped at Melikeen, to give an account of ourselves to a subaltern officer stationed there in acanja, or barge, for the purpose of levying the duty on salt passing down the canal. This duty our raïs told us was 3000 medini (equal to £2 10s.) on a large load: but we had reason to believe that his information was not to be relied on.
About noon, we left Halc el Naby, and in three hours arrived at Mâbed, one of many other small islands lying East North East of the mouth of the canal. We went on shore, and found fragments of bricks enough to testify that a village had once existed there. The island is not more than half a mile in circumference. Shaykh Cheleby, the present chief of Menzaleh, had carried off the greater part of the ruins to build with. We departed from Mâbed; and, about five o’clock, passed the extreme point of the island, where the Marabût of Shaykh Abdallah stands. This island is called El Carâh. Having weathered the point of El Carâh, we wore, and stood East half South; and, keeping this course, arrived after dark at Tennys. It was too late to go on shore, so we made fast to a pole, stuck in the bottom of thelake, at some distance from the shore, to avoid the musquitoes; and, having smoked our pipes, to which we were both very partial, went to sleep.
At daylight (October 3rd) we visited the ruins. We found a brick wall still standing, about 1000 paces long, and, within it, several cisterns of curious construction. The largest of these was twenty paces in breadth and thirty-one in length. The roof was supported by brick arcades, the pilasters of the arches being about ten feet distant from each other. Excepting in these cisterns (none of which, moreover, were entire), and on the walls, we found not one entire brick left on the ground; the neighbouring shaykhs having carried them away for building. The whole area was one continued quarry, from excavations made to find the stones of foundations. In the North West corner might be distinguished the remains of a fortress or castle: and, close to it, a canal divided the corner from the rest of the city, which, it is most probable, was a continuation of some one of the great canals leading from the Tanitic branch of the Nile. The island is elevated a few feet only above the level of the lake. The soil is of the same fine mould as we observed at San, but certainly could not get there by the same means. Innumerable swarms of musquitoes pestered us on the island, and for some time afterwards.
Having spent about three hours at Tennys, we left it; and, keeping a North North West course, with astring of small islands constantly on our right hand, we arrived, at three o’clock in the afternoon, at the bogàz of Dyby Castle, one of the openings by which Lake Menzaleh communicated with the sea and the ancient Tanitic branch of the Nile. The canal, as we entered it from the side of the lake, was called by the raïs Dunet El Sharây, and was about thirty yards broad. After running 200 or 300 yards, it opened into a broad water, and then continued for perhaps half a mile, until it emptied itself into the sea, South West and North East.
Between the broad water and the sea was a fishing hamlet, called El Tat, on the right hand side; and, facing it, branched off a gut, leading into the lake in a South East direction, named Ishtûm ed Dybah, down which we sailed. Upon the point of junction between Ishtûm ed Dybah and Dunet el Sharây stood the castle of Dybah, a fortress of brick, built by the French for the defence of this entrance.
Our object in visiting the Dybah bogàz was to learn something of the Botarga fishery.Botárekhin Arabic, Botarga in Italian, is considered throughout the Levant, by Turks and Christians, as a very great delicacy: and in Lent the consumption by the latter is enormous. It is the roe of a fish, salted and dried. There are three places where this fishery is carried on; namely, Mferdjy, Gemäyd, and Dybah. It would appear that the fish leave the open sea in search of a tranquil place where to deposit their spawn, in themonths of August, September, and October, and are then caught. The fish is called, in Arabic,lebt, and is from a foot to two feet long.
On the side next the lake, the fishermen ply day and night with circular hand-nets, which, from habit, they throw with great expertness; and, from the number caught each time, the fish must be very abundant. They are carried on shore, ripped open with a knife, and the roes taken out, salted, and exposed to the sun for three successive days, when they are fit for the market. There is also a kind of botarga prepared by simple drying only: and a third sort, where the fish, when caught and salted, are sent to a distance; after which the roes are there taken out and dried.
The botarga fishermen form almost a distinct race. They are all natives and inhabitants of Mataryah, and reside at the Ishtûms only during the fishing months, when they build themselves cabins of mats, spread over ribs of palm branches. Each hamlet may contain forty or fifty families; and, at the close of the season, they strike their cabins, and return to Mataryah. The men appeared to be a very fine race: and, to convince us of the purity of their clan, pretended that they intermarried only with each other. The children were naked, and wanted not beauty in their shape: and there was a young man, the fineness of whose person, much above the common size, particularly attracted our attention. Indeed wewere of opinion that the Egyptians employed on the lakes and on the Nile were of as symmetrical and robust a make as any men that we had ever seen or read of.
The fishery, like every other profitable business under the existing government of Egypt, was in the hands of the pasha, who farmed it out to the shaykh of Menzaleh. The shaykh sent an overseer to every hamlet, to whom was delivered whatever fish were caught, and an account was kept of them. At the end of the season, the whole amount was summed up: two thirds of the profits were given, in fixed portions, to the fishermen, and the remainder was the farmer’s. No fish could be sold, no botarga cured, except by the order of the bailiff; and a severe bastinado was the immediate consequence of detection: so that the poor fishermen might be said to be miserably off. Their gains for a season (as they told us) amounted to from 50 to 125 piasters a man.
On our arrival at the hamlet, our dress and our beards, in everything corresponding with those of Mahometans, had imposed on the bailiff, who, as soon as the boat grounded, advanced into the water up to the waist to salute us: but, the moment we spoke, finding we were khawágys[75](or Christians) hevery coolly returned to the shore; and, when we were landed, whilst we sat smoking our pipes and making our inquiries respecting the fishery, he was snoring at his length on the ground, close by us. We bought four fish, each about one foot and a half long, for a shilling, and paid very dear for them. They werelebts, and were, when boiled, of a good flavour. The roes had little taste done in this manner.
These fishermen employed themselves likewise in catching wild fowl, which was done, at particular seasons of the year, in the following manner. The fowler strips himself, and puts on his head a black woollen cap. When night comes, he wades into the lake, taking care that his head only is visible. The birds at this time are all sleeping. The main object of the fowler is to seize the leader of the flock: without securing him he can do nothing. The leader is called on the Lakes the cadi, and is known, we were told, by a white head and large mouth. The fowler gets hold of the cadi by the neck, and draws him under water, where he holds him, and then he gently serves four or five more in the same way, until his hands are full, when he wades back to the shore. Another way of catching them is to throw the circular hand-netover the flock, and envelop as many as possible. We did not see many flights of ducks. At this time of the year, gulls, ox-birds, and pelicans, seemed the most numerous.
A little before sunset we set sail with a fresh wind through Ishtum el Dyby in a north-west direction. On our right, on entering the gut, was El Weranyah, a fishing hamlet: farther, on the same side, El Arkûn; and beyond it El Malaca. The canal here was a quarter of a mile broad; and somewhat farther on, opened into the lake, between several small islands on the right, and the hamlet of Sunâra on the left; close to which is a triple marabût of Shaykhs el Mograby, El Bugdády, and Abu el Wafy. We then kept a south and by west course, and anchored, after a short run, at an island called Zubbàr.
Much amusement was here created by Shaykh Ibrahim’s objections to anchoring and the räis’s determination to do so. The wind, it is true, was very fresh, and our bark without ballast: the räis also said that he could not answer for his course in the night: but we had every reason to believe that he availed himself of these excuses only to lengthen out the voyage; since the pay that he received from us (seven piasters a day) was much more than he could gain by his ordinary work. Nor is it unnecessary to observe, that nothing is ever gained from these people, except by seeming desirous to have, in the common phrase, as much for one’s money as can be got. For if, outof compassion to their poverty, you seem disposed to afford them indulgences, they immediately become either importunate beggars, or insolent cheats. Although, therefore, we passed the night at Zubbàr, it was not done until we had urged the point with much seeming vehemence, threatening to throw Ahmed into the lake, to cut off a day’s pay, with many other menaces, for the purpose of ascertaining if there really were a necessity for staying.
Next morning it was calm, and our crew were rewarded for their delay by being compelled to push the boat on with poles. We left Zubbár at half past four, and scarcely advanced more than a mile in an hour. The lake was very shallow hereabout, and around us were a number of small islands, with several more to the north-east.
At ten we reached the border of the lake, and entered the canal, called Turet el Rusweh, which leads up to Menzaleh. Although the lake itself, during the rise of the Nile, almost touches the town, yet its shallowness prevents boats of any size from approaching, and is the cause that the natives have dug a narrow canal more easily navigable. It is crooked; and, in its whole length from the lake to the town, may be a mile. When we were half way up, the boat grounded, and we disembarked to walk the rest of the way. We observed here three barges, laden with gypsum, collected at an island near El Usby; which we regretted not having seen. Thegypsum was in coarse powder, and looked like so much salt.
As we had been cramped up in the boat nearly twenty hours, and were consequently desirous of stretching our legs, we had scarcely got on shore when we started off in a sort of trot, but had reason to repent of this gross deviation from Turkish gravity: for our räis and the janissary, on their return to Damietta, roundly asserted that we were either mad or possessed of an evil spirit: since no gentlemen with beards, and in their senses, would think of running!
On arriving at the town we desired to be conducted to Shaykh Cheleby’s house. The shaykh was absent, but we were introduced to his son, Hassan, a man seemingly about thirty-five years old, to whom we presented our letter from Mâlem Surûr. He received us with civility, gave us coffee: and, soon afterwards we sat down with him to a very comfortable noon repast of pilaw, roasted chicken, botarga of two kinds, and cheese. He left us to go on a party of pleasure to some orchards in the neighbourhood, to which we would not accompany him, intending to depart as soon as possible for Damietta. Shaykh Hassan was dressed in the costume peculiar to the Egyptians:—a camlet black smock-frock, and, beneath it, a showy-coloured (generally yellow, orange, or red) jubey and silk kombáz. The turban is worn by the Egyptians arranged more fantastically than by the Turks and Syrians.
Menzaleh, in the state we found it, was a large burgh, with four mosques, and with several small buildings having cupolas, which I presumed to be oratories. With the exception of one large block of granite, converted into an olive mill-stone, we saw no remains of antiquity; it is evident nevertheless that this was once a very large place. Its population was perhaps more than 3,000 souls. The houses were chiefly of brick, and many of them tolerably good. The streets, as is customary in Egypt, were unpaved; and, during the day, when the usual wind blew, the dust filled the eyes which way soever they turned. There was a rudely-constructed bridge over the canal, on the inner side of which were lying ten or twelve barges, carrying on the trade inland to Mansûra. There was a coffee-house, and a small bazar for the first necessaries of life. Within the town and in the environs there were sycamore and palm-trees. Rice was cultivated around: but the Nile had not yet decreased enough to begin tilling the soil, excepting in some fields close to the town. The magistracy of this place and district had been, for many generations, in the family which then held it, and which derived its origin (as Shaykh Hassan told us) from Tabaríah (Tiberias), and hence had gained its surname of Tabàr. Menzaleh was the principal town of an akalým, (district or sub-division) containing about twenty villages.
Shaykh Hassan el Tabàr told us, in reply to someremarks which we made on the goodness of his house, not inferior to many of the best in Damietta, that it was new; as he was obliged to desert his old one, because it was haunted by an afrýt, or ghost, in the shape of a Frank! He added that he had himself seen the ghost, which spoke in broken Arabic, generally beat a drum, knew most of the persons who addressed him, and called them by their names. Such was the terror created by this apparition, particularly among the women, that the house which it haunted, although spacious and handsome, was without a tenant. We remained in Menzaleh until four o’clock, and then, riding-down to our boat on miserable asses, quitted the canal and set sail for Damietta.
Arriving at a landing-place, called Gut el Nussára, about midnight, and asleep, towards morning I awoke; and, looking out from under the tent, found our boat driving fast in the direction from which we had come, her painter having slipped. I roused Ahmed, who, with much cursing and grumbling at the day he had ever taken Franks on board, pushed her back. At daylight we landed, leaving the servants to hire a camel and bring the baggage to Damietta. We then set off on foot for the city.
The walk in the cool of the morning, through fields presenting, in the month of October, the verdure of spring,[76]whilst above them the yellow and crimson clusters of dates hung in rich luxuriance, was noless agreeable than salutary. Yet, when we arrived at Mâlem Surûr’s house, and presented ourselves to our host, who was lolling over his morning pipe, with half a dozen servants humbly standing before him, he could not conceal his astonishment and chagrin, that we should exhibit ourselves with feet covered with dust and the perspiration running down our faces, in the guise of foot-travellers. And his Eastern pride was wounded to the quick at the surmises that must have been made, as we came through the streets, upon such extraordinary conduct. We took no pains to combat his false ideas of gentility. A servile people, restricted in their actions by their fanatic masters, fancy those only to be happy who are privileged to be inactive: although such inactivity leads to the ruin of their health, and excites commiseration in those who know better.
Shaykh Ibrahim and myself went to view the mosque of Abu el Alal, full of beautiful columns, among which were some of verd-antique. There was an inner part, into which I would not go, fearing, as I was no Turk, they would compel me to become one.
On the 7th, we were invited to dine with Monsieur Basil Fakhr, the agent of the French nation at this place, a man of great talents, both literary and political. Mâlem Surûr was dressed in a lilac silk kombaz and a salmon-coloured jubey.[77]There was a variety ofdishes, and among the rest a roasted pig, which was probably put there purposely to see whether Shaykh Ibrahim would eat of it: but he did not.
Shaykh Ibrahim and myself slept in the same bedroom at Mâlem Surûr’s, and, when going on the lake, we had deliberated, as our books and clothes were lying loosely about, whether we should lock the door, or whether such caution in the house of a gentleman would not be indelicate. We at last determined for the safe side, and actually took the key with us. This proceeding, so strange, if done in England, was not equally so there: for bed-rooms are not washed as with us, neither are they regularly swept: and, when once an inmate in a house, your room is entered by none but your servant. On our return we found the door locked as we left it; but, on entering, we saw at once that our effects were not as we had left them. Mâlem Surûr, when we joined him at dinner, asked us if all was in its place, with a sort of cunning look that caused us to say no. He then informed us that the open beaufet in the wall, with shelves, the borders of which were so neatly worked, and which were decked with china and glass, was no more than a false door, but so artfully made, that it was impossible to distinguish itfrom a cupboard. Of this his mother had a key, and entered the room several times during our absence.
Shaykh Ibrahim now wished to depart for Cairo, seeing that I had taken my passage for Syria. On the same afternoon we entered together into a boat, which took him to themashthat was to convey him up the Nile, and me to the long-boat of my vessel. Here we bade adieu to Mâlem Surûr and to each other. I was immediately rowed over the bar, and found in the offing a polacca brig, so crazy-looking as to frighten me, and so deeply laden as to float but two feet above the surface of the water. Her decks were covered withcuffasesor flagbaskets of salt fish, which had a very offensive smell, with mats, and with six new cables. The cables were green as grass, being made either of the filaments of the bark of some tree or of rushes: and two thirds of the cordage used on board the Egyptian and Syrian vessels are of this kind. All these are articles of trade with Syria; but the bulk of the cargo was rice: besides which, the sailors had filled every nook and space with baskets of parched peas, calledhammas, (which are as much sought after by the common people throughout Turkey as Barcelona nuts are in England), and with linen and cotton cloths. The salt fish and mats, it appeared, belonged to the ship’s own cargo. From the multiplicity of articles on the deck itself, it was impossible to move from one part to another. I too had a heap of luggage; and, among other things, I had broughtwith me a bedstead made of palm-branches. These bedsteads are so firmly yet lightly constructed that they can be lifted easily with one hand. Mine was lashed over the stern.
Our crew was Greek, and the captain’s name Tanûs el Bawàb. Every thing was in such confusion that Giovanni could find no where to make my bed: so I slept on a mat on the deck without bed or covering, and when I awoke I was nearly soaked with the dew.
In the morning, at sunrise, the sailors, standing on the forecastle, the ship’s head being towards the east, made the sign of the cross repeatedly, bending the body forward at each sign, and mumbling their prayers. We remained the whole of this day in the offing at anchor; partly because the wind was foul, and partly to receive on board other things, so that I expressed my fears that the ship would sink from the weight she had in her. Nor was my alarm diminished, when, in conversation, I discovered that this was the very polacca, which, whilst we were at Acre in March, was driven on shore under the window of the caravansery and bilged.
If the Greek sailors are generally more attentive to Europeans, when passengers, than the Turks, (although I am not disposed to allow this to the same extent that many are) still there is something disgusting in the filth and nastiness of the former compared with the clean hands and persons of the latter.
On the 14th of October, we weighed anchor athalf-past eleven; and I bade adieu, for the second time, to the shores of Egypt. There was little wind, and we advanced but slowly. The whole of Saturday the wind was east, and we made scarcely any way: on Sunday and Monday it was the same. This constant calm became at last extremely irksome. On Tuesday and Wednesday the ship lay like a log in the water: so that the sailors bathed around her. The shore was visible, and it was judged that we were yet below Gaza. Gebel Ky was likewise in sight. Sometimes the sailors fancied there was a mummy on board, which, according to their superstitions, brings ill luck. Many schemes were resorted to for raising the wind. Night and morning, incense was burned from stem to stern: and a contribution was levied for St. Elias of Mount Carmel. When these means were ineffectual, application was made to me to write a charm on a piece of paper, to be suspended to the boom-end. As I expressed my doubts whether I had any control over the winds, they told me a story to prove how a Mograbýn (a native of Barbary, which country produces all the conjurors in Turkey) had, when they were becalmed, by a few written mystical characters, produced not only a fair wind but almost a storm. I answered to this that I really was afraid I could not do so much: but, if a breeze would content them, fair or foul, I ventured to say I could promise it. Accordingly, I invoked “Libs, Notus Auster,” in verses as musical as those from which Iborrowed their names: and, to the great delight of every one, towards evening a breeze sprung up from west-south-west, and we advanced rapidly towards our destination.
We saw Tontûra at a distance as we sailed along, and, on Friday the 21st, we entered Acre. I went on shore, and betook myself to Signor Catafago’s, who gave me a lodging at the house of a friend.
On the following day, I called on Mâlem Haym, who was confined to his house by an inflammation in his only eye. He talked on the state of Europe: and, if any one be curious to know what his summary of politics was, he concluded by saying that England had gained nothing by a bloody and expensive war but a rock—meaning Malta.
Signor Morando, the pasha’s doctor, showed me his collection of intaglios. One, which was an agate, had more than a dozen figures, representing the heathen gods assembled, with a long Greek inscription, and on the back of it a number of alphas in a row. This I considered very curious and valuable. He had likewise a votive leg of exquisite workmanship in marble. I became acquainted with Abûna Yusef Marôn, a Maronite priest, who for a certain sum procured for me a catalogue of the library at the new mosque, which had been collected at a very great expense by Gezzàr Pasha, consisting of eleven thousand volumes.[78]
At sunset, on the 24th, as the harbour gate shuts at that hour, I went on board to sleep: and the next morning the vessel was warped out of port, not without considerable difficulty.
When getting under way, our rudder caught on a cable, and we nearly drove on a rock, which would surely have wrecked the vessel. The harbour-master, Ali Shemass, and his companion, Abu Katûr, followed me on board with the customary request of a bakhshýsh.[79]We had light airs all day. Just before sunset we were near Tyre. We supped, and every body went to sleep, not excepting the man at the helm; for, although we were destined for Tyre, he suffered the ship to pass the port during the night, and in the morning we were eight or ten miles beyond it. We put back; and, after losing nearly twenty-four hours through the steersman’s negligence, anchored in the harbour of Tyre.
I landed my luggage; and was somewhat surprised when the captain demanded payment for my passage, Mâlem Surûr having insisted, before my departure, that no mention should be made on that subject, the vessel being his. However, when he afterwardsheard what the räis had done, he made him refund the money, and sent it back again to me. I hired some mules; and, on the following evening, reached Abra, after an absence of three months.
Having made some few arrangements at Abra, I rode up to Meshmûshy, where Lady Hester still was, on the fifth of November, accompanied by Abu Yusef Jahjah, the proprietor of the house at Meshmûshy, who happened to have been at Sayda on business. At Kefferfelûs, a village on our road, he said he had an old acquaintance where we might breakfast: but the good lady (for her husband was away) produced nothing but eggs fried in oil, which she boasted of as some of the besttefáhoil in the country. Tefáh oil means oil skimmed off by the hands from the surface of the water in which the olives have been boiled, in opposition to the other manner, in which it is pressed, and supposed to be less pure.