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diff --git a/23998-h/23998-h.htm b/23998-h/23998-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..080ac90 --- /dev/null +++ b/23998-h/23998-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13095 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19, by Various</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + p.two { text-align: justify; margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; margin-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .tnote {border: solid 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; font-size: 90%;} + + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; font-weight: normal; + } + + h1.pg { text-align: center; + clear: both; + font-weight: bold; + } + + h3.pg { text-align: center; + clear: both; + font-weight: bold; + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + + td.cell_left {vertical-align: top; font-size: .90em; width: 5%; text-align: left;} + td.cell_center {vertical-align: top; font-size: .90em; width: 80%; text-align: left;} + td.cell_right {vertical-align: bottom; font-size: .90em; width: 15%; text-align: right;} + td.cell_left2 {line-height: 0.5em; vertical-align: top; font-size: .50em; width: 5%; text-align: left;} + td.cell_center2 {line-height: 0.5em; vertical-align: top; font-size: .50em; width: 80%; text-align: left;} + td.cell_right2 {line-height: 0.5em; vertical-align: bottom; font-size: .50em; width: 15%; text-align: right;} + td.cell_right3 {vertical-align: top; width: 42%; text-align: right; font-size: .60em;} + td.cell_left3 {vertical-align: top; width: 42%; text-align: left; font-size: .60em;} + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: .8em; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + + + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .center { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: center; margin-top: 1.5em;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.90em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; font-size: 0.80em; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .80em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:15%; font-size: .9em; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem2 span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19, by +Various, Edited by Arthur Mee and James Alexander Hammerton</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19</p> +<p> Travel and Adventure</p> +<p>Author: Various</p> +<p>Editor: Arthur Mee and James Alexander Hammerton</p> +<p>Release Date: December 27, 2007 [eBook #23998]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS, VOLUME 19***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Turgut Dincer, Suzanne Lybarger,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><img src= +"images/jamesboswell.png" width="400" height="490" alt= +"James Boswell" /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"><img src= +"images/jamesboswell2.png" width="200" height="35" alt= +"James Boswell Signature" /></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 501px;"><img src= +"images/002_titlepage.png" width="501" height="800" alt= +"Title Page" /></div> + +<h1>THE WORLD'S<br /> +GREATEST<br /> +BOOKS</h1> + + +<h4>JOINT EDITORS<br /> +ARTHUR MEE<br /> +<small>Editor and Founder of the Book of Knowledge</small><br /> + +J. A. HAMMERTON<br /> +<small>Editor of Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia</small></h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 50px;"><img src="images/printers.png" +width="50" height="45" alt="Printers mark" /></div> + + +<h3>VOL. XIX<br /><br /> +TRAVEL AND<br /> +ADVENTURE</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Wm. H. Wise & Co.</span></h3> + +<table width="75%" summary="copyright" border="0"> +<tr> +<td class="cell_left3"><span class="smcap">Copyright, MCMX</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +<td class="cell_right3"><span class="smcap">McKinlay, Stone & Mackenzie</span></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<h3><i>Table of Contents</i></h3> + +<table width="80%" summary="TOC" border="0"> +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Portrait of +James Boswell</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Baker, Sir +Samuel</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Albert N'yanza</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Borrow, +George</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Wild Wales</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Bible in Spain</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_22a">22</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Boswell, +James</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Bruce, +James</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Travels to Discover the Source of the +Nile</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Burckhardt, +John Lewis</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Travels in Nubia</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Burton, Sir +Richard</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Butler, Sir +William</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Great Lone Land</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Wild North Land</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_89a">89</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Cook, +James</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Voyages Round the World</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Dampier, +William</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">New Voyage Round the World</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Darwin, +Charles</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Dubois, +Felix</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Timbuctoo the Mysterious</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Hakluyt, +Richard</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Principal Navigations</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Kinglake, A. +W.</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Eothen</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Layard, +Austen Henry</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Nineveh and Its Remains</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class= +"smcap">Linnæus, Carolus</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Tour in Lapland</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Livingstone, +David</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Missionary Travels and Researches</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Loti, +Pierre</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Desert</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Mandeville, +Sir John</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Voyage and Travel</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Park, +Mungo</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Travels in the Interior of Africa</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_218">219</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Polo, +Marco</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center">Travels</td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Saint Pierre, +Bernadin de</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Voyage to the Isle of France</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Speke, John +Hanning</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Discovery of the Source of the Nile</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Sterne, +Laurence</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Sentimental Journey through France and +Italy</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class= +"smcap">Voltaire</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Letters on the English</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Wallace, +Alfred Russel</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Travels on the Amazon</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Warburton, +Eliot</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Crescent and the Cross</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Waterton, +Charles</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Wanderings in South America</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left2"> </td> +<td class="cell_center2"> </td> +<td class="cell_right2"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Young, +Arthur</span></td> +<td class="cell_right"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="cell_left"> </td> +<td class="cell_center"><p class="two">Travels in France</p></td> +<td class="cell_right"><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h4>A Complete Index of <span class="smcap">The World's Greatest +Books</span> will be found at the end of Volume XX.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span></p> + +<h2><i>Travel and Adventure</i></h2> + +<h4>SIR SAMUEL BAKER</h4> + +<h4>The Albert N'yanza</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Explorations of the Nile +Source</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Sir Samuel White Baker was born in London, on June 8, 1821. From +early manhood he devoted himself to a life of adventure. After a +year in Mauritius he founded a colony in the mountains of Ceylon at +Newera Eliya, and later constructed the railway across the +Dobrudsha. His discovery of the Albert N'yanza completed the +labours of Speke and Grant, and solved the mystery of the Nile. +Baker's administration of the Soudan was the first great effort to +arrest the slave trade in the Nile Basin, and also the first step +towards the establishment of the British Protectorate of Uganda and +Somaliland. Baker died on December 30, 1893. He was a voluminous +writer, and his books had immense popularity. "The Albert N'yanza" +may be regarded as the most important of his works of travel by +reason of the exploration which it records rather than on account +of any exceptional literary merit. Here his story is one of such +thrilling interest that even a dull writer could scarce have failed +to hold the attention of any reader by its straightforward +narration.</p> +</div> + +<p>In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the +sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African +Expedition of Captains Speke and Grant that had been sent by the +English Government from the south, via Zanzibar, for that object. +From my youth I had been inured to hardships and endurance in wild +sports in tropical climates; and when I gazed upon the map of +Africa I had the hope that I might, by perseverance, reach the +heart of Africa. Had I been alone it would have been no hard lot to +die upon the untrodden path before me; but my wife resolved, with +woman's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> constancy, to leave the luxuries of home and share +all danger, and to follow me through each rough step in the wild +life in which I was about to engage. Thus accompanied, on April 15, +1861, I sailed up the Nile from Cairo to Korosko; and thence, by a +forced camel march across the Nubian desert, we reached the river +of Abou Hamed, and, still on camels, though within view of the +palm-trees that bordered the Nile, we came to Berber. I spent a +year in learning Arabic, and while doing so explored the Atbara, +which joins the Nile twenty miles south of Berber, and the Blue +Nile, which joins the main stream at Khartoum, with all their +affluents from the mountains of Abyssinia. The general result of +these explorations was that I found that the waters of the Atbara +when in flood are dense with soil washed from the fertile lands +scoured by its tributaries after the melting of the snows and the +rainy season; and these, joining with the Blue Nile in full flood, +also charged with a red earthy matter, cause the annual inundation +in Lower Egypt, the sediment from which gives to that country its +remarkable fertility.</p> + +<p>I reached Khartoum, the capital of the Soudan, on June 11, 1862. +Moosa Pasha was at that time governor-general. He was a rather +exaggerated specimen of Turkish authority, combining the worst of +oriental failings with the brutality of the wild animal. At that +time the Soudan was of little commercial importance to Egypt. What +prompted the occupation of the country by the Egyptians was that +the Soudan supplied slaves not only for Egypt, but for Arabia and +Persia.</p> + +<p>In the face of determined opposition of Moosa Pasha and the Nile +traders, who were persuaded that my object in penetrating into +unknown Central Africa was to put a stop to the nefarious slave +traffic, I organised my expedition. It consisted of three +vessels—a good decked diahbiah (for my wife, and myself and +our personal attendants), and two noggurs, or +sailing-barges—the latter<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> to take stores, twenty-one +donkeys, four camels and four horses. Forty-five armed men as +escort, and forty sailors, all in brown uniform, with +servants—ninety-six men in all—constituted my +personnel.</p> + +<p>On February 2, 1863, we reached Gondokoro, where I landed my +animals and stores. It is a curious circumstance that, although +many Europeans had been as far south as Gondokoro, I was the first +Englishman who had ever reached it. Gondokoro I found a perfect +hell. There were about 600 slave-hunters and ivory-traders and +their people, who passed the whole of their time in drinking, +quarrelling and ill-treating the slaves, of which the camps were +full; and the natives assured me that there were large depots of +slaves in the interior who would be marched to Gondokoro for +shipment to the Soudan a few hours after my departure.</p> + +<p>I had heard rumours of Speke and Grant, and determined to wait +for a time before proceeding forward. Before very long there was a +mutiny among my men, who wanted to make a "razzia" upon the cattle +of the natives, which, of course, I prohibited. It had been +instigated by the traders, who were determined, if possible, to +stop my advance. With the heroic assistance of my wife, I quelled +the revolt. On February 15, on the rattle of musketry at a great +distance, my men rushed madly to my boat with the report that two +white men, who had come from the sea, had arrived. Could they be +Speke and Grant? Off I ran, and soon met them in reality; and, with +a heart beating with joy, I took off my cap and gave a welcome +hurrah! We were shortly seated on the deck of my diahbiah under the +awning; and such rough fare as could be hastily prepared was set +before these two ragged, careworn specimens of African travel. At +the first blush of meeting them I considered my expedition as +terminated, since they had discovered the Nile source; but upon my +congratulating them with all my heart upon the honours they had so +nobly earned,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> Speke and Grant, with characteristic generosity, gave +me a map of their route, showing that they had been unable to +complete the actual exploration of the Nile, and that the most +important portion still remained to be determined. It appeared that +in N. lat. 2° 17' they had crossed the Nile, which they had +tracked from the Victoria Lake; but the river, which from its exit +from that lake had a northern course, turned suddenly to the west +from Karuma Falls (the point at which they crossed it at lat. +2° 17'). They did not see the Nile again until they arrived in +N. lat. 3° 32', which was then flowing from the W.S.W. The +natives and the King of Unyoro (Kamrasi) had assured them that the +Nile from the Victoria N'yanza, which they had crossed at Karuma, +flowed westward for several days' journey, and at length fell into +a large lake called the Luta N'zige; that this lake came from the +south, and that the Nile, on entering the northern extremity, +almost immediately made its exit, and, as a navigable river, +continued its course to the north, through the Koshi and Madi +countries. Both Speke and Grant attached great importance to this +lake Luta N'zige; and the former was much annoyed that it had been +impossible for them to carry out the exploration.</p> + +<p>I now heard that the field was not only open, but that an +additional interest was given to the exploration by the proof that +the Nile flowed out of one great lake, the Victoria, but that it +evidently must derive an additional supply from an unknown lake as +it entered it at the northern extremity, while the body of the lake +came from the south. The fact of a great body of water, such as the +Luta N'zige, extending in a direct line from south to north, while +the general system of drainage of the Nile was from the same +direction, showed most conclusively that the Luta N'zige, if it +existed in the form assumed, must have an important position in the +basin of the Nile. I determined, therefore, to go on. Speke<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> and +Grant, who were naturally anxious to reach England as soon as +possible, sailed in my boat, on February 26, from Gondokoro for +Khartoum. Our hearts were much too full to say more than a short +"God bless you!" They had won their victory; my work lay all before +me.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Perils of Darkest Africa</i></div> + +<p>My plan was to follow a party of traders known by the name of +"Turks," and led by an Arab named Ibrahim, which was going to the +Latooka country to trade for ivory and slaves, trusting to +Providence, good fortune, and the virtue of presents. That party +set out early in the afternoon of March 26, 1863. I had secured +some rather unwilling men as drivers and porters, and was +accompanied by two trusty followers, Richarn and a boy Saat, both +of whom had been brought up in the Austrian mission in Khartoum. We +had neither guide nor interpreter; but when the moon rose, knowing +that the route lay on the east side of the mountain of Belignan, I +led the way on my horse Filfil, Mrs. Baker riding by my side on my +old Abyssinian hunter, Tétel, and the British flag following +behind us as a guide for the caravan of heavily laden camels and +donkeys. We pushed on over rough country intersected by ravines +till we came to the valley of Tollogo, bounded with perpendicular +walls of grey granite, one thousand feet in height, the natives of +which were much excited at the sight of the horses and the camels, +which were to them unknown animals. After passing through this +defile, Ibrahim and his "Turks," whom we had passed during the +previous night, overtook us. These slave-hunters and ivory-traders +threatened effectually to spoil our enterprise, if not to secure +the murder of Mrs. Baker, myself and my entire party, by raising +the suspicion and enmity of the native tribes. We afterwards found +that there had been a conspiracy to do this. We thought it best, +therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> to parley with Ibrahim, and came to terms with him by +means of bribes of a double-barrelled gun and some gold.</p> + +<p>Under his auspices our joint caravan cleared the palisaded +villages of Ellyria, after paying blackmail to the chief, +Leggé, whose villainous countenance was stamped with +ferocity, avarice and sensuality. Glad to escape from this country, +we crossed the Kanīēti river, a tributary of the Sobat, +itself a tributary of the White Nile, and entered the country of +Latooka, which is bounded by the Lafeet chain of mountains. In the +forests and on the plain were countless elephants, giraffes, +buffaloes, rhinoceroses, and varieties of large antelopes, together +with winged game. The natives are the finest savages I have ever +seen, their average height being five feet eleven and a half +inches, and their facial features remarkably pleasing. We stayed on +many weeks at Tarrangollé, the capital, which is completely +surrounded by palisaded walls, within which are over three thousand +houses, each a little fort in itself, and kraals for twelve +thousand head of cattle. In the neighbourhood I had some splendid +big-game shooting; but we had difficulties with repeated mutinies +of our men.</p> + +<p>Early in May we left Latooka, and crossed a high mountain chain +by a pass 2,500 feet in height into the beautiful country of Obbo. +This is a fertile plateau, 3,674 feet above sea-level, with +abundance of wild grapes and other fruits, yams, nuts, flax, +tobacco, etc.; but the travelling was difficult owing to the high +grass. The people are pleasant-featured and good-natured, and the +chief, Katchiba, maintains his authority by a species of +hocus-pocus, or sorcery. He is a merry soul, has a multiplicity of +wives—a bevy in each village—so that when he travels +through his kingdom he is always at home. His children number 116, +and the government is quite a family affair, for he has one of his +sons as chief in every village. A native of Obbo showed me some +cowrie-shells which he said came from a country called<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> Magungo, +situated on a lake so large that no one knew its limits. This lake, +said I, can be no other than Luta N'zige which Speke had heard of, +and I shall take the first opportunity to push for Magungo.</p> + +<p>We returned to Latooka to pick up our stores and rejoin Ibrahim, +but were detained by the illness of Mrs. Baker and myself and the +loss of some of my transport animals. The joint caravan left +Latooka on June 23 for Unyoro, Mrs. Baker in an improvised +palanquin. The weather was wretched. Constant rains made progress +slow; and the natives of the districts through which we passed were +dying like flies from smallpox. When we at last reached Obbo we +could proceed no further.</p> + +<p>My wife and I were so ill with bilious fever that we could not +assist each other; my horses, camels and donkeys all died. Flies by +day, rats and innumerable bugs by night in the miserable hut where +we were located, lions roaring through the dark, never-ending +rains, made for many weary months of Obbo a prison about as +disagreeable as could be imagined. Having purchased some oxen in +lieu of horses and baggage animals, we at length were able to leave +Obbo on January 5, 1864, passing through Farājoke, crossing the +river Asua at an altitude of 2,875 feet above sea-level, and then +on to Fatiko, the capital of the Shooa country, at an altitude of +3,877 feet.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Discovery of the Nile's +Sources</i></div> + +<p>Shooa proved a land flowing with milk and honey. Provisions of +every kind were abundant and cheap. The pure air invigorated Mrs. +Baker and myself; and on January 18 we left Shooa for Unyoro, +Kamrasi's country. On the 22nd we struck the Somerset River, or the +Victoria White Nile, and crossed it at the Karuma Falls, marching +thence to M'rooli, Kamrasi's capital, at the junction of the Kafoor +River with the Somerset, which<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> was reached on February 10. +Here we were detained till February 21, with exasperating excuses +for preventing us going further, and audacious demands from Kamrasi +for everything that I had, including my last watch and my wife! We +were surrounded by a great number of natives, and, as my suspicions +of treachery appeared confirmed, I drew my revolver, resolved that +if this was to be the end of the expedition it should also be the +end of Kamrasi. I held the revolver within two feet of his chest, +looked at him with undisguised contempt, and told him that if he +dared to repeat the insult I would shoot him on the spot. My wife +also made him a speech in Arabic (not a word of which he +understood), with a countenance as amiable as the head of a Medusa. +Altogether, the <i>mise en scène</i> utterly astonished him, +and he let us go, furnishing us with a guide named Rabongo to take +us to M'wootan N'zige, not Luta N'zige, as Speke had erroneously +suggested. In crossing the Kafoor River on a bridge of floating +weeds, Mrs. Baker had a sunstroke, fell through the weeds into deep +water, and was rescued with great difficulty. For many days she +remained in a deep torpor, and was carried on a litter while we +marched through an awful broken country. The torpor was followed by +brain fever, with its attendant horrors. The rain poured in +torrents; and day after day we were forced to travel for want of +provisions, as in the deserted villages there were no supplies. +Sometimes in the forest we procured wild honey, and rarely I was +able to shoot a few guinea-fowl. We reached a village one night +following a day on which my wife had had violent convulsions. I +laid her down on a litter within a hut, covered her with a Scotch +plaid, and I fell upon my mat insensible, worn out with sorrow and +fatigue. When I woke the next morning I found my wife breathing +gently, the fever gone, the eyes calm. She was saved! The gratitude +of that moment I will not attempt to describe.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span>On March 14 the day broke beautifully clear; and, having crossed +a deep valley between the hills, we toiled op the opposite slope. I +hurried to the summit. The glory of our prize burst suddenly upon +me! There, like a sea of quicksilver, lay, far beneath, the grand +expanse of water, a boundless sea horizon on the south and +south-west, glittering in the noon-day sun; and on the west, fifty +or sixty miles distant, blue mountains rose from the bosom of the +lake to a height of 7,000 feet above its level. It is impossible to +describe the triumph of that moment. Here was the reward for all +our labour—for the years of tenacity with which we had toiled +through Africa. England had won the sources of the Nile!</p> + +<p>I was about 1,500 feet above the lake; and I looked down from +the steep granite cliff upon those welcome waters, upon that vast +reservoir which nourished Egypt, and brought fertility where all +was wilderness, upon that great source so long hidden from mankind; +that source of bounty and of blessing to millions of human beings; +and, as one of the greatest objects in Nature, I determined to +honour it with a great name. As an imperishable memorial of one +loved and mourned by our gracious queen, and deplored by every +Englishman, I called this great lake "The Albert N'yanza." The +Victoria and the Albert Lakes are the two sources of the Nile.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Exploring the Great Lake</i></div> + +<p>The zigzag path of the descent to the lake was so steep and +dangerous that we were forced to leave our oxen with a guide, who +was to take them to Magungo, and wait for our arrival. We commenced +the descent of the steep pass on foot. I led the way, grasping a +stout bamboo. My wife, in extreme weakness, tottered down the pass, +supporting herself on my shoulder, and stopping to rest every +twenty paces. After a toilsome descent of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> about two hours, +weak with years of fever, but for the moment strengthened by +success, we gained the level plain below the cliff. A walk of about +a mile through flat sandy meadows of fine turf, interspersed with +trees and bush, brought us to the water's edge. The waves were +rolling upon a white pebbly beach. I rushed into the lake, and, +thirsty with fatigue, with a heart full of gratitude, I drank deep +from the sources of the Nile. Within a quarter of a mile of the +lake was a fishing village named Vacovia, in which we now +established ourselves.</p> + +<p>At sunrise of the following morning I took the compass to the +borders of the lake to survey the country. It was beautifully +clear; and with a powerful telescope I could distinguish two large +waterfalls that cleft the sides of the mountains like threads of +silver. My wife, who had followed me so devotedly, stood by my side +pale and exhausted—a wreck upon the shores of the great +Albert Lake that we had so long striven to reach. No European foot +had ever trod upon its sand, nor had the eyes of a white man ever +scanned its vast expanse of water. We were the first; and this was +the key to the great secret that even Julius Caesar yearned to +unravel, but in vain!</p> + +<p>Having procured two canoes, we started on a voyage of +exploration northward on the lake. Along the east coast, with +cliffs 1,500 feet in height, we discovered a waterfall of 1,000 +feet drop, formed by the Kaiigiri River emptying itself in the +lake. On shore there were many elephants, and in the lake hundreds +of hippopotami and crocodiles. We made narrow escapes of shipwreck +on several occasions; and on the thirteenth day of our voyage the +lake contracted to between fifteen and twenty miles in width, but +the canoe came into a perfect wilderness of aquatic vegetation. On +the western shore was the kingdom of Malegga, and a chain of +mountains 4,000 feet high, but decreasing in height towards the +north. We reached the long-sought town of Magungo, and entered<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> a channel, which we were informed was the +embouchure of the Somerset River, from the Victoria N'yanza, the +same river we had crossed at Karuma. Here we found our guide +Rabonga and the riding oxen. The town and general level of the +country was 500 feet above the water. A few miles to the north was +a gap in the Malegga range; due N. E. the country was a dead flat; +and as far as the eye could reach was an extent of bright green +reeds marking the course of the Nile as it made its exit out of the +lake. The natives refused most positively to take me down the Nile +outlet on account of their dread of the Madi people on its banks. I +determined, therefore, to go by canoe up the Somerset River, and +finally to fix the course of that stream as I had promised Speke to +do.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—Escape from Savage +Enemies</i></div> + +<p>Both my wife and I were helpless with fever, and when we made +our first halt at a village I had to be carried ashore on a litter, +and my wife was so weak that she had to crawl on foot. At first the +river was 500 yards wide, but on the second day it narrowed to 250 +yards. As we pulled up the stream, it narrowed to 180 yards, and, +rounding a corner, a magnificent sight burst suddenly upon us. On +each side were beautifully wooded cliffs rising abruptly to a +height of about 300 feet, and rushing through a gap which cleft the +rock exactly before us, the river, contracted from a grand stream, +was pent up in a narrow gorge of scarcely fifty yards in width. +Roaring furiously through the rock-bound pass, it plunged in one +leap of about 120 feet perpendicular into a dark abyss below. This +was the greatest waterfall of the Nile; and in honour of the +distinguished president of the Royal Geographical Society, I named +it the Murchison Falls.</p> + +<p>Of course, we could proceed no farther by canoe, and<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> landed +at a deserted village. Our riding oxen had died; and we had to get +some natives as porters. My wife was carried on a litter, and I was +scarcely able to crawl; but after tremendous difficulties and +dangers we reached, following the bank of the Somerset, on April 8, +the island of Patooān, within eighteen miles of where we had +first struck the river at Karuma. My exploration was, therefore, +complete; but our difficulties were not at an end. We were detained +for two months at Shooa Morū, practically deserted by everyone +except our two personal attendants, and all but starved.</p> + +<p>[The real Kamrasi, for the man Baker and his party had seen on +their outward journey was only his brother M'Gambi, afterwards came +on the scene, took them to Kisoona, and there and at other places +detained them practically prisoners during the long and cruel wars +with his rivals, Fawooka and Rionga and the King of Uganda. On +November 17, Baker escaped with his wife and a small party and +marched through the Shooa country and the country of the Madi to +the Asua River, only a quarter of a mile from its junction with the +Nile. Then they crossed the country of the Bari, and arrived at +Gondokoro, whence they sailed down the Nile to Khartoum, which was +reached on May 5, 1865, two years and five months after their start +from that city.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span></p> + +<h4>GEORGE BORROW</h4> + +<h4>Wild Wales</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Its People, Language and +Scenery</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Although the tour in Wales upon which this work was founded took +place in 1854, and although the book was completed in 1857, it was +not published until 1862. It received curt treatment from most of +the critics, but the "Spectator" declared that Borrow (see <span +class="smcap">Fiction</span>) had written "the best book about +Wales ever published." This verdict has been endorsed by admirers +of Wales and of Borrow. Less imaginative than his earlier works, it +is more natural and cheerful; it is a faithful record of studies of +Welsh scenery and characteristics, and affords many a delightful +glimpse of the quaint personality of its author.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the summer of the year 1854, myself, wife and daughter +determined upon going into Wales to pass a few months there. It was +my knowledge of Welsh, such as it was, that made me desirous that +we should go to Wales. In my boyhood I had been something of a +philologist, and had learnt some Welsh, partly from books and +partly from a Welsh groom. I was well versed in the compositions of +various of the old Welsh bards, especially those of Dafydd ab +Gwilym, whom I have always considered as the greatest poetical +genius that has appeared in Europe since the revival of +literature.</p> + +<p>So our little family started for Wales on July 27, and next day +we arrived at Chester. Three days later I sent my wife and daughter +by train to Llangollen, and on the following morning I left Chester +for Llangollen on foot. After passing through Wrexham, I soon +reached Rhiwabon, whence my way lay nearly west. A woman passed me +going towards Rhiwabon. I pointed to a ridge to the east, and asked +its name. The woman shook her head and replied, "Dim Saesneg" (No +English).</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"> +14</a></span></p> + +<p>"This is as it should be," said I to myself; "I now feel I am in +Wales." I repeated the question in Welsh.</p> + +<p>"Cefn bach," she replied—which signifies the little +ridge.</p> + +<p>"Diolch iti," I replied, and proceeded on my way.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Llangollen I found my wife and daughter at the +principal inn. During dinner we had music, for a Welsh harper +stationed in the passage played upon his instrument "Codiad yr +ehedydd." "Of a surety," said I, "I am in Wales!"</p> + +<p>The beautiful valley of the Dee, or Dwy, of which the Llangollen +district forms part, is called in the British tongue Glyndyfrdwy. +The celebrated Welsh chieftain, generally known as Owen Glendower, +was surnamed after the valley, which belonged to him.</p> + +<p>Connected with the Dee there is a wonderful Druidical legend to +the following effect. The Dee springs from two fountains, high up +in Merionethshire, called Dwy Fawr and Dwy Fach, or the great and +little Dwy, whose waters pass through those of the lake of Bala +without mingling with them, and come out at its northern extremity. +These fountains had their names from two individuals, Dwy Fawr and +Dwy Fach, who escaped from the Deluge, and the passing of the +waters of the two fountains through the lake, without being +confounded with its flood, is emblematic of the salvation of the +two individuals from the Deluge, of which the lake is a type.</p> + +<p>I remained at Llangollen for nearly a month, first of all +ascending to Dinas Bran, a ruined stronghold of unknown antiquity, +which crowns the top of the mighty hill on the northern side of the +valley; then walking more than once over the Berwyn hills; then +visiting the abbey of the Vale of the Cross, where lies buried the +poet Iolo Goch, the friend of Owen Glendower; then making an +expedition on foot to Ruthin.</p> + +<p>Before leaving Llangollen I went over the Berwyn again to the +valley of Ceiriog, to see the birthplace of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> Huw Morris, the +great Royalist poet, whose pungent satires of King Charles's foes +ran like wild fire through Wales. Through a maze of tangled shrubs, +in pouring rain, I was led to his chair—a mouldering stone +slab forming the seat, and a large slate stone the back, with the +poet's initials cut in it. I uncovered, and said in the best Welsh +I could command, "Shade of Huw Morris, a Saxon has come to this +place to pay that respect to true genius which he is ever ready to +pay." I then sat down in the chair, and commenced repeating the +verses of Huw Morris. The Welsh folk who were with me listened +patiently and approvingly in the rain, for enthusiasm is never +scoffed at by the noble, simple-minded, genuine Welsh, whatever +treatment it may receive from the coarse-hearted, sensual, selfish +Saxon.</p> + +<p>On a brilliant Sunday morning in late August, I left Llangollen +on foot for Bangor, Snowdon and Anglesey. I walked through Corwen +to Cerrig y Drudion, within sight of Snowdon. At the inn, where I +spent the night, the landlady remarked that it was odd that the +only two people not Welshmen she had ever known who could speak +Welsh should be in her house at the same time. The other man, I +found, was an Italian of Como, with whom I conversed in his native +tongue.</p> + +<p>Next morning I started to walk to Bangor, a distance of +thirty-four miles. After passing across a stretch of flat country, +I reached Pentre Voelas, and soon found myself in a wild hilly +region. Presently I arrived at a cottage just inside the door of +which sat a good-looking, middle-aged woman, engaged in knitting, +the general occupation of Welsh females.</p> + +<p>"Good-day," said I to her in Welsh. "Fine weather."</p> + +<p>"In truth, sir, it is fine weather for the harvest."</p> + +<p>"Are you alone in the house?"</p> + +<p>"I am, sir; my husband has gone to his labour."</p> + +<p>"Have you any children?"</p> + +<p>"Two, sir, but they are out in service."<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span></p> + +<p>"What is the name of the river near here?"</p> + +<p>"It is called the Conway. You have heard of it, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Heard of it! It is one of the famous rivers of the world. One +of the great poets of my country calls it the old Conway."</p> + +<p>"Is one river older than another, sir?"</p> + +<p>"That's a shrewd question. Can you read?"</p> + +<p>"I can, sir."</p> + +<p>"Have you any books?"</p> + +<p>"I have the Bible, sir."</p> + +<p>"Will you show it me?"</p> + +<p>"Willingly, sir."</p> + +<p>On opening the book the first words which met my eye were "Gad i +my fyned trwy dy dir!" (Let me go through your country. Numbers xx. +22.)</p> + +<p>"I may say these words," said I—"let me go through your +country."</p> + +<p>"No one will hinder you, sir, for you seem a civil +gentleman."</p> + +<p>"No one has hindered me hitherto. Wherever I have been in Wales +I have experienced nothing but kindness."</p> + +<p>"What country is yours, sir?"</p> + +<p>"England. Did you not know that by my tongue?"</p> + +<p>"I did not, sir. I took you for a Cumro of the south."</p> + +<p>I departed, and proceeded through a truly magnificent country to +the celebrated Vale of Conway. Then I turned westwards to Capel +Curig, and from there walked through a bleak moor amidst wild, +sterile hills, and down a gloomy valley with enormous rock walls on +either hand, to Bethesda and Bangor, where my family awaited +me.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—On Snowdon's Lofty +Summit</i></div> + +<p>On the third morning after our arrival at Bangor, we set out for +Snowdon. Snowdon is interesting on various accounts. It is +interesting for its picturesque beauty; it is interesting from its +connection with Welsh history.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span>But it is from its connection with romance that Snowdon derives +its chief interest. Who, when he thinks of Snowdon, does not +associate it with the heroes of romance, Arthur and his +knights?</p> + +<p>We went through Carnarvon to Llanberis, and there I started with +Henrietta, my daughter, to ascend the hill, my wife not deeming +herself sufficiently strong to encounter the fatigue of the +expedition. For some way the ascent was anything but steep, but +towards the summit the path became much harder; at length, however, +we stood safe and sound upon the very top of Snowdon.</p> + +<p>"Here," said I to Henrietta, "you are on the top crag of +Snowdon, which the Welsh consider, and perhaps with justice, to be +the most remarkable crag in the world; which is mentioned in many +of their old wild romantic tales, and some of the noblest of their +poems, amongst others, in the 'Day of Judgment,' by the illustrious +Goronwy Owen."</p> + +<p>To this harangue Henrietta listened with attention; three or +four English, who stood nigh, with grinning scorn, and a Welsh +gentleman with much interest.</p> + +<p>The Welshman, coming forward, shook me by the hand, exclaiming, +"Wyt ti Lydaueg?" (Are you from Brittany?)</p> + +<p>"I am not a Llydauan," said I; "I wish I was, or anything but +what I am, one of a nation amongst whom any knowledge, save what +relates to money-making, is looked upon as a disgrace. I am ashamed +to say that I am an Englishman."</p> + +<p>My family then returned to Llangollen, whilst I took a trip into +Anglesey to visit Llanfair, the birth-place of the great poet, +Goronwy Owen, whose works I had read with enthusiasm in my early +years. I went on to Holyhead, and ascended the headland. The +prospect, on every side, was noble, and in some respects this Pen +Santaidd reminded me of Finisterra, the Gallegan promontory which I +had ascended some seventeen years before.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span>Next morning I departed for Beddgelert by way of Carnarvon. +After passing by Lake Cwellyn, where I conversed with the Snowdon +ranger, an elderly man who is celebrated as the tip-top guide to +Snowdon, I reached Beddgelert, and found the company at the hotel +there perhaps even more disagreeable than that which I had left +behind at Bangor. Beddgelert is the scene of the legend of Llywelyn +ab Jorwerth's dog Gelert, a legend which, whether true or +fictitious, is singularly beautiful and affecting. On the way to +Festiniog next day I entered a refreshment-place, where I was given +a temperance drink that was much too strong for me. By mixing it +with plenty of water, I made myself a beverage tolerable enough; a +poor substitute, however, to a genuine Englishman for his proper +drink, the liquor which, according to the Edda, is called by men +ale, and by the gods, beer. Between this place and Tan-y-Bwlch I +lost my way. I obtained a wonderful view of the Wyddfa towering in +sublime grandeur to the west, and of the beautiful but spectral +mountain Knicht in the north; to the south the prospect was noble +indeed—waters, forests, hoary mountains, and, in the far +distance, the sea. But I underwent sore hardships ere I found my +way again, and I was feeling much exhausted when I entered the +Grapes Inn at Tan-y-Bwlch.</p> + +<p>In the parlour was a serious-looking gentleman, with whom, as I +sipped my brandy-and-water, I entered into a discourse that soon +took a religious turn. He told me that he believed in Divine +pre-destination, and that he did not hope to be saved; he was +pre-destined to be lost. I disputed the point with him for a +considerable time, and left him looking very miserable, perhaps at +finding that he was not quite so certain of eternal damnation as he +had hitherto supposed.</p> + +<p>An hour's walking brought me to Festiniog, the birth-place of +Rhys Goch, a celebrated bard, and a partisan of Owen Glendower. +Next morning I crossed a wild and<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> cheerless moor that +extended for miles and miles, and entered a valley with an enormous +hill on my right. Presently meeting four men, I asked the foremost +of them its name.</p> + +<p>"Arenig Vawr," he replied, or something like it. I asked if +anybody lived upon it.</p> + +<p>"No," he replied; "too cold for man."</p> + +<p>"Fox?" said I.</p> + +<p>"No! too cold for fox."</p> + +<p>"Crow?" said I.</p> + +<p>"No; too cold for crow; crow would be starved upon it." He then +looked me in the face, expecting probably that I should smile. I, +however, looked at him with all the gravity of a judge, whereupon +he also observed the gravity of a judge, and we continued looking +at each other with all the gravity of judges till we both +simultaneously turned away.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterwards I came to a beautiful valley; a more +bewitching scene I never beheld. I was now within three miles of +Bala, where I spent the night at an excellent inn. The name of the +lake of Bala is Llyn Tegid, which signifies Lake of Beauty; and +certainly this name was not given for nothing.</p> + +<p>Next day, shortly after sunset, I reached my family at +Llangollen, and remained there for some weeks, making excursions to +Chirk Castle and elsewhere. On October 21 I left my family to make +preparations for their return to England, and myself departed for +South Wales.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Wanderings in South +Wales</i></div> + +<p>I walked first to Llan Rhyadr, visited Sycharth and Llan Silin, +where Huw Morris is buried, saw the cataract of the Rhyadr, and +crossed the hills to Bala. After remaining a day in this beautiful +neighbourhood, I crossed a stupendous pass to Dinas Mawddwy, in the +midst of the region once inhabited by the red-haired banditti +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> Mawddwy, the terror of the greater part of North +Wales. From there I passed down a romantic gorge, through which +flows the Royal Dyfi, to Mallwyd, where I spent the night.</p> + +<p>Next morning I descended the valley of the Dyfi to Machynlleth, +a thoroughly Welsh town situated among pleasant green meadows. At +Machynlleth, in 1402, Owen Glendower held a parliament, and was +formally crowned King of Wales. To Machynlleth came Dafydd Gam, +with the view of assassinating Owen, who, however, had him seized +and conducted in chains to a prison in the mountains of +Sycharth.</p> + +<p>On November 2, I left Machynlleth by a steep hill to the south, +whence there is a fine view of the Dyfi valley, and set out for the +Devil's Bridge. The road was at first exceedingly good, and the +scenery beautiful. Afterwards I had to pass over very broken +ground, and the people of whom I asked my way were Saxon-haters and +uncivil. Night was coming on fast when I reached the inn of Pont +Erwyd.</p> + +<p>Next day I went on to the Devil's Bridge in the agreeable +company of a Durham mining captain, who had come to this country +thirty-five years before to help in opening Wales—that is, by +mining in Wales in the proper fashion, which means the +North-country fashion. Arrived at the Devil's Bridge, I viewed its +magnificent scenery, and especially observed the cave of the Wicked +Children, the mysterious Plant de Bat, sons of Bat or Bartholomew, +who concealed themselves in this recess and plundered the +neighbourhood. Finally, they fell upon a great gentleman on the +roads by night, and not only robbed, but murdered him. "That job +was the ruin of Plant de Bat," an old postman told me, "for the +great gentleman's friends hunted after his murderers with dogs, and +at length came to the cave, and, going in, found it stocked with +riches, and the Plant de Bat sitting upon the riches, not only the +boys, but their sister, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" +id="Page_21">21</a></span> was as bad as themselves. So they +took out the riches and the Plant de Bat, and the riches they did +give to churches and hospitals, and the Plant de Bat they did +execute, hanging the boys, and burning the girl."</p> + +<p>After a visit to the Minister's Bridge, not far distant, a place +very wild and savage, but not comparable in sublimity with the +Devil's Bridge, I determined to ascend the celebrated mountain of +Plynlimmon, where arise the rivers Rheidol, Severn and Wye. I +caused my guide to lead me to the sources of each of the three +rivers. That of the Rheidol is a small, beautiful lake, overhung on +two sides by frightful crags. The source of the Severn is a little +pool some twenty inches long, covered at the bottom with small +stones; the source of the Wye is a pool not much larger. The +fountain of the Rheidol stands apart from the others, as if, proud +of its own beauty, it disdained their homeliness. I drank deeply at +all three sources.</p> + +<p>Next day I went by Hafod and Spitty Ystwith over a bleak +moorland country to the valley of the Teivi, and turned reverently +aside to the celebrated monastery of Strata Florida, where is +buried Dafydd ab Gwilym, the greatest genius of the Cymbric race. +In this neighbourhood I heard a great deal of the exploits of Twm +Shone Catti, the famous Welsh robber, who became a country +gentleman and a justice of the peace.</p> + +<p>From Tregaron, eight miles beyond Strata Florida, I went on to +Llan Ddewi Brefi and Lampeter, and crossed over to Llandovery in +the fair valley of the Towy. From there I went over the Black +Mountains, in mist and growing darkness, to Gutter Vawr, and thence +to Swansea. Through a country blackened with industry, I walked to +Neath; thence in rainy weather to Merthyr Tydvil, where I went to +see the Cyfartha Fawr Ironworks. Here I saw enormous furnaces and +heard all kinds of dreadful sounds.</p> + +<p>From Merthyr Tydvil I journeyed to Caerfili by Pen-y-Glas; then +to Newport; then by Caer Went, once an<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> important Roman +station and now a poor, desolate place, to Chepstow. I went to the +Wye and drank of the waters at its mouth, even as some time before +I had drunk of the waters at its source. Returning to the inn, I +got my dinner, and placing my feet against the sides of the grate I +drank wine and sang Welsh songs till ten o'clock. Then, shouldering +my satchel, I proceeded to the railroad station and took a +first-class ticket to London.</p> + +<h4><a name="Page_22a" id="Page_22a">The Bible in Spain</a></h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The First Journey</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>In 1835 George Henry Borrow, fresh from a journey in Russia as +the Bible Society's agent, set out for Spain to sell and distribute +Bibles on the Society's behalf. This mission, in the most fervidly +Roman Catholic of all European countries, was one that required +rare courage and resourcefulness; and Borrow's task was complicated +by the fact that Spain was in a disturbed state owing to the +Carlist insurrection. Borrow's journeys in Spain, which were +preceded by a tour in Portugal, and followed by a visit to Morocco, +lasted in all about four years. In December, 1842, he published +"The Bible in Spain"—a work less remarkable as a record of +missionary effort than as a vivid narrative of picturesque travel +episodes, and a testimony to its author's keen delight in an +adventurous life of wanderings in the open air.</p> +</div> + +<p>I landed at Lisbon on November 12, 1835; and on January 5, 1836, +I spurred down the hill of Elvas, on the Portuguese frontier, eager +to arrive in old chivalrous romantic Spain. In little more than +half an hour we arrived at a brook, whose waters ran vigorously +between steep banks. A man who was standing on the side directed me +to the ford in the squeaking dialect of Portugal; but whilst I was +yet splashing through the water, a voice from the other bank hailed +me, in the magnificent language of Spain, in this guise: "Charity, +Sir Cavalier, for the love of God bestow an alms upon me, that I +may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> purchase a mouthful of red wine!" In a moment I was +on Spanish ground, and, having flung the beggar a small piece of +silver, I cried in ecstasy: "Santiago y cierra España!" and +scoured on my way with more speed than before.</p> + +<p>I was now within half a league of Badajoz, where I spent the +next three weeks. It was here that I first fell in with those +singular people, the Zincali, Gitanos, or Spanish gypsies. My time +was chiefly devoted to the gypsies, among whom, from long +intercourse with various sections of their race in different parts +of the world, I felt myself much more at home than with the silent, +reserved men of Spain, with whom a foreigner might mingle for half +a century without having half a dozen words addressed to him. So +when the fierce gypsy, Antonio Lopez, offered to accompany me as +guide on my journey towards Madrid, I accepted his offer. After a +few days of travelling in his company I was nearly arrested on +suspicion by a national guard, but was saved by my passport. In +fact, my appearance was by no means calculated to prepossess people +in my favour. Upon my head I wore an old Andalusian hat; a rusty +cloak, which had perhaps served half a dozen generations, enwrapped +my body. My face was plentifully bespattered with mud, and upon my +chin was a beard of a week's growth.</p> + +<p>I took leave of Antonio at the summit of the Pass of Mirabete, +and descended alone, occasionally admiring one of the finest +prospects in the world; before me outstretched lay immense plains, +bounded in the distance by huge mountains, whilst at the foot of +the hill rolled the Tagus in a deep narrow stream, between lofty +banks.</p> + +<p>Early in February I reached Madrid. I hoped to obtain permission +from the government to print the new Testament in the Castilian +language, for circulation in Spain, and lost no time in seeing +Mendizabal, the Prime Minister. He was a bitter enemy to the Bible +Society;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> but I pressed upon him so successfully that +eventually I obtained a promise that at the expiration of a few +months, when he hoped the country would be in a more tranquil +state, I should be allowed to print the Scriptures. He told me to +call upon him again at the end of three months. Before that time +had elapsed, however, he had fallen into disgrace, and his Ministry +had been succeeded by another. At the outset, in spite of +assistance from the British Minister, I could only get evasions +from the new government.</p> + +<p>I had nothing to do but wait, and I used to loiter for hours +along the delightful banks of the canal that runs parallel with the +River Manzanares, listening to the prattle of the narangero, or man +who sold oranges and water. He was a fellow of infinite drollery; +his knowledge of individuals was curious and extensive, few people +passing his stall with whose names, character, and history he was +not acquainted.</p> + +<p>"Those two boys are the children of Gabiria, comptroller of the +Queen's household, and the richest man in Madrid. They are nice +boys, and buy much fruit. The old woman who is lying beneath yon +tree is the Tia Lucilla; she has committed murders, and as she owes +me money, I hope one day to see her executed. This man was of the +Walloon guard—Señor Don Benito Mol, how do you +do?"</p> + +<p>This last-named personage instantly engrossed my attention; he +was a bulky old man, with ruddy features, and eyes that had an +expression of great eagerness, as if he were expecting the +communication of some important tidings. He returned the salutation +of the orange-man, and, bowing to me, forthwith produced two +scented wash-balls, which he offered for sale in a rough dissonant +jargon.</p> + +<p>Upon my asking him who he was, the following conversation ensued +between us.</p> + +<p>"I am a Swiss of Lucerne, Benedict Mol by name,<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> once a +soldier in the Walloon guard, and now a soap-boiler, at your +service."</p> + +<p>"You speak the language of Spain very imperfectly," said I. "How +long have you been in the country?"</p> + +<p>"Forty-five years," replied Benedict. "But when the guard was +broken up I went to Minorca, where I lost the Spanish language +without acquiring the Catalan. I will now speak Swiss to you, for, +if I am not much mistaken, you are a German man, and understand the +speech of Lucerne. I intend shortly to return to Lucerne, and live +there like a duke."</p> + +<p>"Have you, then, realised a large capital in Spain?" said I, +glancing at his hat and the rest of his apparel.</p> + +<p>"Not a cuart, not a cuart; these two wash-balls are all that I +possess."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are the son of good parents, and have lands and +money in your own country wherewith to support yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Not a heller, not a heller; my father was hangman of Lucerne, +and when he died his body was seized to pay his debts." When he +went back to Lucerne, added Benedict, it would be in a coach drawn +by six mules, with treasure, a mighty schatz, which lay in a +certain church at Compostella, in Galicia. He had learnt the secret +of it from a dying soldier of the Walloon guard, who, with two +companions, had buried in the church a great booty they had made in +Portugal. It consisted of gold moidores and of a packet of huge +diamonds from the Brazils. The whole was contained in a large +copper kettle. "It is very easy to find, for the dying man was so +exact in his description of the place where it lies that were I +once at Compostella, I should have no difficulty in putting my hand +upon it. Several times I have been on the point of setting out on +the journey, but something has always happened to stop me."</p> + +<p>At various times during the next two years I again met Benedict +Mol.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span>When next I called upon the new Prime Minister, Isturitz, I +found him well disposed to favour my views, and I obtained an +understanding that my Biblical pursuits would be tolerated in +Spain. The Minister was in a state of extreme depression, which was +indeed well grounded; for within a week there occurred a revolution +in which his party, the Moderados, were overthrown by the +Nacionals. I watched the fighting from an upper window, in the +company of my friend D——, of the "Morning Chronicle." +Afterwards I returned to England, for the purpose of consulting +with my friends, and planning a Biblical campaign.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Travels in Northern +Spain</i></div> + +<p>In November I sailed from the Thames to Cadiz, and reached +Madrid by Seville and Cordova. I found that I could commence +printing the Scriptures without any further applications to the +government. Within three months of my arrival an edition of the New +Testament, consisting of 5,000 copies, was published at Madrid. I +then prepared to ride forth, Testament in hand, and endeavour to +circulate the Word of God amongst the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>First, I purchased a horse. He was a black Andalusian stallion +of great power and strength, but he was unbroke, savage, and +furious. A cargo of Bibles, however, which I hoped occasionally to +put on his back, would, I had no doubt, thoroughly tame him. I then +engaged a servant, a wandering Greek, named Antonio Buchini; his +behaviour was frequently in the highest degree extraordinary, but +he served me courageously and faithfully. The state of the +surrounding country was not very favourable for setting forth; +Cabrera, the Carlist, was within nine leagues of Madrid, with an +army nearly 10,000 strong; nevertheless, about the middle of<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +May I bade farewell to my friends, and set out for Salamanca.</p> + +<p>A melancholy town is Salamanca; the days of its collegiate glory +are long since past, never more to return; a circumstance, however, +which is little to be regretted, for what benefit did the world +ever derive from scholastic philosophy? The principal bookseller of +the town consented to become my agent here, and I, in consequence, +deposited in his shop a certain number of New Testaments. I +repeated this experiment in all the large towns which I visited and +distributed them likewise as I rode along.</p> + +<p>The posada where I put up at Salamanca was a good specimen of +the old Spanish inn. Opposite to my room lodged a wounded officer; +he was attended by three broken soldiers, lame or maimed, and unfit +for service; they were quite destitute of money, and the officer +himself was poor and had only a few dollars. Brave guests for an +inn, thought I; yet, to the honour of Spain be it spoken, it is one +of the few countries in Europe where poverty is never insulted nor +looked upon with contempt. Even at an inn the poor man is never +spurned from the door, and if not harboured, is at least dismissed +with fair words, and consigned to the mercy of God and his mother. +This is as it should be. I laugh at the bigotry and prejudices of +Spain; I abhor the cruelty and ferocity which have cast a stain of +eternal infamy on her history; but I will say for the Spaniards +that in their social intercourse no people in the world exhibit a +juster feeling of what is due to the dignity of human nature, or +better understand the behaviour which it behoves a man to adopt +towards his fellow beings.</p> + +<p>We travelled on by Valladolid, Leon and Astorga, and entered the +terrific mountains of Galicia. After a most difficult journey, +along precipitous tracks that were reported to be infested by +brigands, we reached Coruña, where stands the tomb of Mocre, +built by the chivalrous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id= +"Page_28">28</a></span> French in commemoration of the fall of +their heroic antagonist. Many acquire immortality without seeking +it, and die before its first ray has gilded their name; of these +was Moore. There is scarcely a Spaniard but has heard of his tomb, +and speaks of it with a strange kind of awe.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of August I found myself at St. James of +Compostella. A beautiful town is St. James, standing on a pleasant +level amidst mountains. Time has been when, with the single +exception of Rome, it was the most celebrated resort of pilgrims in +the world. Its glory, however, as a place of pilgrimage is rapidly +passing away.</p> + +<p>I was walking late one night alone in the Alameda, when a man +dressed in coarse brown garments took off his hat and demanded +charity in uncouth tones. "Benedict Mol," said I, "is it possible +that I see you at Compostella?"</p> + +<p>It was indeed Benedict. He had walked all the way from Madrid, +supporting himself by begging.</p> + +<p>"What motive could possibly bring you such a distance?" I asked +him.</p> + +<p>"I come for the schatz—the treasure. Ow, I do not like +this country of Galicia at all; all my bones are sore since I +entered Galicia."</p> + +<p>"And yet you have come to this country in search of +treasure?"</p> + +<p>"Ow yaw, but the schatz is buried; it is not above ground; there +is no money above ground in Galicia. I must dig it up; and when I +have dug it up I will purchase a coach with six mules, and ride out +of Galicia to Lucerne."</p> + +<p>I gave him a dollar, and told him that as for the treasure he +had come to seek, probably it only existed in his own +imagination.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id= +"Page_29">29</a></span><i>III.—The Alcalde of +Finisterra</i></div> + +<p>After a visit to Pontevedra and Vigo, I returned to Padron, +three leagues from Compostella, and decided to hire a guide to Cape +Finisterra. It would be difficult to assign any plausible reason +for the ardent desire which I entertained to visit this place; but +I thought that to convey the Gospel to a place so wild and remote +might perhaps be considered an acceptable pilgrimage in the eyes of +my Maker.</p> + +<p>The first guide I employed deserted me; the second did not +appear to know the way, and sought to escape from me; and when I +tried to pursue him, my horse bolted and nearly broke my neck. I +caught the guide at last. After a very rough journey we reached the +village of Finisterra, and wound our way up the flinty sides of the +huge bluff head which is called the Cape. Certainly in the whole +world there is no bolder coast than the Gallegan shore. There is an +air of stern and savage grandeur in everything around, which +strangely captivates the imagination. After gazing from the summit +of the Cape for nearly an hour we descended to the village. On +reaching the house where we had taken up our habitation, I flung +myself on a rude and dirty bed, and was soon asleep.</p> + +<p>I was suddenly, however, seized roughly by the shoulder and +nearly dragged from the bed. I looked up in amazement, and I beheld +hanging over me a wild and uncouth figure; it was that of an +elderly man, built as strong as a giant, in the habiliments of a +fisherman; in his hand was a rusty musket.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> Who are you and what do you +want? By what authority do you thus presume to interfere with +me?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Figure:</span> By the authority of the +Justicia of Finisterra. Follow me peaceably, Calros, or it will be +the worse with you.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id= +"Page_30">30</a></span>"Calros," said I, "what does the person mean?" I thought it, +however, most prudent to obey his command, and followed him down +the staircase. The shop and the portal were now thronged with the +inhabitants of Finisterra, men, women, and children. Through this +crowd the figure pushed his way with an air of authority. "It is +Calros! It is Calros!" said a hundred voices; "he has come to +Finisterra at last, and the justicia have now got hold of him."</p> + +<p>At last we reached a house of rather larger size than the rest; +my guide having led me into a long, low room, placed me in the +middle of the floor, and then hurrying to the door, he endeavoured +to repulse the crowd who strove to enter with us. I now looked +around the room. It was rather scantily furnished; I could see +nothing but some tubs and barrels, the mast of a boat, and a sail +or two. Seated upon the tubs were three or four men coarsely +dressed, like fishermen or shipwrights. The principal personage was +a surly, ill-tempered-looking fellow of about thirty-five, whom I +discovered to be the alcalde of Finisterra. After I had looked +about me for a minute, the alcalde, giving his whiskers a twist, +thus addressed me:</p> + +<p>"Who are you, where is your passport, and what brings you to +Finisterra?"</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> I am an Englishman. Here is +my passport, and I came to see Finisterra.</p> + +<p>This reply seemed to discomfit them for a moment. They looked at +each other, then at my passport. At length the alcalde, striking it +with his finger, bellowed forth, "This is no Spanish passport; it +appears to be written in French."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> I have already told you that +I am a foreigner. I, of course, carry a foreign passport.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> Then you mean to assert that +you are not Calros Rey?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> I never heard before of such +a king, nor indeed of such a name.<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> Hark to the fellow; he has +the audacity to say that he has never heard of Calros the +pretender, who calls himself king.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> If you mean by Calros the +pretender Don Carlos, all I can reply is that you can scarcely be +serious. You might as well assert that yonder poor fellow, my +guide, whom I see you have made prisoner, is his nephew, the +infante Don Sebastian.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> See, you have betrayed +yourself; that is the very person we suppose him to be.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> It is true that they are both +hunchbacks. But how can I be like Don Carlos? I have nothing the +appearance of a Spaniard, and am nearly a foot taller than the +pretender.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> That makes no difference; +you, of course, carry many waistcoats about you, by means of which +you disguise yourself, and appear tall or low according to your +pleasure.</p> + +<p>This last was so conclusive an argument that I had of course +nothing to reply to it. "Yes, it is Calros; it is Calros," said the +crowd at the door.</p> + +<p>"It will be as well to have these men shot instantly," continued +the alcalde; " if they are not the two pretenders, they are at any +rate two of the factious."</p> + +<p>"I am by no means certain that they are either one or the +other," said a gruff voice. Our glances rested upon the figure who +held watch at the door. He had planted the barrel of his musket on +the floor, and was leaning his chin against the butt.</p> + +<p>"I have been examining this man," he continued, pointing to +myself, "and listening whilst he spoke, and it appears to me that +after all he may prove an Englishman; he has their very look and +voice."</p> + +<p>Here the alcalde became violently incensed. "He is no more an +Englishman than yourself," he exclaimed; "if he were an Englishman, +would he have come in this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" +id="Page_32">32</a></span> manner, skulking across the land? +Not so I trow. He would have come in a ship."</p> + +<p>After a fierce dispute between the alcalde and the guard, it was +decided to remove us to Corcuvion, where the head alcalde was to +dispose of us as he thought proper.</p> + +<p>The head alcalde was a mighty liberal and a worshipper of Jeremy +Bentham. "The most universal genius which the world ever produced," +he called him. "I am most truly glad to see a countryman of his in +these Gothic wildernesses. Stay, I think I see a book in your +hand."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> The New Testament.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> Why do you carry such a book +with you?</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Myself:</span> One of my principal motives +in visiting Finisterra was to carry this book to that wild +place.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alcalde:</span> Ah, ah! how very singular. +Yes, I remember. I have heard that the English highly prize this +eccentric book. How very singular that the countrymen of the grand +Bentham should set any value upon that old monkish book.</p> + +<p>I told him that I had read none of Bentham's writings; but +nevertheless I had to thank that philosopher not only for my +release, but for hospitable treatment during the rest of my stay in +the region of Finisterra.</p> + +<p>From Corcuvion I returned to Compostella and Coruña, and +then directed my course to Asturias. At Oviedo, I again met +Benedict Mol. He had sought to get permission to disinter the +treasure, and had not succeeded. He had then tried to reach France, +begging by the way. He was in villainous apparel, and nearly +barefooted. He promised to quit Spain and return to Lucerne, and I +gave him a few dollars.</p> + +<p>"A strange man is this Benedict," said my servant Antonio. "A +strange life he has led and a strange death he will die—it is +written on his countenance. That he will leave Spain I do not +believe, or, if he leave it, it<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> will only be to return, +for he is bewitched about this same treasure."</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards I returned to Madrid. During my northern +journey, which occupied a considerable portion of the year 1837, I +had accomplished less than I proposed to myself. Something, +however, had been effected. The New Testament was now enjoying a +quiet sale in the principal towns of the north.</p> + +<p>I had, moreover, disposed of a considerable number of Testaments +with my own hands.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Persecution</i></div> + +<p>I spent some months in Madrid translating the New Testament into +the Basque and Gypsy languages. During this time the hostility of +the priesthood to my labours became very bitter. The Governor of +Madrid forbade the sale of Testaments in January, 1838; afterwards +all copies of the Gypsy Gospel were confiscated, and in May I was +thrown into prison. I went cheerfully enough, knowing that the +British Embassy was actively working for my release; and the +governor of the prison, one of the greatest rascals in all Spain, +greeted me with a most courteous speech in pure sonorous Castilian, +bidding me consider myself as a guest rather than a prisoner, and +permitting me to roam over every part of the gaol.</p> + +<p>What most surprised me with respect to the prisoners was their +good behaviour. I call it good when all things are taken into +consideration. They had their occasional bursts of wild gaiety, +their occasional quarrels, which they were in the habit of settling +in a corner with their long knives; but, upon the whole, their +conduct was infinitely superior to what might have been expected. +Yet this was not the result of coercion, or any particular care +which was exercised over them; for perhaps in no part of the world +are prisoners so left to themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> and so utterly neglected +as in Spain. Yet in this prison of Madrid the ears of the visitor +are never shocked with horrid blasphemy and profanity, nor are his +eyes outraged and himself insulted. And yet in this prison were +some of the most desperate characters in Spain. But gravity and +sedateness are the leading characteristics of the Spaniards, and +the very robber, except in those moments when he is engaged in his +occupation, and then no one is more sanguinary, pitiless, and +wolfishly eager for booty, is a being who can be courteous and +affable, and who takes pleasure in conducting himself with sobriety +and decorum.</p> + +<p>After a stay of three weeks in the prison I was released, as I +expected, with an apology, and I prepared for another journey. +While in prison I had been visited by Benedict Mol, again in +Madrid. Soon after my release he came in high spirits to bid me +farewell before starting for Compostella to dig up the schatz. He +was dressed in new clothes; instead of the ragged staff he had +usually borne, he carried a huge bamboo rattan. He had endured +terrible privations, he said, in the mountains. But one night he +had heard among the rocks a mysterious voice telling him that the +way to the treasure lay through Madrid. To Madrid he had come, and +the government, hoping for a replenishment of its empty treasury, +had given him permission to search for the treasure.</p> + +<p>"Well, Benedict," I told him, "I have nothing to say save that I +hope you will succeed in your digging."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, lieber Herr, thank you!" Here he stopped short and +started. "Heiliger Gott! Suppose I should not find the treasure, +after all?"</p> + +<p>"Very rationally said. It is not too late. Put on your old +garments, grasp your ragged staff, and help me to circulate the +Gospel."</p> + +<p>He mused for a moment, then shook his head. "No,<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> no," he +cried; "I must accomplish my destiny! I shall find it—the +schatz—it is still there—it <i>must</i> be there!"</p> + +<p>He went, and I never saw him more. What I heard, however, was +extraordinary enough. The treasure hunt at Compostella was +conducted in a public and imposing manner. The bells pealed, the +populace thronged from their houses, troops were drawn up in the +square. A procession directed its course to the church; at its head +was the captain-general and the Swiss; numerous masons brought up +the rear. The procession enters the church, they pass through it in +solemn march, they find themselves in a vaulted passage. The Swiss +looks around. "Dig here!" said he. The masons labour, the floor is +broken up—a horrible fetid odour arises....</p> + +<p>Enough; no treasure was found, and the unfortunate Swiss was +forthwith seized and flung into the horrid prison of Saint James, +amidst the execrations of thousands. Soon afterwards he was removed +from Saint James, whither I could not ascertain. It was said that +he disappeared on the road.</p> + +<p>Where in the whole cycle of romance shall we find anything more +wild, grotesque and sad than the easily authenticated history of +the treasure-digger of Saint James.</p> + +<p>A most successful journey, in which I distributed the Gospel +freely in the Sagra of Toledo and La Mancha, was interrupted by a +serious illness, which compelled me to return to Madrid, and +afterwards to visit England for a rest. On December 31, 1838, I +entered Spain for the third time. From Cadiz I travelled to Madrid +by Seville, and made a number of short journeys to the villages +near the capital. The clergy, however, had induced the government +to order the confiscation of all Testaments exposed for sale. +Prevented from labouring in the villages, I organised a +distribution of Testaments in Madrid itself. I then returned to +Seville; but even here I was troubled by the government's +orders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> for the seizure of Testaments. I had, however, +several hundred copies in my own possession, and I remained in +Seville for several months until I had disposed of them. I lived +there in extreme retirement; there was nothing to induce me to +enter much into society. The Andalusians, in all estimable traits +of character, are as far below the other Spaniards as the country +which they inhabit is superior in beauty and fertility to the other +provinces of Spain.</p> + +<p>At the end of July, 1839, I went by steamer down the +Guadalquivir to Cadiz, then to Gibraltar, and thence across to +Tangier and the land of the Moors. I had a few Spanish Testaments +still in my possession, and my object was to circulate them among +the Christians of Tangier.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—At this point the +narrative abruptly ends. Borrow returned from Morocco to England in +the spring of 1840.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span></p> + +<h4>JAMES BOSWELL</h4> + +<h4>Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Edinburgh, Fifeshire, and +Aberdeen</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Boswell's first considerable book was a lively description of +his tour in Corsica, but his fame rests on his "Life of Dr. +Johnson" (see <span class="smcap">Lives and Letters</span>), and +his "Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D." +was really the first portion of that great work, and was meant, as +he himself said, "to delineate Dr. Johnson's manners and character" +more than to give any detailed descriptions of scenery. We have +chosen to include it in the travel section of our work, however, as +it might be more readily looked for there than under "Johnson" in +the department of "Lives and Letters." The journal was published in +the autumn of 1785, about nine months after the death of +Johnson.</p> +</div> + +<p>Dr. Johnson had for many years given me hopes that we should go +together and visit the Hebrides. In spring, 1773, he talked of +coming to Scotland that year with so much firmness that I hoped he +was at last in earnest. I knew that if he were once launched from +the metropolis he would go forward very well. Luckily, Mr. Justice +(now Sir Robert) Chambers conducted Dr. Johnson from London to +Newcastle; and Mr. Scott, of University College, Oxford, +accompanied him from thence to Edinburgh.</p> + +<p>On Saturday, August 14, 1773, late in the evening, I received a +note from him, that he had arrived in Boyd's Inn, at the head of +the Canongate. I went to him directly. He embraced me cordially, +and I exulted in the thought that I had him actually in Caledonia. +He was to do me the honour to lodge under my roof. We walked +arm-in-arm up the High Street to my house in James's Court. It was +a dusky night; but he acknowledged that<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> the breadth of the +street, and the loftiness of the buildings on each side, made a +noble appearance. My wife had tea ready, which it is well known he +delighted to drink at all hours; and he showed much complacency +upon finding that the mistress of the house was so attentive to his +singular habit. On Sunday, after dinner, Principal Robertson came +and drank wine with us, and there was some animated dialogue. +During the next two days we walked out that Dr. Johnson might see +some of the things which we have to show at Edinburgh, such as +Parliament House, where the lords of session now hold their courts, +the Advocates' Library, St. Giles's great church, the Royal +Infirmary, the Abbey of Holyrood House, and the Palace, where our +beautiful Queen Mary lived, and in which David Rizzio was +murdered.</p> + +<p>We set out from Edinburgh on Wednesday, August 18, crossed the +Frith of Forth by boat, touching at the island of Inch Keith, and +landed in Fife at Kinghorn, where we took a post-chaise, and had a +dreary drive to St. Andrews. We arrived late, and were received at +St. Leonard's College by Professor Watson. We were conducted to see +St. Andrew, our oldest university, and the seat of our primate in +the days of episcopacy. Dr. Johnson's veneration for the hierarchy +affected him with a strong indignation while he beheld the ruins of +religious magnificence. I happened to ask where John Knox was +buried. Dr. Johnson burst out: "I hope in the highway! I have been +looking at his reformations."</p> + +<p>We left St. Andrews August 20, and drove through Leuchars, +Dundee, and Aberbrothick to Montrose. Travelling onwards, we had +the Grampian Hills in view, and some good land around us, but void +of trees and hedges; and the Doctor observed that it was wonderful +to see a land so denuded of timber. Beyond Lawrence Kirk we visited +and dined with Lord Monboddo, and after a tedious journey we came +to Aberdeen. Next morning Principal Campbell and other college +professors called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id= +"Page_39">39</a></span> for us, and we went with them and saw +Marischal College.</p> + +<p>Afterwards we waited on the magistrates in the Town Hall. They +had invited us to present Dr. Johnson with the freedom of the town, +which Provost Jopp did with a very good grace. Dr. Johnson was much +pleased with this mark of attention, and received it very politely. +It was striking to hear the numerous company drinking "Dr. Johnson! +Dr. Johnson!" and then to see him with his burgess ticket, or +diploma, in his hat, which he wore as he walked along the streets, +according to the usual custom. We dined with the provost and a +large company of professors at the house of Sir Alexander Gordon, +Professor of Medicine, but there was little or no conversation.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Through the Macbeth +Country</i></div> + +<p>We resumed our journey northwards on the morning of August 24. +Having received a polite invitation to Slains Castle, we proceeded +thither, and were graciously welcomed. Lady Errol pressed us to +stay all night, and ordered the coach to carry us to see the great +curiosity on the coast at Dunbui, which is a monstrous cauldron, +called by the country people the Pot. Dr. Johnson insisted on +taking a boat and sailing into the Pot, and we found caves of +considerable depth on each side.</p> + +<p>Returning to the castle, Dr. Johnson observed that its situation +was the noblest he had ever seen, better than Mount Edgcumbe, +reckoned the first in England. About nine, the earl, who had been +absent, came home. His agreeable manners and softness of address +prevented that constraint which the idea of his being Lord High +Constable of Scotland might otherwise have occasioned. He talked +very easily and sensibly with his learned guest. We left Slains +Castle next morning, and, driving by Banff and Elgin, where the +noble ruins of the cathedral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" +id="Page_40">40</a></span> were examined by Dr. Johnson with a +patient attention, reached Forres on the night of August 26. That +afternoon we drove over the very heath where Macbeth met the +witches, according to tradition. Dr. Johnson solemnly recited:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"><span class="i0">How far is't called to Forres? +What are these,</span> <span class="i0">So withered, and so wild is +their attire?</span> <span class="i0">They look not like the +inhabitants o' the earth,</span> <span class="i3">And yet are +on't.</span></div> +</div> + +<p>From Forres we came to Nairn, and thence to the manse of the +minister of Calder, Mr. Kenneth Macaulay, author of the "History of +St. Kilda," where we stayed the night, after visiting the old +castle, the seat of the Thane of Cawdor. Thence we drove to Fort +George, where we dined with the governor, Sir Eyre Coote +(afterwards the gallant conqueror of Hyder Ali, and preserver of +our Indian Empire), and then got safely to Inverness. Next day we +went to Macbeth's Castle. I had a romantic satisfaction in seeing +Dr. Johnson actually in it. It perfectly corresponds with +Shakespeare's description, which Sir Joshua Reynolds has so happily +illustrated in one of his notes on our immortal poet:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"><span class="i0">This castle has a pleasant +seat: the air</span> <span class="i0">Nimbly and sweetly recommends +itself</span><span class="i3">Unto our gentle senses.</span></div> +</div> + +<p>Just as we came out of it a raven perched upon one of the +chimney-tops and croaked. Then I repeated:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"><span class="i3">The raven himself is +hoarse,</span> <span class="i0">That croaks the fatal entrance of +Duncan</span> <span class="i0">Under my battlements.</span></div> +</div> + +<p>On Monday, August 30, we began our equitation. We had three +horses for Dr. Johnson, myself, and Joseph, my servant, and one +which carried our portmanteaus, and two Highlanders walked along +with us. Dr. Johnson rode very well. It was a delightful day. Loch +Ness and the road upon the side of it, shaded with +birch-trees,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id= +"Page_41">41</a></span> pleased us much. The night was spent +at Fort Augustus, and the next two days we travelled through a wild +country, with prodigious mountains on each side.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—In the Misty Hebrides</i></div> + +<p>We came at last to Glenelg, and next morning we got into a boat +for Sky, and reached the shore of Armidale. Sir Alexander +Macdonald, chief of the Macdonalds in the Isle of Sky, came down to +receive us. Armidale is situated on a pretty bay of the narrow sea +which flows between the mainland of Scotland and the Isle of Sky. +In front there is a grand prospect of the rude mountains Moidart +and Knoidart. Dr. Johnson and I were now full of the old Highland +spirit, and were dissatisfied at hearing of racked rents and +emigration, and finding a chief not surrounded by his clan. We +attempted in vain to communicate to him a portion of our +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>On September 6 we set out, accompanied by Mr. Donald Macleod as +our guide, for Corrichatachin, in the district of Strath. This farm +is possessed by Mr. Mackinnon, who received us with a hearty +welcome. The company was numerous and cheerful, and we, for the +first time, had a specimen of the joyous social manners of the +inhabitants of the Highlands. They talked in their own language +with fluent vivacity, and sang many Erse songs.</p> + +<p>The following day the Rev. Donald Macqueen arrived to take us to +the Island of Rasay, in Macgillichallum's carriage. Along with him +came, as our pilot, Mr. Malcolm Macleod, one of the Rasay family, +celebrated in the year 1745-46. We got into Rasay's carriage, which +was a strong open boat. Dr. Johnson sat high on the stern like a +magnificent triton.</p> + +<p>The approach to Rasay was very pleasing. We saw before us a +beautiful bay, well defended by a rocky coast, a good family +mansion, a fine verdure about it,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> with a considerable +number of trees, and beyond it hills and mountains in gradation of +wildness. A large company came out from the house to meet us as we +landed, headed by Rasay himself, whose family has possessed this +island above four hundred years.</p> + +<p>From Rasay we sailed to Portree, in Sky, and then rode in +wretched weather to Kingsburgh. There we were received by Mr. Allan +Macdonald and his wife, the celebrated Miss Flora Macdonald. She is +a little woman of a genteel appearance, and uncommonly mild and +well-bred. Dr. Johnson was rather quiescent, and went early to bed. +I slept in the same room with him. Each had a neat bed with tartan +curtains. Dr. Johnson's bed was the very bed in which the grandson +of the unfortunate King James II. lay on one of the nights after +the failure of his rash attempt in 1745-46.</p> + +<p>To see Dr. Samuel Johnson lying in that bed in the Isle of Sky, +in the house of Miss Flora Macdonald, struck me with such a group +of ideas as is not easy for words to describe as they passed +through the mind. He smiled, and said: "I have no ambitious +thoughts in it." Upon the table I found in the morning a slip of +paper on which Dr. Johnson had written with his pencil these words: +"<i>Quantum cedat virtutibus aurum</i>" (With virtue weighed, what +worthless trash is gold). What the Doctor meant by writing them I +could not tell. At breakfast he said he would have given a good +deal rather than not have laid in that bed.</p> + +<p>Kingsburgh sent us on our way by boat and on horseback to +Dunvegan Castle. The great size of the castle, which is built upon +a rock close to the sea, while the land around presents nothing but +wild, moorish, hilly, and scraggy appearances, gave a rude +magnificence to the scene. We were a jovial company, and the laird, +surrounded by so many of his clan, was to me a pleasing sight. They +listened with wonder and pleasure while Dr. Johnson harangued. The +weather having cleared,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id= +"Page_43">43</a></span> we set out for Ulinish, the house of +Mr. Macleod, the sheriff-substitute of the island. From an old +tower near the house is an extensive view of Loch Bracadale, and, +at a distance, of the Isles of Barra and South Uist; and on the +land side the Cuillin, a prodigious range of mountains, capped with +rocky pinnacles, in a strange variety of shapes.</p> + +<p>From there we came to Talisker, which is a beautiful place with +many well-grown trees, a wide expanse of sea and mountains, and, +within a quarter of a mile from the house, no less than fifteen +waterfalls. Mr. Donald Maclean, the young laird of Col, was now our +guide, and conducted us to Ostig, the residence of Mr. Martin +Macpherson, minister of Slate. There were great storms of wind and +rain which confined us to the house, but we were fully compensated +by Dr. Johnson's conversation.</p> + +<p>We then returned to Armidale House, from whence we set sail for +Mull on October 3; but encountered during the night a dreadful +gale, which compelled the skipper to run his vessel to the Isle of +Col for shelter. We were detained in Col by storms till October 14, +when we safely crossed to Tobermorie, in the Island of Mull.</p> + +<p>Ponies were provided for us, and we rode right across the +island, and then were ferried to the Island of Ulva, where we were +received by the laird, a very ancient chief, whose family has +possessed Ulva for nine hundred years. Next morning we took boat +for Inchkenneth, where we were introduced by Col to Sir Allan +Maclean, the chief of his clan, and his daughters.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday, October 19, we took leave of the young ladies, and +of our excellent companion, Col. Sir Allan obligingly undertook to +accompany us to Icolmkill, and we proceeded thither in a boat with +four stout rowers, passing the great cave Gribon on the coast of +Mull, the island of Staffa, on which we could not land on account +of the high surge, and Nuns' Island. After a tedious sail, it gave +us no small pleasure to perceive a light in<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> the village of +Icolmkill; and as we approached the shore, the tower of the +cathedral, just discernible in the moonlight, was a picturesque +object. When we had landed upon the sacred place, Dr. Johnson and I +cordially embraced.</p> + +<p>I must own that Icolmkill did not answer my expectations, but +Dr. Johnson said it came up to his. We were both disappointed when +we were shown what are called the monuments of the kings of +Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark, and of a king of France. They are +only some gravestones flat on the earth, and we could see no +inscription. We set sail at midday for Mull, where we bade adieu to +our very kind conductor, Sir Allan Maclean, and crossed in the +ferry-boat to Oban, from whence next day we rode to Inverary.</p> + +<p>The Rev. John Macaulay, one of the ministers of Inverary, +accompanied us to Inverary Castle, where I presented Dr. Johnson to +the Duke of Argyll. Dr. Johnson was much struck by the grandeur and +elegance of this princely seat. At dinner, the duchess was very +attentive to Dr. Johnson, who talked a great deal, and was so +entertaining that she placed her chair close to his, leaned upon +the back of it, and listened eagerly. Dr. Johnson was all attention +to her grace. From Inverary we passed to Rosedow, the beautiful +seat of Sir James Colquhoun, on the banks of the Loch Lomond, and +after passing a pleasant day boating round the loch and visiting +some of the islands, we proceeded to Cameron, the seat of +Commissary Smollett, from which we drove in a post-chaise to +Glasgow, inspecting by the way Dunbarton Castle.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—In the West of Scotland</i></div> + +<p>During the day we spent in Glasgow, we were received in the +college by a number of the professors, who showed all due respect +to Dr. Johnson; and Dr. Leechman, Principal of the University, had +the satisfaction of telling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" +id="Page_45">45</a></span> Dr. Johnson that his name had been +gratefully celebrated in the Highlands as the person to whose +influence it was chiefly owing that the New Testament was allowed +to be translated into the Erse language. On Saturday we set out +towards Ayrshire, and on November 2 reached my father's residence, +Auchinleck.</p> + +<p>My father was not quite a year and a half older than Dr. +Johnson. His age, office, and character had long given him an +acknowledged claim to great attention in whatever company he was, +and he could ill brook any diminution of it. He was as sanguine a +Whig and Presbyterian as Dr. Johnson was a Tory and Church of +England man; and as he had not much leisure to be informed of Dr. +Johnson's great merits by reading his works, he had a partial and +unfavourable notion of him, founded on his supposed political +tenets, which were so discordant to his own that, instead of +speaking of him with that respect to which he was entitled, he used +to call him "a Jacobite fellow."</p> + +<p>Knowing all this, I should not have ventured to bring them +together had not my father, out of kindness to me, desired me to +invite Dr. Johnson to his house. All went very smoothly till one +day they came into collision. If I recollect right, the contest +began while my father was showing him his collection of medals; and +Oliver Cromwell's coin unfortunately introduced Charles the First +and Toryism. They became exceedingly warm and violent; and in the +course of their altercation Whiggism and Presbyterism, Toryism and +Episcopacy were terribly buffeted. My father's opinion of Dr. +Johnson may be conjectured by the name he afterwards gave him, +which was "Ursa Major." However, on leaving Auchinleck, November 8, +for Edinburgh, my father, who had the dignified courtesy of an old +baron, was very civil to Dr. Johnson, and politely attended him to +the post-chaise. We arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday night, November +9, after an absence of eighty-three days.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span>My illustrious friend, being now desirous to be again in the +great theatre of life and animated exertion, took a place in the +coach, which was to set out for London, on Monday, November 22; but +I resolved that we should make a little circuit, as I would by no +means lose the pleasure of seeing <i>Sam</i> Johnson at the very +spot where <i>Ben</i> Jonson visited the learned and poetical +Drummond. Accordingly, we drove on the Saturday to Roslin Castle, +surveyed the romantic scene around it, and the beautiful Gothic +chapel. After that we proceeded to Hawthornden and viewed the +caves, and then drove on to Cranston, the seat of Sir John +Dalrymple, where we supped, spent the night, and passed on to the +inn at Blackshields. There on Monday morning Dr. Johnson joined the +coach for London. Dr. Johnson told me on parting that the time he +spent in Scotland, the account of which I have now completed, was +the pleasantest part of his life.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span></p> + +<h4>JAMES BRUCE</h4> + +<h4>Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The City of the Dog Star</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>James Bruce was born at the family residence of Kinnaird in the +county of Stirling, Scotland, on December 14, 1730. He was educated +at Harrow and Edinburgh, and for five years was a wine and spirit +merchant in London. In 1762 he went as British Consul to Algiers, +and did not return to England again until June, 1774. In the +interim, having travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Syria, some of +the islands of the Levant, Lower and Upper Egypt, and the African +and Arabian coasts of the Red Sea, he made his famous journeys in +Abyssinia, during which he discovered the sources of the Blue Nile. +On his return to Europe he met with a great reception from Buffon +the naturalist, and the Pope at Rome, but was received with +coldness in England, where the stories of his adventures were +received with incredulity. His book, "Travels to Discover the +Source of the Nile in the years 1768-73," did not appear till 1790, +seventeen years after his return to Europe. After the publication +of his great work, Bruce spent the remainder of his life in +improving his Scottish estate. On April 26, 1794, at Kinnaird, when +going downstairs to hand a lady guest to her carriage, his foot +slipped, and he fell headlong, dying next morning.</p> +</div> + +<p>In 1762 Lord Halifax gave me the appointment of British Consul +at Algiers, as affording me the opportunity of exploring the +countries of Barbary, and perhaps of making, later on, a discovery +of the sources of the Nile. On arrival at Algiers I studied closely +surgery and medicine, modern Greek and Arabic, so as to qualify +myself to travel without an interpreter.</p> + +<p>I remained in Algiers for three years, and started early in 1768 +on my travels through that kingdom and Tunis, Crete and Rhodes, +Syria, Lower and Upper Egypt. Then I crossed the desert from +Assouan to Cosseir on the Red Sea, explored the Arabian Gulf, and +after visiting Jidda, arrived at Masuah [Massowah] on<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +September 19, 1769. Masuah, which means the "Harbour of the +Shepherds," is a small island close upon the Abyssinian shore, and +the governor is called the naybe. He himself was cruel, avaricious, +and a drunkard, but Achmet, his son, became my friend, as I had +cured him of an intermittent fever, and on November 10 he carried +me, my servants and baggage, from the island of Masuah to Arkeeko, +on the mainland, from which point my party started for the province +of Tigré, in Abyssinia, on November 15.</p> + +<p>For days we travelled across a gravelly plain, and then over +mountains, bare and full of terrible precipices with thickly wooded +intervening valleys, and on November 22 we descended into the town +of Dixan, in the province of Tigré. It is inhabited by Moors +and Christians, and the only trade is that of selling children, +stolen or made captives in war, who are sent after purchase to +Arabia and India. The priests are openly concerned in this infamous +practice. We were frequently delayed by demands from local chiefs +for toll dues, and did not arrive at Adowa till December 6. This is +the residence of the governor of the province of +Tigré—Michael Suhul, ras, or prime minister, of +Abyssinia. The mansion of the ras is situated on the top of a hill. +It resembles a prison rather than a palace, for there were in it +300 people confined in irons, the object being to extract money +from them. Some of them had been there for twenty years, and most +of them were kept in cages like wild beasts.</p> + +<p>On January 17, 1770, we set out on our way to Gondar, and on the +following day reached the plain where the ruins of Axum, supposed +to be the ancient capital of Abyssinia, are situated. In one square +are forty obelisks of one piece of granite. A road is cut in the +mountain of red marble, having on the left a parapet wall about +five feet in height. At equal distances there are solid pedestals, +upon the tops of which stood originally<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> colossal statues of +Sirius, Litrator Anubis, or Dog Star. There are 133 of these +pedestals, but only two much mutilated figures of the Dog remain. +There are also pedestals for figures of the Sphinx. Two magnificent +flights of steps several hundred feet long, all of granite, are the +only remains of the great Temple.</p> + +<p>Within the site of the Temple is a small, mean modern church, +very ill kept. In it are what are supposed to be the Ark of the +Covenant and the copy of the law which Menilek, the son of Solomon +and the Queen of Sheba, is said in their fabulous history to have +been stolen from his father on his return from Jerusalem to +Ethiopia. These are reckoned the palladia of the country. Another +relic of great importance is a picture of the head of Christ +crowned with thorns, said to have been painted by Saint Luke. This +relic on occasions of war with pagans and Mohammedans is brought +out and carried with the army. Within the outer gate of the church +are three small enclosures with octagon pillars in the angles, on +the top of which were formerly images of the Dog Star. Upon a stone +in the middle of one of these enclosures the kings of the country +have been crowned since the days of paganism; and below it is a +large oblong slab of freestone, on which there is a Greek +inscription, the translation of which is "Of King Ptolemy +Euergetes, or the Beneficent."</p> + +<p>We left Axum on January 20, and on the same day we saw three +travellers cutting three pieces of flesh, thicker and longer than +our ordinary beefsteaks, from the higher part of the buttock of a +cow. The beast was thrown on the ground, and one man held the head, +while two others were busy in cutting out the flesh.</p> + +<p>I have been told that my friends have disbelieved this +statement. I pledge myself never to retract the fact here advanced, +that the Abyssinians do feed in common upon live flesh, and that I +myself for several years have been a partaker of that disagreeable +and beastly diet.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id= +"Page_50">50</a></span>Travelling pleasantly enough, though finding it difficult to get +food from the natives, we came on February 4 to the foot of Debra +Toon, one of the highest mountains of the romantic range of Hanza. +The toilsome ascent of Lamalmon, an extensive table-land of great +fertility, was begun on February 8, and on the 14th we arrived at +Gondar, the metropolis of Abyssinia.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Savage Native Practices</i></div> + +<p>Gondar is situated on the flat summit of a hill of considerable +height, and consists of 10,000 families in time of peace. The +houses are chiefly of clay, with roofs thatched in the form of +cones. The king's palace is a square building on the west side of +the town, flanked with towers, and originally four stories high, +but now only two. The audience chamber is 120 feet long, and the +upper windows command a magnificent view of the great lake Tzana. +The palace and contiguous buildings are surrounded by a stone wall +30 feet high, 1½ miles in circumference. A little way from +Gondar to the north is Koscam, the palace of the iteghé and +the king's other wives. Tecla Haimanout was at this time king, and +Suhul Michael was ras, or prime minister. They were absent at the +time of my arrival.</p> + +<p>Petros, an important Greek, who was the only one in Gondar to +whom I had recommendations, came in a state of great dread to me, +saying that he had seen at Michael's encampment, a few miles from +Gondar, the stuffed skin of an intimate friend of his own swinging +upon a tree, and drying in the wind beside the tent of the ras. The +iteghé and Ozoro Esther, wife of Ras Michael, sent for me to +the palace at Koscam to attend, as a medical man, the royal +families, because small-pox was then raging in the city and +surrounding districts. I saved the life of Ayto Confu, the +favourite son of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id= +"Page_51">51</a></span> Ozoro Esther, and others; and +thereafter became friends of the queen and her suite in the +palace.</p> + +<p>I rode out on March 8 to meet Ras Michael at Azazo, the scene of +a great battle which had been fought with Fasil, a Galla chief, who +had broken out in rebellion. The first horrid spectacle exhibited +by him consisted of pulling out the eyes of twelve Galla chiefs, +who had been taken prisoners. They were then turned out into the +fields to be devoured by hyenas. Next day the army of 30,000 men +marched in triumph into Gondar. On March 14, I had an interview +with the ras, and he said that to prevent my being murdered for my +goods and instruments, and being bothered by the monks about +religious matters, the king, on his recommendation, had appointed +me baalomaal, the commander of the Koccob Horse.</p> + +<p>In the course of the campaign between the king and his rebel +governors, I joined his majesty's forces, and on May 18, 1770, I +found myself at Dara, fourteen miles from the great cataract of the +Nile, which I obtained permission to visit. The shum, or head of +the people of the district, took me to a bridge, which consisted of +one arch of twenty-five feet in breadth, with the extremities +firmly based on solid rock on both sides. The Nile is here confined +between two rocks, and runs in a deep channel with great, roaring, +impetuous velocity. The cataract itself was the most magnificent +sight that ever I beheld. Its height is forty feet. The river had +been increased by the rains, and fell in one sheet of water half a +mile in breadth, with a noise that was truly terrible, and made me +for a time perfectly dizzy.</p> + +<p>Returning to the king's army, I rode through a country of +smoking ruins and awful silence. The miserable natives, though +Christians, were being hunted to be sold into slavery to the Turks. +I found that the campaign was finished, and that we were to return +to Gondar, on reaching which, on May 30, Fasil returned to his +allegiance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> Having successfully prescribed for Fasil's +principal general, the king was so pleased that he promised me any +favour. I asked the village of Geesh at the source of the Nile. +Whereupon the king said:</p> + +<p>"I do give the village of Geesh and its fountains to Yagoube +(which was my name) and his posterity for ever, never to appear +under another name in the Deftar (land register), and never to be +taken from him, or exchanged in peace or war."</p> + +<p>On June 5 the king and Michael retired to Tigré; Gusho +and Powussen—two of the rebel governors—entered Gondar +in triumph, and proclaimed a young man, reputed to be the son of +Yasous II., who died in 1753, king under the name of Socinios. I +remained at Gondar unmolested until October 28, 1770, when I +determined to make an attempt to reach the head of the Nile, and +with my followers and instruments marched through the country of +the Aroussi, much the most pleasant territory in Abyssinia, being +finely shaded with forests of the Acacia Vera, the tree which +produces the gum arabic. Below these trees grew wild oats of +prodigious height and size. I often made the grain into cakes in +remembrance of Scotland.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—At the Source of the +Nile</i></div> + +<p>After passing the Assar River, going in a south-east direction, +we had for the first time a distinct view of the high mountain of +Geesh, the long-wished-for end of our dangerous and troublesome +journey. This was on November 2, 1770, and on the following day we +rode through a marshy plain in which the Nile winds more in the +space of four miles than I believe any river in the world. It is +not here more than 20 feet broad and one deep. After this, we +pushed forward to a terrible range of mountains, in which is +situated the village of Geesh, where are the long-expected +fountains of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id= +"Page_53">53</a></span> Nile. These mountains are disposed one +range behind the other, nearly in the form of arcs, and three +concentrate circles, which seems to suggest the idea that they are +the Montes Lunæ of antiquity, or the Mountains of the Moon, +at the foot of which the Nile was said to rise. The highest, +Amid-Amid, does not exceed half a mile in height. Crossing the +mountains, we had a distinct view of the territory of Sacala, the +mountain of Geesh, and the church of St. Michael.</p> + +<p>Immediately below us was the Nile itself, now a mere brook, with +scarcely water enough in it to turn a mill. I could not satiate +myself with the sight, revolving in my mind all those classic +prophecies that had given the Nile up to perpetual obscurity and +concealment. I ran down the hill towards a little island of green +sods, and I stood in rapture over the principal fountain of the +Nile, which rises in the middle of it. This was November 4, +1770.</p> + +<p>It is easier to imagine than to describe the situation of my +mind at that moment, standing on that spot which had baffled the +genius, industry and inquiry of both ancients and moderns over a +course of nearly 3,000 years. Though a mere private Briton, I +triumphed here in my own mind over kings and their armies.</p> + +<p>The Agows of Damot pay divine honours to the Nile, sacrificing +multitudes of cattle to the spirit which is supposed to reside at +its source. From the edge of the cliff at Geesh the ground slopes +to the marsh, in whose centre is a hillock, which is the altar on +which the religious ceremonies of the Agows are performed. A +shallow trench surrounds it, and collects the water which flows +from a hole in the middle of the hillock, three feet in diameter +and six feet in depth. This is the principal fountain of the +Nile.</p> + +<p>Ten feet from this spring is a second fountain, about eleven +inches in diameter and eight feet deep; and at twenty feet distance +there is a third, two feet in diameter<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> and six feet in +depth. Both of these are enclosed, like the first, by an altar of +turf. The water from all these joins and flows eastward in +quantities sufficient to fill a pipe of about two inches in +diameter.</p> + +<p>I made no fewer than thirty-five observations with the view of +determining with the utmost precision the latitude of the fountains +of the Nile, and I found the mean result to be 10° 59' 25" +north latitude. Equally careful observations proved them to be +36° 55' 30" east longitude. The mercury in the barometer +indicated a height above the sea of more than two miles. The Shum +of Geesh, whose title is kefla abay, "the Servant of the Nile," +told me that the Agows called the river "The Everlasting God, Light +of the World, Eye of the World, God of Peace, Saviour, Father of +the Universe."</p> + +<p>Once a year, on the first appearance of the Dog Star, the kefla +abay assembles all the heads of the clans at the principal altar, +where a black heifer that never bore a calf is sacrificed. The +carcase, which is washed all over with Nile water, is divided among +the different tribes, and eaten on the spot, raw, and with Nile +water. The bones are burned to ashes, and the head, wrapped in the +skin, is carried into a huge cave. On November 9 I traced on foot +the whole course of the river to the plain of Guotto, and next day +we left Geesh on our return to Gondar, which was reached on the +19th.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Return to Egypt</i></div> + +<p>Shortly afterwards Socinios, the usurping king, fled on the +approach of King Tecla and Ras Michael with 20,000 men. On their +entry into the city, those who had sympathised with the usurper +were executed in hundreds with a wanton cruelty which shocked and +disgusted me. The bodies of the victims were cut in pieces and +scattered about the streets, and hundreds of hyenas came down from +the neighbouring mountains to feed on<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> the human carrion. I +determined to do the best I could to escape from this bloody +country, but was constrained to take a part in the civil war, and +commanded a force of heavy cavalry in King Tecla's army in the +three battles of Serbraxos. My performances so pleased the king +that he decorated me with a heavy gold chain containing 184 links. +The upshot of the campaign was that Michael was banished to +Begender and the former rebel Gusho appointed ras in his place.</p> + +<p>After many delays I was allowed to depart for Egypt on September +28, 1771, and, passing through the Shangalla country, I reached, on +January 2, 1772, the enchanted mountain country of Tcherkin, which +abounded in game—elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, etc. +Here they have an extraordinary way of hunting the elephant by +severing the tendon above the heel of the hind leg with a sharp +sword. At Hor Cacamoot, which means the Valley of the Shadow of +Death, I was on January 20 attacked with dysentery, and compelled +to remain there until March 17. Many hardships were endured and +servants lost in a simoom which overtook us in the march to the +Atbara, and after numerous adventures in the country of the +Nubas—pagans, negroids, worshippers of the moon—I +arrived on April 29 at Sennaar, where I was compelled to remain +four months.</p> + +<p>Summoned to wait upon the king, I found him in a clay-built +palace covering a very extensive area, and of one story. The dress +of the king was simply a loose shirt of Surat blue cotton cloth. I +was asked to treat medically the three principal queens. The +favourite was six feet high, and corpulent beyond all proportion. +She seemed to me, next the elephant and the rhinoceros, to be the +largest living creature I had ever met. A ring of gold passed +through her upper lip and weighed it down like a flap to cover her +chin. Her ears reached to her shoulders, and had the appearance of +wings. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> each was a large ring of gold; she had a gold +necklace of several rows, and her ankles bore manacles of gold.</p> + +<p>At Sennaar the Nile gets its name of Babar El Azergue, the Blue +River. The meat diet of the upper classes is beef, partly roasted +and partly raw. That of the common people is camel's flesh, the +liver and spare-rib of which are eaten raw. During my stay here I +was compelled to part with all but six of the 184 links of the gold +chain which I received from the king of Abyssinia, to pay for +supplies, and I was glad when permitted to depart on September 2, +1772.</p> + +<p>On October 26 we arrived at Gooz, the capital of Barbar. There +we made preparations to cross the great desert, beginning the +journey on November 9. One day we saw twenty moving pillars of +sand. On another occasion we met the simoom, the purple haze in +rushing past threatening suffocation. Many of the wells had dried +up, our water and our provisions became exhausted, our camels died, +all of the party suffered from thirst and fever, and on November +25, in order to save our lives, we abandoned my valuable papers, +quadrant, telescopes, and other instruments, at Saffieha.</p> + +<p>Two days afterwards we got a view of a range of hills marking +the course of the Nile. In the evening we heard the noise of water, +and saw a flock of birds. Christians, Moors, and Turks all burst +into tears, embracing one another and thanking God for our +deliverance. That night we encamped at Seielut, and next morning we +came on foot to Assouan. With one accord we ran to the Nile to +drink. I sat down under the shade of a palm and fell into a +profound sleep. We were received heartily by the aga, and after +resting five or six days to recover, we retraced our steps to +Saffieha, and I had the satisfaction of recovering all my baggage. +On December 11 we left Assouan, and sailed down the Nile for Cairo, +where we arrived on January 10, 1773.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span></p> + +<h4>JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT</h4> + +<h4>Travels in Nubia</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—On the Eastern Bank of the +Nile</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>John Lewis Burckhardt was born at Lausanne, Switzerland, Nov. +24, 1784. He declined a diplomatic appointment in Germany, and came +to England in 1806, bringing with him letters of introduction to +Sir Joseph Banks, from Professor Blumenbach, the celebrated +naturalist of Göttingen. He tendered his services as an +explorer to the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the +Interior Parts of Africa. His offer was accepted, and Burckhardt +left England on March 2, 1809, and proceeded to Syria, where, +disguised as an Indian Mohammedan merchant, he spent two and a half +years, learning among Arab tribes different dialects of Arabic. In +1812, he went to Egypt, intending to join a caravan for Fezzan in +order to explore the sources of the Niger; but, being frustrated in +that, he made his two expeditions into Nubia which form the subject +of the present epitome. In June, 1815, he returned to Cairo, and +prepared his journals for publication. After making a tour to Suez +and Sinai in 1816, he was suddenly cut off by dysentery in Cairo on +October 15, 1817. Although he did not learn English until he was +twenty-four years of age, Burckhardt's journals are written with +remarkable spirit, more especially considering that his notes had +all to be taken secretly.</p> +</div> + +<p>I left Assouan on February 24, 1813, to make my journey through +Nubia. Assouan is the most romantic spot in Egypt, but little +deserving the lofty praise which some travellers have bestowed upon +it for its antiquities and those of the neighbouring island of +Elephantine. I carried with me nothing but my gun, sabre, and +pistol, a provision bag, and a woollen mantle, which served either +for a carpet or a covering during the night. I was dressed in the +blue gown of the merchants of Upper Egypt. After estimating the +expense I was likely to incur in Nubia, I put eight Spanish dollars +into my purse in conformity with the principle I have consistently +acted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> upon during my travels—viz., that the less the +traveller spends while on the march, and the less money he carries +with him, the less likely are his travelling projects to +miscarry.</p> + +<p>After crossing the mountain opposite Philæ, I passed the +night in the house of a sheikh at Wady Debot, where I first tasted +the country dish which during my journey became my constant +food—viz., thin unleavened and slightly-baked cakes of +dhourra, served with sweet or sour milk. From here to Dehmyt, the +grand chain of mountains on the east side of the Nile is +uninterrupted; but from the latter place to the second cataract, +beyond Wady Halfa, the mountains are of sandstone, except some +granite rocks above Talfa. The shore widens at Korosko, and groves +of date-trees adorn the banks all the way past Derr to Ibrim. The +rich deposit of the river on the eastern bank yields large crops of +dhourra and cotton. It is different on the western shore, where the +desert sands, blown by the north-west winds, are swept up to the +very brink of the river.</p> + +<p>It is near Derr that occurs the most ancient known temple, +entirely hewn out of the sandstone rock. The gods of Egypt seemed +to have been worshipped here long before they were lodged in the +gigantic temples of Karnac and Gorne. At Ibrim there is an aga, +independent of the governors of Nubia, and the inhabitants pay no +taxes. They are descendants of Bosnian soldiers who were sent by +the great Sultan Selym to garrison the castle of Ibrim, now a ruin, +against the Mamelouks. In no parts of the Eastern world have I ever +found property in such perfect security as in Ibrim. The Ababde +Arabs between Derr and Dongola are very poor. They pride themselves +on the purity of their race and the beauty of their women, and +refuse to intermarry with the Nubians.</p> + +<p>Beyond Wady Halfa is the second cataract, and the foaming waters +dashing against the black-and-green<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> rocks, or forming quiet +pools and lakes, so that the Nile expands to two miles in breadth, +is a most impressive sight. The rapids render navigation impossible +between here and Sukkot, a distance of a hundred miles, and the +river is hemmed in sometimes by high banks, as at Mershed, where I +could throw a stone over to the opposite side. The rock, which had +been sandstone hitherto, changes its nature at the second cataract +to granite and quartz.</p> + +<p>At Djebel Lamoule, which we reached on March 9, we had to follow +a mountain track, and, on approaching the river again, the Arab who +acted as guide tried to extract from me a present by collecting a +heap of sand, and placing a stone at each extremity to indicate +that a traveller's tomb is made. I immediately alighted from my +camel, and began to make another tomb, telling him that it was +intended for his own sepulchre, for, as we were brethren, it was +but just that we should be buried together. At this he began to +laugh. We mutually destroyed each other's labour, and in riding +along he exclaimed from the Koran: "No mortal knows the spot on +earth where his grave shall be digged." In the plain of Aamara, +which begins the district of Say, there is a fine Egyptian temple, +the six columns of which are of calcareous stone—the only +specimen of that material to be met with, those in Egypt being all +sandstone.</p> + +<p>On March 13 we reached the territory of Mahass, and at the +castle of Tinareh I visited the camp of Mohammed Kashefs, a +Mamelouk chief who had captured the castle from a rebel cousin of +the Mahass king. He behaved like a madman, got very drunk on palm +wine, and threatened to cut off my head on suspicion of my being an +agent of the pasha of Egypt, who was the enemy of the Mamelouks. +Had it not been for the arrival of the nephew of the governor of +Sukkot, the threat would in all probability have been carried into +execution.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span><i>II.—Discoveries in Egyptian +Temples</i></div> + +<p>On March 15 my guide and I escaped from the Mamelouk's camp, and +at Kolbé crossed to the west side of the river by swimming +at the tail of our camels, each beast having an inflated goatskin +tied to its neck. I thought it wise to return down the Nile to +Assouan, and we pushed on as hard as our camels could proceed. +Passing the cataracts at Wady Samme and Wady Halfa, we came to Wady +Fereyg, where there is a mountain on both sides of the Nile. At the +bottom of that, on the west side, is a hitherto undiscovered temple +named Ebsambal. The temple stands about twenty feet above the +surface of the water, entirely cut out of the almost perpendicular +rocky side of the mountain, and is in complete preservation. In +front of the entrance are six erect colossal figures representing +juvenile persons, three on each side of the entrance, in narrow +recesses. Their height from the ground to the knee is about 6½ +feet. The spaces of the smooth rock between the niches are covered +with hieroglyphics, as are also the walls of the interior. The +statues represent Osiris, Isis, and a youth, and each has small +figures beside it four feet high.</p> + +<p>I was about to climb the mountain to rejoin my guide and the +camels, when I fell in with what is yet visible of four immense +colossal statues cut out of the rock at a distance of 200 yards +from the temple. They stand in a deep recess excavated in the +mountain, and are almost entirely buried beneath the sands, which +are blown down here in torrents. The entire head and part of the +breast and arms of one of the statues are yet above the surface. +The head has a most expressive youthful countenance, approaching +nearer to the Grecian model of beauty than that of any ancient +Egyptian figure I have seen. Indeed, were it not for a thin, oblong +beard, it would pass for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" +id="Page_61">61</a></span> head of Pallas. This statue +measures seven yards across the shoulders, and could not, if in an +upright posture, be less than sixty-five or seventy feet in height. +The ear is one yard and four inches in length.</p> + +<p>On the wall of the rock in the centre of the four statues is a +figure of the hawk-headed Osiris, surmounted by a globe; beyond +which, I suspect, could the sand be cleared away, a vast temple +would be discovered, to the entrance of which the colossal figures +serve as ornaments. I should pronounce these works to belong to the +finest period of Egyptian sculpture, and that the hieroglyphics are +of the same age as those on the temple of Derr.</p> + +<p>I continued my journey along the west bank of the Nile, and in +the course of several days inspected the ruins of all the known +ancient temples and early Greek churches. Summing up my impressions +of the temples, I would say that we find in Nubia specimens of all +the different eras of Egyptian architecture and history, which +indeed can only be traced in Nubia; for all the remaining temples +in Egypt, that of Gorne, perhaps, excepted, appear to have been +erected in an age when the science of architecture had nearly +attained to perfection.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Across the Nubian +Desert</i></div> + +<p>I reached Assouan on March 30, after an absence of thirty-five +days, having travelled at the rate of ten hours each day. On April +9, I proceeded to Esné, which I had made my headquarters in +Upper Egypt.</p> + +<p>I remained at Esné till the spring of 1814, waiting for +an opportunity to start with a caravan of slave-traders towards the +interior parts of Nubia in a more easterly direction than I had +been in my journey towards Dongola. At the end of February I heard +that a caravan was on the point of starting from Daraou, three +days' journey north of Esné, for the confines of Sennaar, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"> +62</a></span> I determined to accompany it and try my fortune on +this new route without any servant and in the garb of a poor +trader.</p> + +<p>The start was made on March 2, 1814, and from the first day of +our departure my companions treated me with neglect, and even with +contempt. Although they had no idea I was a Frank, they imagined +that I was of Turkish origin, an opinion sufficient to excite the +ill-treatment of Arabs, who bear the most inveterate hatred to the +Osmanli. From the small quantity of merchandise I had, they +considered I was a trader running away from my creditors, but I +succeeded in convincing them that I was travelling in search of a +lost cousin who had made an expedition to Darfour and Sennaar in +Nubia, in which the whole of my property was engaged.</p> + +<p>At Wady el Nabeh, the wells of which have a great repute all +through Nubia, and which we reached on March 14, we met a band of +Ababdes driving thirty slaves before them, which they were taking +to sell in Egypt. In general, I found the dreaded Nubian +deserts—as far as Shigré, at least, which we reached +on March 16 with difficulty, on account of shortage of +water—of much less dreary appearance than the great Syrian +desert, and still less so than the desert of Suez and Tyh. The high +mountains of Shigré consist of huge blocks of granite heaped +upon one another in the wildest confusion.</p> + +<p>During the whole march we were surrounded on all sides by lakes +of mirage, called by the Arabs "serab." Its colour was of the +purest azure, and so clear that the shadows of the mountains which +bordered the horizon were reflected on it with the greatest +precision, and the delusion of its being a sheet of water was thus +rendered still more perfect. We experienced great suffering from +the reckless waste of water and the dryness of the wells which were +expected to yield supplies; and so serious did it become that +twelve of the strongest of the camels<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> were selected to hasten +forward to fetch a supply of water from the nearest part of the +Nile. They returned the following morning from their desperate +mission, bringing with them plentiful supplies of the delicious +water of the Nile, in which we revelled, enabling us to reach +Berber on March 23, the whole desert journey having taken us +twenty-two days.</p> + +<p>The governor of Berber, which consists of four villages, is +called the mek, and is nominated by the king of Sennaar. He, +however, exercises a feeble authority over the Arabs. The people of +Berber are a handsome race. The men are taller, larger-limbed, and +stronger than the Egyptians, and red-brown in colour. The features +are not those of the negro, the face being oval, and the nose +perfectly Grecian. They say, "We are Arabs, not negroes." The +practice of drunkenness and debauchery is universal, and everything +discreditable to humanity is found in their character.</p> + +<p>I remained a fortnight in Berber, and on April 7 our caravan, +reduced to two-thirds of its original numbers, set out for Shendy. +Three days afterwards we came to Damer, a town of 500 houses, neat +and clean, with regular tree-shaded streets. The inhabitants are +Arabs of the tribe of Medja-ydin, and the greater part of them are +Fokera, or religious men. They have a pontiff called El Faky El +Kebir (the great faky), who is their chief and judge. In the mosque +there is a famous school attended by young men from Darfour, +Sennaar, Kordofan, and other parts of the Soudan; and the affairs +of this little hierarchical state appeared to be conducted with +great prudence. From Damer we passed on to Shendy, where we arrived +on April 18.</p> + +<p>This is a place of 1,000 houses, and the present mek owns large +salt-works near the town, where the ground is largely impregnated +with salt. Merchants from Sennaar buy up the salt and trade it as +far as Abyssinia. Next to Sennaar and Cobbé in Darfour, +Shendy is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id= +"Page_64">64</a></span> largest town in the Eastern Soudan. +Debauchery and drunkenness are as fashionable here as in Berber. +The people are better dressed, and the women have rings of gold in +their noses and ears. Shendy is the centre of considerable trade, +but its principal market is for slaves, who are chiefly negroes, +stolen from the interior.</p> + +<p>The Abyssinian slave-women are reckoned the best and most +faithful of all, and are bought for the harems of the Arab chiefs. +As to the slave-traffic as a whole, laudable as the efforts of +England have been to abolish this infamous trade in Western and +South-western Africa, there does not appear to be the smallest hope +of the abolition of slavery in Africa itself. It is not from +foreign nations that the blacks can hope for deliverance. This +great work must be effected by themselves, and this can only be +done by the education of the sons of Africa in their own country +and by their own countrymen.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Among Savage Arab Tribes</i></div> + +<p>In the caravan for Souakin, which left Shendy on May 17, I +joined myself as a poor man to a party of black traders from +Western Africa. After five days spent in traversing sandy and +gravelly plains, we came to the Atbara river, which has a greater +variety of natural vegetation than I had seen anywhere on the banks +of the Nile in Egypt. Having crossed the Atbara, our route lay to +the S.E., and we soon entered the country of the Bisharein +Arabs—a bold and handsome race.</p> + +<p>The moral character of both sexes is wholly bad. They are +treacherous, cruel, avaricious, and revengeful, and are restrained +in the indulgence of their passions by no laws either human or +divine. However, they have a dread, especially the women, of a +white man, and the latter shriek at the sight of what they consider +an out-cast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"> +65</a></span> of nature, saying, "God preserve us from the +devil." On May 31 the caravan broke into two parts, one taking the +direct road through the desert to Souakin, the other proceeding by +Taka; and I determined to accompany the latter. We followed the +course of the Atbara, and, after crossing stretches of the desert, +came, on June 3, to the village of Goz Radjeb, the centre of the +country of the Hadendoa, a tribe of the Bisharein. A Hadendoa +seldom scruples to kill his companion on the road in order to +possess himself of the most trifling article of value, but a +retaliation of blood exists in full force. They are not given to +hospitality, as other Arabs are, and they boast of their treachery. +On June 6, we came to the district of Taka, fertile and populous +owing to the regular inundation of the Atbara and its tributaries. +A valley in the eastern mountains is noted for its splendid breed +of cattle and fine dhourra. The Bisharein here eat the blood of +animals coagulated over the fire, and the liver and kidneys +raw.</p> + +<p>In an adjoining valley we encountered another tribe of Bisharein +called the Hallenga, who draw their origin from Abyssinia. They +have a horrible custom in connection with the revenge of blood. +When the slayer has been seized by the relatives of the deceased, a +family feast is proclaimed, at which the murderer is brought into +the midst of them, bound upon an angareyg, and while his throat is +slowly cut with a razor, the blood is caught in a bowl and handed +round amongst the guests, every one of whom is bound to drink of it +at the moment the victim breathes his last.</p> + +<p>A stay was made at Filik, the principal town of Taka, till June +15, when the caravan struck N.E. by N., and marched alternately +through sandy and fertile country, across mountains of no great +height, and plains with herds of ostriches and fine cattle. The low +grounds were frequently intersected by the beds of torrential +streams. One day, we crossed a rocky plain with the<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> soil +strongly impregnated with salt, and pastured by large herds of +camels which the Arabs here keep for their milk and flesh alone, +seldom using them as beasts of burden.</p> + +<p>On June 26 we arrived at El Geyf, an environ of +Souakin—the town itself, which consists of 600 houses, being +on one of the islands in the bay of Souakin. The inhabitants of +Souakin are a motley race, and are governed by the Emir el +Hadherebe, a chief of the Bisharein tribe on the neighbouring +mainland, who is chosen by the five first families of the tribe, +but is nominally dependent upon the pasha of Djidda.</p> + +<p>The manners of the people partake of the vices of their +neighbours in the desert, and in cruelty surpass them, and the law +of the strongest is alone respected. I was ill-treated by the aga, +the representative of the Turkish Government, until I produced the +firmans which I had concealed in a secret pocket, given me by +Mohammed Aly, the viceroy of Egypt, and by Ibrahim Pasha, his son. +When the aga saw these with their handsome seals, he regarded me as +a great personage; but I refused to take up my abode in his house, +which hospitality he offered, and continued to live in the camp of +the black merchants on the mainland.</p> + +<p>I had intended proceeding to Mokha by ship and then on to Sana, +the capital of the Yemen, from which place to make the pilgrimage +to Mekka. However, having heard of the war in the Hedjaz in Arabia, +I abandoned my project, and sailed from Souakin, on July 6, for +Djidda, where I arrived on July 16, and afterwards joined Mohammed +Aly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"> +67</a></span></p> + +<h4>SIR RICHARD BURTON</h4> + +<h4>Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The Pilgrim Ship</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Sir Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G., was born at Barham House, +Hertfordshire, England, March 19, 1821. He was intended for the +Church, and spent a year at Oxford; but showed no clerical +leanings, and found a more congenial profession when he obtained a +cadetship in the Indian Army in 1842. During the next few years he +acquired an extraordinary knowledge of Mohammedan usages and +languages that was afterwards to serve him in good stead. In 1849 +he returned to England; in 1851 published three books on Indian +subjects, and in April, 1853, set forth on his cherished and daring +project of visiting in disguise the sacred cities of Islam. The +voyage was a particularly dangerous one, Burton frequently having +to defend his life, though in so doing he never took another life +during the whole of the journey. The account of his "Pilgrimage to +El Medinah and Meccah" was published in 1855. Afterwards he +travelled in Somaliland, Central Africa, North and South America, +and elsewhere, and unfailingly published books on his journeys. He +died at Trieste on October 20, 1890.</p> +</div> + +<p>Early in the morning of April 4, 1853, a "Persian prince" +embarked at Southampton for Alexandria. The "prince" was myself, +about to undertake a journey for the purpose of removing that +opprobrium to modern adventure, the huge white blot which on our +maps still notes the eastern regions of Arabia. I had hoped to make +a more extended tour, but the East India Company had only granted +me a year's furlough, refusing the three years that I had asked on +the ground that my project was too dangerous. The attempt was one +that could not be made save in Mohammedan disguise, and in order to +conceal my identity effectively, I had thought it prudent to assume +this disguise ere leaving England. I<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> as amply supplied with +funds by the Royal Geographical Society.</p> + +<p>Several months were spent by me at Alexandria and Cairo in +thoroughly familiarising myself once again with Moslem tongues and +usages, partly forgotten during a four years' stay in the West. I +diligently studied the Koran, and became an adept at Mohammedan +religious practices; and my knowledge of medicine, by enabling me +to set up as a doctor, brought me into the close contact with all +classes of Moslems that I required for my purpose. I soon dropped +the character of a Persian for that of a wandering dervish; but +afterwards a still more convenient disguise occurred to me, and I +visited El Medinah and Meccah as an Afghan Pathan who had been +educated at Rangoon.</p> + +<p>Pilgrims to the holy shrines arriving at Alexandria are divided +into bodies, and distributed to the three great roads, namely, +Suez, Cosseir, and the Haj route by land round the Gulf of Akabah. +My route was by Suez, and at Suez I and my fellow-pilgrims had a +long wait for a vessel to convey us to Yambu, the port of +disembarkation for El Medinah. During this wait I had vexatious +difficulties over my passport, which were only solved by an appeal +to the British consul.</p> + +<p>I must now briefly describe the party into which fate threw me. +First of all comes Omar Effendi, a plump and beardless Circassian, +of yellow complexion and bilious temperament; he dresses +respectably, pays regularly, hates the fair sex, has a mild +demeanour, but when roused becomes furious as a tiger. His +confidential negro servant, Saad, known as the Devil, was born and +bred a slave, obtained manumission, and has wandered as far afield +as Russia and Gibraltar. He is the pure African, merry at one +moment and sulky at another, affectionate and abusive, reckless and +crafty, quarrelsome and unscrupulous to the last degree.</p> + +<p>Shaykh Hamid el Lamman, of El Medinah, is a perfect<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +specimen of the town Arab—his face a dirty brown, his beard +untrimmed, his only garment, an ochre-coloured blouse, exceedingly +unclean. He can sing, slaughter a sheep, deliver a grand call to +prayer, shave, cook, fight, and vituperate. Salih Shakkar is a Turk +on his father's side, an Arab on his mother's; he is as avaricious +as an Arab, and as supercilious as a Turk. All these people +borrowed money from me. To their number must be added Mohammed, a +hot-headed Meccan youth, whom I had met in Cairo, and who appointed +himself my companion; and Shaykh Nur, my Indian servant.</p> + +<p>Through the activity of Saad the Devil—not disinterested +activity, for he wanted to pay nothing himself and to make us pay +too much—we were at last able to book passages on the vessel +Golden Thread. Amid infinite clamour and excitement on a hot July +morning we boarded her, only to be threatened with loss of our +places on the poop by a rush of Maghrabi pilgrims, men from Western +Africa, desperately poor and desperately violent. Saad the Devil +disposed of the intruders by the simple process of throwing them +into the hold. There the Maghrabis fell out with a few Turks, and +in a few minutes nothing was to be seen but a confused mass of +humanity, each item indiscriminately scratching, biting, punching, +and butting.</p> + +<p>A deputation of us waited upon Ali Murad, the owner, to inform +him of the crowded state of the vessel. He told us to be good, and +not fight; to trust in Allah, and that Allah would make all things +easy for us. His departure was the signal for a second fray. This +time the Maghrabis swarmed towards the poop like angry hornets; +Saad provided us with a bundle of long ashen staves, and we laid on +with might and main. At length it occurred to me to roll an earthen +jar full of water—weighing about a hundred pounds—upon +the assailants. After this they shrank back and offered peace.</p> + +<p>It was twelve days before we reached Yambu. The<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> vessel +had no compass, no log, no sounding-line, nor even the suspicion of +a chart. Each night we anchored, usually in one of the many inlets +of the Arabian coast, and when possible we went ashore. The heat +during the day was insufferable, the wind like the blast of a +lime-kiln; we lay helpless and half senseless, without appetite and +without energy, feeling as if a few more degrees of heat would be +death. Nothing, on the other hand, could have been more delicious +than the hour of sunrise. The air was mild and balmy as that of an +Italian spring; the mountains, grim and bare during full daylight, +mingled their summits with the jasper tints of the sky; at their +base ran a sea of amethyst. Not less lovely was the sunset, but +after a quarter of an hour its beauty faded, and the wilderness of +white crags and pinnacles was naked and ghastly under the moon.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Yambu we had to treat for camels, and make +provision for the seven days' journey to El Medinah. As I had +injured my foot on the voyage, I bought a shugduf or litter, a +vehicle appropriated to women and infirm persons; it had the +advantage that notes were more easily taken in it than on a +dromedary's back. At 7 p.m. on July 18 we passed through the gate +of Yambu, and took a course due east. My companions, as Arabs will +do on such occasions, began to sing.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—In the Footsteps of +Mohammed</i></div> + +<p>Our little party consisted of twelve camels, and we travelled in +Indian file, head tied to tail, with but one outrider, Omar +Effendi, whose rank required him to mount a dromedary with showy +trappings. In two hours we began to pass over undulating ground +with a perceptible rise. At three in the morning we reached the +halting-place and lay down to sleep; at nine we breakfasted off a +biscuit, a little rice, and milkless tea, and<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> slept +again. Dinner, consisting chiefly of boiled rice with clarified +butter, was at two; and at three we were ready to start. Towards +sunset there was a cry of thieves, which created vast confusion; +but the thieves were only half a dozen in number, and fled when a +few bullets were sent in their direction.</p> + +<p>Next day we travelled through a country fantastic in its +desolation—a mass of huge hills, barren plains, and desert +vales. The third day was spent uncomfortably at El Hamra, a +miserable collection of hovels made of unbaked brick and mud. It +was reported that Saad, the great robber-chief, was in the field, +and there was consequently danger that our march would be delayed. +The power of this ruffian is a standing proof of the imbecility of +the Turkish Government.</p> + +<p>The Holy Land of El Hejaz drains off Turkish gold and blood in +abundance, and the lords of the country hold in it a contemptible +position. If they catch a thief, they dare not hang him. They must +pay blackmail, and yet be shot at in every pass. They affect +superiority over the Arabs, hate them, and are despised by them. +Happily, we were overtaken at El Hamra by a Meccan caravan which +had influence to procure a military escort; so we were able to +proceed, with no serious hindrance, to Bir Abbas.</p> + +<p>In the evening of our first melancholy day at this hot, sandy, +barren spot, firearms were heard in the distance, betokening an +engagement between the troops and the Bedouins. It was not until +the following night that we were allowed to start. At dawn we +entered an ill-famed gorge called the Pilgrims' Pass. Presently, +thin blue curls of smoke rose from the cliffs on the left, and +there rang out the sharp cracks of the hillmen's matchlocks. From +their perches on the rocks they fired upon us with perfect comfort +and no danger to themselves, aiming chiefly at our Albanian escort. +We had nothing to do but blaze away as much powder, and veil +ourselves in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id= +"Page_72">72</a></span> as much smoke as possible; we lost +twelve men in the affair, besides several of the animals.</p> + +<p>We journeyed on through desolate mountain country, all of my +companions in the worst of tempers. I spent a whole day trying to +recover from Saad the Devil the money I had lent him at Suez. +Ultimately, he flung the money down before me without a word. But I +had been right in my persistence; had I not forced him to repay me +he would have asked for more. At last, after an abominably bad +night's travelling, we climbed up a flight of huge steps cut in +black basalt. My companions pressed on eagerly, speaking not a +word. We passed through a lane of black scoria, with steep banks on +both sides.</p> + +<p>"O, Allah! This is the sanctuary of the Prophet! O open the +gates of Thy mercy!" "O, Allah! Bless the last of Prophets with +blessings in number as the stars of heaven!" "Live for ever, O most +excellent of Prophets!" Such were the exclamations that burst from +our party as the Holy City, the burial place of Mohammed, lay +before us in its fertile girdle of gardens and orchards.</p> + +<p>At our feet was a spacious plain, bounded in front by undulating +ground; on the left by the grim rocks of Mount Ohod; on the right +by the gardens of Kuba. On the north-west of the town wall was a +tall white-washed fort, partly built upon rock. In the suburb El +Munakhah, near at hand, rose the brand-new domes and minarets of +the five mosques. Farther away to the east could be seen the gem of +El Medinah, the four tall towers, and the flashing green dome under +which rest the Prophet's remains.</p> + +<p>We proceeded towards the gate, from which an eager multitude +poured forth to greet friends in the caravan. I took my abode with +Shaykh Hamid, who abandoned his former dirt and shabbiness and +appeared clean, well-dressed, and with neatly trimmed moustache and +beard. He was to pilot me through the intricate ceremonies of<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +the visits to the Prophet's tomb and the other holy places, and in +the evening I set out with him for the Haram, or sanctuary of the +Prophet.</p> + +<p>The Prophet's mosque at El Medinah is the second of the three +most venerable places in the world, according to Islamic belief; it +is peculiarly connected with Mohammed, as Meccah is with Abraham, +and Jerusalem with Solomon. On entering it, I was astonished at the +mean and tawdry appearance of a place so venerated in the Moslem +world. There is no simple grandeur about it, as there is about the +Kaabah at Meccah; rather does it suggest a museum of second-rate +art, decorated with but pauper splendour. The mosque is a +parallelogram about 420 feet in length by 340 broad, and the main +colonnade in the south of the building, called El Rawzah (the +garden), contains all that is venerable. Shaykh Hamid and I fought +our way in through a crowd of beggars with our hands behind us, and +beginning with the right feet, we advanced towards the holy places. +After preliminary prayers at the Prophet's pulpit, we reached the +mausoleum, an irregular square in the south-east corner, surrounded +by walls and a fence. Three small windows enable one to peer at the +three tombs within—Mohammed's, Abubekr's, and Omar's. After +long praying I was permitted to look through the window opposite +the Prophet's tomb. I could see nothing but a curtain with +inscriptions, and a large pearl rosary denoting the exact position +of the tomb. Many other sacred spots had to be visited, and many +other prayers uttered, ere we left the building.</p> + +<p>The principal places of pious visitation in the vicinity of El +Medinah are the mosques of Kuba, the cemetery El Bakia, and the +martyr Hamzah's tomb at the foot of Mount Ohod, the scene of one of +Mohammed's most famous battles. The mosques of Kuba are the +pleasantest to visit, lying as they do among the date-palm +plantations, amid surroundings most grateful to the eye<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> weary +with hot red glare. There were green, waving crops and cool shade; +a perfumed breeze, strange luxury in El Hejaz; small birds warbled, +tiny cascades splashed from the wells. The Prophet delighted to +visit one of the wells at Kuba, the Bir el Aris. He would sit upon +its brink with bare legs hanging over the side; he honoured it, +moreover, with expectoration, which had the effect, say the +historians, of sweetening the water, which before was salt.</p> + +<p>On August 28 arrived the great caravan from Damascus, and in the +plain outside the city there sprang up a town of tents of every +size, colour, and shape. A tribal war prevented me from carrying +out my intention of journeying overland to Muscat, so I determined +to proceed to Meccah with the Damascus caravan. Accordingly, on +August 31 I bade farewell to my friends at El Medinah, and hastened +after the caravan, which was proceeding to Meccah along the Darb el +Sharki, or eastern road. I had escaped all danger of detection at +El Medinah, and was now to travel to Meccah along a route wholly +unknown to Europeans.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—At the Shrine of the +Prophet</i></div> + +<p>Owing to the caravan's annoying practice of night marching, in +accordance with the advice of Mohammed, I could see nothing of much +of the country through which we travelled. What I did see was +mostly a stony and sandy wilderness, with outcrops of black basalt; +occasionally we passed through a valley containing camel-grass and +acacia trees—mere vegetable mummies—and surrounded with +low hills of gravel and clay. At a large village called El Sufayna +we encountered the Baghdad caravan, and quarrelled hotly with it +for precedence on the route. At the halt before reaching this place +a Turkish pilgrim had been mortally wounded by an Arab with whom he +had quarrelled. The injured man was<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> wrapped in a shroud, +placed in a half-dug grave, and left to die. This horrible fate, I +learnt, often befalls poor and solitary pilgrims whom illness or +accident incapacitates from proceeding.</p> + +<p>At El Zaribah, an undulating plain amongst high granite hills, +we were ordered to assume the Ihram, or garb that must be worn by +pilgrims at Meccah. It consists simply of two strips of white +cotton cloth, with narrow red stripes and fringes. The women donned +white robes and hideous masks of palm leaves, for during the +ceremonies their veils must not touch their faces. We were warned +that we must not quarrel or use bad language; that we must not kill +game or cause animals to fly from us; that we were not to shave, or +cut or oil our hair, or scratch, save with the open palm; and that +we must not cover our heads. Any breach of these and numerous other +rules would have to be atoned for by the sacrifice of a sheep.</p> + +<p>A short distance beyond this point we had a lively skirmish with +robbers, during which I earned a reputation for courage by calling +for my supper in the midst of the excitement. Meccah lies in a +winding valley, and is not to be seen until the pilgrim is close at +hand. At length, at one o'clock in the morning, in the course of +our eleventh march since leaving El Medinah, I was aroused by +general excitement. "Meccah! Meccah!" cried some voices; "the +Sanctuary! O the Sanctuary!" exclaimed others. I looked out from my +litter, and saw by the light of the southern stars the dim outlines +of a large city. We were passing over the last ridge by an +artificial cut, and presently descended to the northern suburb. I +took up my lodgings at the home of a boy, Mohammed, who had +accompanied me throughout the pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>The Kaabah, or House of Allah, at Meccah, which has already been +accurately described by the traveller Burckhardt, stands in an +oblong square, enclosed by a great wall, 257 paces long, and 210 +broad. The open space is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id= +"Page_76">76</a></span> surrounded by colonnades united by +pointed arches and surmounted by domes. The Kaabah itself is an +oblong, flat-roofed structure, 22 paces long and 18 broad; the +height appears greater than the length. It is roughly built of +large irregular blocks of the grey Meccah stone. It is supposed to +have been built and rebuilt ten times—first by the angels of +Allah before the creation—secondly by Adam; thirdly by his +son Seth; fourthly by Abraham and his son; the eighth rebuilding +was during the lifetime of the Prophet.</p> + +<p>On the morning of our arrival we bathed and proceeded in our +pilgrim garb to the sanctuary. There it lay, the bourne of my long +and weary pilgrimage. Here was no Egyptian antiquity, no Greek +beauty, no barbaric gorgeousness; yet the view was strange, unique; +and how few have looked upon the celebrated shrine! I may truly say +that of all the worshippers there, not one felt for the moment a +deeper emotion than did the Haji from the far north. But, to +confess humbling truth, theirs was the high feeling of religious +enthusiasm; mine was the ecstasy of gratified pride.</p> + +<p>After drinking holy water, we approached as near as we could to +the sacred Black Stone, the subject of so much sacred Oriental +tradition, and prayed before it. The stone was surrounded by a +crowd of pilgrims, kissing it and pressing their hearts against it. +Then followed the ceremony of circumambulation. Seven times we +passed round the Kaabah, which was draped in a huge dark curtain, +to which pilgrims clung weeping. The boy Mohammed, by physical +violence, made a way to the Black Stone. While kissing it, I +narrowly observed it, and came away persuaded that it is a big +aërolite. After several other ceremonies, I left the holy +place thoroughly exhausted.</p> + +<p>I did not enter the interior of the Kaabah until later. Nothing +could be more simple; a marble floor, red damask hangings, three +columns supporting the cross-beams of<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> the ceiling, many lamps +said to be of gold, and a safe of aloe-wood, sometimes containing +the key of the building, were all that was to be seen. Many +pilgrims refuse to enter the Kaabah for religious reasons. Those +who tread the hallowed floor are bound, among many other things, +never again to walk barefooted, to take up fire with the fingers, +or to tell lies. These stipulations, especially the last-named, are +too exacting for Orientals.</p> + +<p>Meccah is an expensive place during the pilgrimage. The fees +levied by the guardians of the Kaabah are numerous and heavy. The +citizens make large sums out of the entertainment of pilgrims; they +are, for the most part, covetous spendthrifts, who anticipate the +pilgrimage by falling into the hands of the usurer, and then +endeavour to "skin" the richer Hajis.</p> + +<p>On September 12 we set forth for the ceremonies at Mount Arafat, +where Adam rejoined Eve after the Fall, and where he was instructed +by the archangel Gabriel to erect a house of prayer. At least +50,000 pilgrims were encamped at the foot of the holy mountain. On +the day after our arrival we climbed to the sacred spots, and in +the afternoon a sermon was preached on the mountain, which I did +not hear—being engaged, let me confess, in a flirtation with +a fair Meccan. At length the preacher gave the signal to depart, +and everyone hurried away with might and main. The plain bristled +with tent-pegs, litters were crushed, pedestrians trampled and +camels overthrown; single combats with sticks and other weapons +took place; briefly, it was a state of chaotic confusion.</p> + +<p>Next day was performed, at Muna, on the way back to Meccah, the +ceremony of stoning the Shaytan el Kabir, or Great Devil, who is +represented by a dwarf buttress placed against a rough wall of +stones. The buttress was surrounded by a swarm of pilgrims, mounted +and on foot, eager to get as near to the Great Devil as possible. I +found myself under the stomach of a fallen dromedary,<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> and had +great difficulty in extricating myself; the boy Mohammed emerged +from the tumult with a bleeding nose. Schooled by adversity, we +bided our time ere approaching to cast the seven stones required by +the ceremonial.</p> + +<p>At Muna sheep were sacrificed by those pilgrims who, like +myself, had committed breaches of the rules. Literally, the land +stank. Five or six thousand animals were slain and cut up in this +Devil's punch-bowl. I leave the reader to imagine the rest. When I +had completed El Umrah, or the little pilgrimage—a +comparatively simple addition to the other ceremonies—I +deemed it expedient to leave Meccah. The danger of detection was +constantly before me; for had my disguise been penetrated, even +although the authorities had been willing to protect me, I should +certainly have been slain by indignant devotees.</p> + +<p>Issuing from Meccah into the open plain, I felt a thrill of +pleasure—such pleasure as only the captive delivered from his +dungeon can experience. At dawn the next morning (September 23) we +sighted the maritime plain of Jeddah, situated 44 miles distant +from Meccah. Worn out with fatigue, I embarked on a vessel of the +Bombay Steam Navigation Company, received the greatest kindness +from the officers (I had revealed my identity to the British consul +at Jeddah), and in due time arrived at Suez.</p> + +<p>Let me conclude in the words of a long-dead brother traveller, +Fa-hian, "I have been exposed to perils, and I have escaped them; +and my heart is moved with emotions of gratitude that I have been +permitted to effect the objects I had in view."</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"> +79</a></span></p> + +<h4>SIR WILLIAM BUTLER</h4> + +<h4>The Great Lone Land</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The Red River Expedition</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Sir William Francis Butler, G.C.B., born at Suirville, +Tipperary, Ireland, Oct. 31, 1838, was educated at the Jesuit +College, Tullabeg, King's County, and joined the British Army as an +ensign in the 69th Regiment in 1858. In 1877 he married Miss +Thompson, the celebrated painter of "The Roll Call." Sir William +Butler is a versatile writer, his works embracing records of +travel, histories of military campaigns, biographies, and fiction. +His first book was "The Great Lone Land," published in 1872. Half +the volume is devoted to a sketch of the early history of the +northwest regions of Canada, and to tracing the causes which led to +the rebellion of the settlers—principally +half-breeds—under Louis Riel, against the Canadian Government +in 1870. He describes the romantic part he took in the bloodless +campaign of the expeditionary force under Colonel (now Lord) +Wolseley, from Lake Superior to Winnipeg, for its suppression. In +the other half of the book he describes his journey on a special +mission for the Canadian Government to the Hudson Bay forts and +Indian camps in the valleys of the North and South Saskatchewan +Rivers. Sir William, as a writer, has the rich vocabulary of the +cultivated Celt; he presents many striking word pictures of the +natural scenery of the regions he traversed. He was almost the +first to proclaim the possibilities of the settlement of the +Saskatchewan prairies, now receiving such an influx of population +from all over the world.</p> +</div> + +<p>It was a period of universal peace over the world. Some of the +great powers were even bent on disarming. To be more precise, the +time was the close of the year 1869. But in the very farthest West, +somewhere between the Rocky Mountains, Hudson Bay, and Lake +Superior, along the river called the Red River of the North, a +people, of whom nobody could tell who and what they were, had risen +in insurrection.</p> + +<p>Had the country bordering on the Red River been an unpeopled +wilderness, the plan of transferring the land<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> of the +Northwest from the Hudson Bay Company to the crown, and from the +crown to the Dominion of Canada, might have been an eminently wise +one. But, unfortunately, it was a country which had been originally +settled by the Earl of Selkirk in 1812 with Scots from the Highland +counties and the Orkney Islands, and subsequently by French +<i>voyageurs</i> from Lower Canada.</p> + +<p>There were 15,000 persons living in peaceful possession of the +soil thus transferred, and these persons very naturally objected to +have themselves and their possessions signed away without one word +of consent or note of approbation. Hence began the rebellion led by +Louis Riel, who, with his followers, seized Fort Garry, with all +its stores of arms, guns, provisions, dominated the adjacent +village of Winnipeg, and established what was called a Provisional +Government. The rebels went steadily from violence to pillage, from +pillage to robbery, much supplemented by drunkenness and +dictatorial debauchery; and, finally, on March 4, 1870, with many +accessories of cruelty, shot to death a loyalist Canadian prisoner +they had taken, named Thomas Scott.</p> + +<p>When, at the beginning of April 1870, news came of the projected +dispatch of an armed force from Canada against Louis Riel and his +malcontent followers at the Red River, there was one who hailed in +the approaching expedition the chance of a solution to the +difficulties which had beset him in his career. That one was +myself. Going to the nearest telegraph station, I sent a message to +the leader: "Please remember me." I sailed at once for Canada, +visited Toronto, Quebec, and Montreal, interviewed many personages, +and finally received instructions on June 12 from those in +authority to proceed west.</p> + +<p>The expedition had started some time before for its true base of +operations, Fort William, on the north-west shore of Lake Superior. +It was to work its way from Lake Superior to the Red River through +British territory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id= +"Page_81">81</a></span> My instructions were to pass +round by the United States, and, after ascertaining the likelihood +of a Fenian intervention from the side of Minnesota and Dakota, to +arrange for supplies for the expeditionary force from St. Paul; +then to endeavour to reach Colonel Wolseley beyond the Red River, +with all the tidings I could gather as to the state of parties and +the chances of fight. At St. Paul my position was not at all a +pleasant one. My identity as a British officer became known, and to +escape unnecessary attention I paid a flying visit to Lake Superior +and then pushed on to Fort Abercrombie. I could find no evidence at +either place that there was a possibility at Vermilion Lakes, +eighty miles north of the latter place, of any filibusters making a +dash at the communications of the expeditionary force.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, at Frog's Point on the Red River, I joined the +steamer International, which took me down to a promontory within a +couple of hundred yards of the junction of the Assiniboine and Red +rivers, where, with the connivance of the captain, I jumped ashore +and escaped Riel's scouts, who had heard of my coming, and had been +ordered by their leader to bring me into Fort Garry, "dead or +alive." After a pursuit of several hours in the dark, in which I +had a narrow "shave" of being captured, I reached the lower fort, +occupied by loyalists, and thence passed on next day to an Indian +settlement. This was on July 23.</p> + +<p>Riel, learning where I was, sent a messenger to say that the +pursuit of me had all been a mistake, and that I might safely come +to Fort Garry. I was anxious to see the position of affairs at the +fort, and I repaired thither, passing without challenge a sentry +who was leaning lazily against a wall. There were two flagstaffs; +one flew a Union Jack in shreds and tatters, and the other a bit of +bunting with a <i>fleur-de-lys</i> and a shamrock on a white field. +I was conducted to a house, and asked if I wished to see Mr. Riel. +"To call upon him?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id= +"Page_82">82</a></span> "Yes." "Certainly not!" "But if he +calls upon you?" "Then I will see him."</p> + +<p>A door opened, and there entered a short, stout man with a large +head; a sallow, puffy face; a sharp, restless, intelligent eye; his +square-cut, massive forehead overhung by a mass of long and thickly +clustering hair, and marked with well-cut eyebrows—altogether +a remarkable-looking face. This was Louis Riel. He was dressed in a +curious mixture of clothing—a black frock coat, vest, +trousers, and Indian mocassins. In the course of the interview he +denied he was making preparation to resist the approaching British +expeditionary force. Everything he had done had been for the sake +of peace and to prevent bloodshed; but if the expedition tried to +put him out of his position, they would find they could not do it, +and he would keep what was his till a proper governor arrived!</p> + +<p>Eventually he said: "Had I been your enemy, you would have known +it before. I heard you would not visit me, and although I felt +humiliated, I came to see you to show my pacific inclinations."</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Expedition in the +Wilderness</i></div> + +<p>An hour later I left the fort, hastened to my old quarters at +the Indian settlement, and started by canoe to seek the coming +expedition. We paddled down the Red River to Lake Winnipeg, +crossing which we entered the mouth of the Winnipeg River, and came +to Fort Alexandra, a mile up stream.</p> + +<p>This river has an immense volume of water. It descends 360 feet +in a distance of 160 miles by a series of terraces; it is full of +eddies and whirlpools; has every variety of waterfall, from chutes +to cataracts; it expands into lonely pine-cliffed lakes and +far-reaching island-studded bays. My Ojibway crew with infinite +skill accomplished the voyage up-stream, surmounting falls<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +and cataracts by making twenty-seven portages in five days from +leaving Fort Alexandra, during which we had only encountered two +solitary Indians. It was on the evening of July 30 that we reached +the Lake of the Woods. Through a perfect maze of islands, we +steered across this wonderfully beautiful sheet of water to the +mouth of the Rainy River, up which we paddled to Fort Francis, +where we arrived on August 4, and heard, for the first time, news +of the expeditionary force.</p> + +<p>We were now 400 miles from Fort Garry, and 180 miles beyond the +spot where I had counted upon falling in with them. Next morning we +paddled up to the foot of a rapid which the river makes as it flows +out of the Rainy Lake. Glancing along the broad waters of the lake +the glint of something strange caught my sight. Yes, there they +were! Coming with the full swing of eight paddles, swept a large +North-west canoe, its Iroquois paddlers timing their strokes to an +old French chant. We put into the rocky shore, and, mounting upon a +crag which guarded the head of the rapid, I waved to the leading +canoe as it swept along. In the centre sat a figure in uniform, +with a forage-cap on head, and I could see that he was scanning +through a field-glass the strange figure that waved a welcome from +the rock. Soon they entered the rapid, and at the foot, where I +joined the large canoe, Colonel Wolseley called out: "Where on +earth have you dropped from?" "From Fort Garry," said I; "twelve +days out, sir."</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to describe the voyage to Fort Garry along the +same route which I had taken in my canoe. The expeditionary force +consisted of 400 of the 60th Rifles, soldiers whose muscles and +sinews, taxed and tested by continuous toil, had been developed to +a pitch of excellence seldom equalled, and whose appearance and +physique told of the glorious climate of these northern solitudes. +There were also two regiments of Canadian militia, who had +undergone the same hardships. Some<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> accidents had occurred +during the journey of 600 miles through the wilderness. There had +been many "close shaves" of rock and rapid, but no life had been +lost.</p> + +<p>The expedition camped on August 23 within six miles of Fort +Garry. All through the day the river-banks were enlivened with +people shouting welcome to the soldiers, and church-bells rang out +peals of gladness as the boats passed by. I was scouring the woods, +but found no Riel to dispute the passage. Next morning the troops +began to disembark from the boats for the final advance to Fort +Garry at a bend in the Red River named Point Douglas, two miles +from the fort. Preceded by skirmishers and followed by a +rear-guard, the little force drew near Fort Garry. There was no +sign of occupation; no flag on the flagstaff, no men upon the +walls, no sign of resistance visible. The gate facing the +Assiniboine River was open, and two mounted men entered the fort at +a gallop. On the top steps stood a tall, majestic-looking +man—an officer of the Hudson Bay Company, who alternately +welcomed with uplifted hat the new arrivals, and denounced in no +stinted terms one or two miserable-looking men who cowered beneath +his reproaches.</p> + +<p>With insult and derision Riel and his colleagues had fled from +the scene of their triumph and their crimes. On the bare flagstaff +in the fort the Union Jack was once more hoisted, and from the +battery found in the square a royal salute of twenty-one guns told +settler and savage that the man who had been "elevated by the grace +of Providence and the suffrages of his fellow-citizens to the +highest position in the government of his country," had been +ignominiously expelled therefrom. The breakfast in Government House +was found untouched, and thus that tempest in the teacup, the +revolt of Red River, found a fitting conclusion in the president's +untasted tea!</p> + +<p>Colonel Wolseley had been given no civil authority,<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> and a +wild scene of drunkenness and debauchery among the <i>voyageurs</i> +and Indians followed the arrival of the troops; but when the Hon. +Mr. Archibald, the Civil Governor, reached Winnipeg, he set matters +completely to rest. Before ten days elapsed the regular troops +commenced their return journey to Canada. On September 10, Colonel +Wolseley also took his leave, and I was left alone in Fort Garry. +The Red River expedition was over. My long journey seemed finished; +but I was mistaken, for it was only about to begin.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—In the Far North-west</i></div> + +<p>Early in the second week of October the Hon. Mr. Archibald, +Lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, offered me, and I accepted, a +mission to the Saskatchewan Valley and through the Indian countries +of the West, and on the 24th of that month I quitted Fort Garry and +commenced my long journey. My instructions were to inquire into the +state of affairs in the territory; to obtain every particular in +connection with the rise and spread of the scourge of small-pox, +from which thousands of Indians, Esquimaux, and others had lately +perished; to distribute medicines suitable for its treatment to +every fort, post, clergyman, or intelligent person belonging to the +settlements, or outside the Hudson Bay Company's posts.</p> + +<p>I made the first stage of 230 miles in five days to Fort Ellice, +where we stayed a couple of days to make preparations for the +winter journey into the Great Lone Land. It was near the close of +the Indian summer, and we travelled at the rate of fifty miles a +day, I riding my little game horse Blackie, while the Red River +cart, containing the baggage and medicines, was drawn by six +horses—three in the shafts for a spell, the other three +running free alongside.</p> + +<p>Between Fort Ellice and Carlton Fort you pass<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> through +the region of the Touchwood Hills, around which are immense plains +scored with the tracks of the countless buffaloes which, until a +few years ago, roamed in vast herds between the Saskatchewan and +Assiniboine. On November 4, and on several successive days +thereafter, snowstorms burst upon us, and the whole country around +was hidden in the dense mist of driving snowflakes.</p> + +<p>On the 7th we emerged upon a hill plateau, and 300 feet below +was raging the mighty South Saskatchewan, with great masses of +floating, grinding ice. We contrived a raft made from the box of +the wagon, but we could not accomplish the passage in it. Later on, +hard frost having set in, we were able to cross the river on foot, +with the loss of my horse Blackie, and when half a dozen of the +twenty miles to Carlton Fort had been covered we met a party from +it, including the officer in charge. The first question was, "What +of the plague?" And the answer was that it had burned itself +out.</p> + +<p>On November 14, we set out again on our western journey, and +crossed the North Saskatchewan. On account of the snow we had +discarded our cart and used sleds. Travelling over hill and dale +and frozen lake, we lost the way in the wilderness, but, taking a +line by myself, steering by the stars, I came on November 17 to +Fort Pitt, after having been fifteen hours on end in the +saddle.</p> + +<p>Fort Pitt was free of small-pox, but 100 Crees had perished +close around its stockades. The unburied dead lay for days, until +the wolves came and fought over the decaying bodies. The living +remnant had fled in despair six weeks before my arrival. When we +renewed our journey on November 20, the weather became +comparatively mild, and our course lay through rich, well-watered +valleys with groves of spruce and pine. Edmonton, which we reached +on November 26, is the headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company's +Saskatchewan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"> +87</a></span> trade and the residence of a chief factor of the +corporation.</p> + +<p>My objective after leaving Edmonton on December 1 was Rocky +Mountain House, 180 miles distant by horse-trail. Our way led over +hills and plains and the great frozen Gull Lake to the Pas-co-pee, +or Blind Man's River, where we camped on December 3. At midnight +there was a heavy storm of snow. Next morning we rode through the +defiles of the Three Medicine Hills, and after midday, at the +western termination of the last gorge, there lay before me a sight +to be long remembered. The great chain of the Rocky Mountains rose +their snow-clad sierras in endless succession and in unclouded +glory. The snow had cleared the atmosphere, the sky was coldly +bright.</p> + +<p>An immense plain stretched from my feet to the mountains—a +plain so vast that every object of hill and wood and lake lay +dwarfed into one continuous level. And at the back of this level, +beyond the pines and lakes and the river courses, rose the giant +range, solid, impassable, silent—a mighty barrier rising +amidst an immense land, standing sentinel over the plains and +prairies of America, over the measureless solitudes of this Great +Lone Land.</p> + +<p>That night there came a frost, and on the morning of November 5 +my thermometer showed 22 degrees below zero. Riding through the +foot hills and pine woods we suddenly emerged on the high banks of +the Saskatchewan, and in the mid distance of a deep valley was the +Mountain House. There was great excitement at my arrival. My +journey from the Red River had occupied 41 days, and I had ridden +in that time 1,180 miles.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—On the Dog Trail to Fort +Garry</i></div> + +<p>I said good-bye to my friends at the Mountain House on December +12, and once more turned my footsteps<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> eastward. Without +incident we reached Edmonton, and there changed horses and +travelled thenceforth, setting out on December 20, with three +trains of dogs—one to carry myself, and the others to carry +provisions and baggage. In fifty days of dog travel we covered a +distance of 1,300 miles, with the cold sometimes 45 degrees below +zero. Great as were the hardships and privations, the dog trail had +many moments of keen pleasure. It was January 19 when we reached +the high ground which looks down upon the forks of the Saskatchewan +River.</p> + +<p>We now entered the great sub-Arctic pine forest, the most +important preserve of those animals whose skins are rated in the +markets of Europe at four times their weight in gold. On January +22, 1871, we reached Fort-a-la-Corne, where an old travel-worn +Indian came with a mail which contained news of the surrender of +Metz, the investment of Paris, the tearing up of the Treaty of +Paris by the Prussians; and on being questioned the old man said he +had heard at Fort Garry that there was war, and that England was +gaining the day!</p> + +<p>To cross with celerity the 700 miles lying between me and Fort +Garry became the chief object of my life. The next morning, with +the lightest of equipment, I started for Cumberland House, the +oldest post of the Hudson Bay Company in the interior. There I +obtained, at fabulous expense, a train of pure Esquimaux dogs, and +started on January 31 through a region of frozen swamp for fully +100 miles. On February 7 we reached Cedar Lake, thence sped on to +Lake Winnipegoosis and Shoal Lake, across a belt of forest to +Waterhen River, which carries the surplus floods of Lake +Winnipegoosis to Lake Manitoba, the whole length of which we +traversed, camping at night on the wooded shore, and on February 19 +arrived at a mission-house fifty miles from Fort Garry. Not without +a feeling of regret was the old work<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> of tree-cutting, +fire-making, supper-frying, and dog-feeding gone through for the +last time.</p> + +<p>My mission was accomplished; but in the after-time, 'midst the +smoke and hum of cities, 'midst the prayer of churches, it needs +but little cause to recall again to the wanderer the message of the +immense meadows where far away at the portals of the setting sun +lies the Great Lone Land.</p> + +<h4><a name="Page_89a" id="Page_89a">The Wild North Land</a></h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—From Civilisation to +Savagery</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>This was Sir William Francis Butler's second book on the regions +and the people of the great Northwest of Canada. The fascination of +the wilderness had got a grip upon him, and he conveys something of +the same fascination to the reader, whom he allures through the +immense and solemn aisles of the great sub-Arctic forest, makes him +a joint-hunter after the bison on the Great Prairie, or after the +marten and the beaver on the tributary streams to the Saskatchewan +and the Assiniboine rivers. The reader is carried into the +fastnesses of the rapidly-disappearing Red Man in mid-winter, and +there are graphic revelations of the daring deeds of the half-breed +descendants of the white pioneers of the Hudson Bay Company and the +<i>habitants</i> from Lower Canada, who were the great discoverers +and exploiters of the vast country between the Great Lakes and the +Rocky Mountains, and beyond to the Pacific. Sir William's story is +restrained and convincing, and his descriptions of his adventures +in the Wild North Land and its wonderful scenery charm by their +eloquence and poetic beauty.</p> +</div> + +<p>It was late in the month of September, 1872, when, after a +summer of travel in Canada and the United States, I drew near the +banks of the Red River of the North. Two years had worked many +changes in scene and society. A "city" stood on the spot where, +during a former visit, a midnight storm had burst upon me in <span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +the then untenanted prairie. Representative institutions had been +established in the new province of Manitoba. Civilisation had +developed itself in other ways, but amidst these changes of scene +and society there was one thing still unchanged on the confines of +the Red River. Close to the stream of Frog's Point an old friend +met me with many tokens of recognition. It was my Esquimaux dog, +Cerf-Vola, who had led my train from Cumberland on the lower +Saskatchewan, across the ice of the Great Lakes. To become the +owner of this old friend again and of his new companions, Spanker +and Pony, was a work of necessity.</p> + +<p>In the earliest days of October all phases of civilisation were +passed with little regret, and at the Rat Creek, near the southern +shore of Lake Manitoba, I bade good-bye to society, pushed on to the +Hudson Bay Company's post of Beaver Creek, from which point, with +one man, three horses, three dogs, and all the requisites of food, +arms and raiment, I started on October 14 for the North-west. I was +virtually alone. My only human associate was a worthless half-breed +taken at chance. But I had other companions. A good dog is so much +more a nobler beast than an indifferent man that one sometimes +gladly exchanges the society of the one for that of the other; and +Cerf-Vola was that dog.</p> + +<p>A long distance of rolling plain, of hills fringed with +thickets, of treeless wastes and lakes spreading into unseen +declivities, stretches from between the Qu'-Appelle to the +Saskatchewan rivers. Through it the great trail to the North lays +its long, winding course, and over it broods the loneliness of the +untenanted. Alone in the vast waste Mount Spathanaw Watchi lifts +his head; a lonely grave at top; around 400 miles of horizon. +Reduced thus to its own nakedness, space stands forth with almost +terrible grandeur. It was October 25 when I once more drew near the +South Saskatchewan, and crossing to the southern shore I +turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"> +91</a></span> eastward through a rich undulating land, and made +for the Grand Forks of the Saskatchewan, which we reached in the +last days of October.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to imagine a wilder scene than that presented +from the tongue of land which rises over the junction of the North +and South Saskatchewan rivers. One river has travelled through 800 +miles of rich rolling landscape; the other has run its course of +900 miles through arid solitudes. Both have their sources in +mountain summits where the avalanche thundered forth to solitude +the tiding of their birth.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Twin Dwellers of the +Prairie</i></div> + +<p>At the foot of the high ridge which marks the junction of these +two rivers was a winter hut built by two friends who proposed to +accompany me part of the long journey I meant to take into the Wild +North Land. Our winter stock of meat had first to be gathered in, +and we accordingly turned our faces westward in quest of buffalo. +The snow had begun to fall in many storms, and the landscape was +wrapped in its winter mantle. The buffalo were 200 miles distant on +the Great Prairie. Only two wild creatures have made this grassy +desert their home—the Indian and the bison. Of the origin of +the strange, wild hunter, the keen untutored scholar of Nature, who +sickens beneath our civilisation, and dies amidst our prosperity, +fifty writers have broached various theories; but to me it seems +that he is of an older and more remote race than our own—a +stock coeval with a shadowy age, a remnant of an earlier creation +which has vanished from the earth, preserved in these wilds.</p> + +<p>As to the other wild creatures who have made their dwelling on +the Great Prairie, the millions and millions of dusky bison, during +whose migration from the Far South to the Far North the earth +trembled beneath<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id= +"Page_92">92</a></span> their tramp, and the air was filled +with the deep, bellowing of their unnumbered throats, no one can +tell their origin. Before the advent of the white man these twin +dwellers on the Great Prairie are fast disappearing.</p> + +<p>It was mid-November before we reached the buffalo, and it was on +December 3, having secured enough animals to make the needful +pemmican—a hard mixture of fat and dried buffalo meat pounded +down into a solid mass—for our long journey, that, with thin +and tired horses, we returned to the Forks of the Saskatchewan. The +cold had set in unusually early, and even in mid-November the +thermometer had fallen to thirty degrees below zero, and unmittened +fingers in handling the rifle became frozen. During the sixteen +days in which we traversed the Great Prairie on our return journey +we had not seen one human being moving over it. The picture of +desolation was complete.</p> + +<p>When the year was drawing to its close, two Cree Indians pitched +their lodge on the opposite side of the North Saskatchewan and +afforded us not a little food for amusement in the long winter +evenings. In the Red Man's mental composition there is mixed up +much simplicity and cunning, close reasoning, and child-like +suspicion, much natural quickness, sense of humour, credulousness, +power of observation, faith and fun and selfishness.</p> + +<p>Preparations had been made for my contemplated journey to the +frozen North. I only waited the arrival of the winter packet which +was to be carried 3,000 miles to distant stations of the Hudson Bay +Company. A score of different dog teams had handled it; it had +camped more than 100 nights in the Great Northern forests; but the +Indian postman, with dogs and mail, had disappeared in a water-hole +in the Saskatchewan river. On February 3, therefore, I set out with +my dog team, but without letters.</p> + +<p>Two days afterwards we came to Carlton Fort, where<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> there +was a great gathering of "agents" from all the forts of the Hudson +Bay Company in the north and west, many of them 2,000 miles +distant, and one 4,000 miles. These "agents," or "winterers," as +they are sometimes called, have to face for a long season hardship, +famine, disease, and a rigorous climate. God knows their lives are +hard. They hail generally from the remote isles or highlands of +Scotland. The routine of their lives is to travel on foot a +thousand miles in winter's darkest time, to live upon the coarsest +food, to feel cold such as Englishmen in England cannot even +comprehend, often to starve, always to dwell in exile from the +great world. Perchance, betimes, the savage scene is lost in a +dreamy vision of some lonely Scottish loch, some Druid mound in +far-away Lewis, some vista of a fireside, when storm howled and +waves ran high on the beach at Stornoway.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—The Frozen Trail</i></div> + +<p>It was brilliant moonlight on February 11 when we left Fort +Carlton, and days of rapid travel carried us far to the north into +the great sub-Arctic forest, a line of lakes forming its rampart of +defence against the wasting fires of the prairie region. The cold +was so intense that, at mid-day with the sun shining, the +thermometer stood at 26 degrees below zero. Right in our teeth blew +the bitter blast; the dogs, with low-bent heads, tugged steadily +onward; the half-breeds and Indians who drove our teams wrapped +their blankets round their heads. To run was instantly to freeze +one's face; to lie on the sled was to chill through the body to the +very marrow. It was impossible to face it long, and over and over +again we had to put in to shore amongst the trees, make a fire, and +boil some tea. Thus we trudged, until we arrived at the Forks of +the Athabasca on the last day of February.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span>In the small fort at the Forks we camped for four days to enjoy +a rest, make up new dog trains—Cerf-Vola never gave +out—and partake of the tender steak of the wood-buffalo. For +many days I had regularly used snow-shoes, and now I seldom sought +the respite of the sled, but tramped behind the dogs. Over marsh +and frozen river and portage we lagged till, on March 6, a vast +lake opened out upon our gaze, on the rising shore of which were +the clustered buildings of a large fort, with a red flag flying +above them in the cold north blast. The lake was Athabasca, the +clustered buildings Fort Chipewyan, and the flag—well, we all +knew it; but it is only when the wanderer's eye meets it in some +lone spot like this that he turns to it as the emblem of a home +which distance has shrined deeper in his heart.</p> + +<p>Athabasca means "the meeting place of many waters." In its bosom +many rivers unite their currents, and from its northwestern rim +pours the Slave River, the true Mackenzie. Its first English +discoverer called it the "Lake of the Hills." A more appropriate +title would have been the "Lake of the Winds," for fierce and wild +storms sweep over its waves.</p> + +<p>Once more the sleds were packed, once more the untiring +Cerf-Vola took his place in the leading harness, and the word +"march" was given. On the evening of March 12 I camped alone in the +wilderness, for the three Indians and half-breeds who accompanied +me were alien in every thought and feeling, and on the fourth day +after we were on the banks of the Peace River.</p> + +<p>Through 300 miles of mountain the Peace River takes its course. +Countless creeks and rivers seeks its waters; 200 miles from its +source it cleaves the main Rocky Mountain chain through a chasm +whose straight, steep cliffs frown down on the black water through +6,000 feet of dizzy verge. Farther on it curves, and for 500 miles +flows in a deep, narrow valley, from 700 feet<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> to 800 +feet below the level of the surrounding plateau. Then it reaches a +lower level, the banks become of moderate elevation, the country is +densely wooded, the large river winds in serpentine bends through +an alluvial valley; the current, once so strong, becomes sluggish, +until at last it pours itself through a delta of low-lying drift +into the Slave River, and its long course of 1,100 miles is +ended.</p> + +<p>For 900 miles there are only two breaks in the even flow of its +waters—one at a point 250 miles from its mouth, a fall of +eight feet with a short rapid above it; the other is the great +mountain cañon on the outer and lower range of the Rocky +Mountains, where a portage of twelve miles is necessary. This Peace +River was discovered in 1792 by a daring Scotsman named Alexander +Mackenzie, who was the first European that ever passed the Rocky +Mountains and crossed the northern continent of America. The Peace +River is the land of the moose, and, winter and summer, hunter and +trader, along the whole length of 900 miles, between the Peace and +Athabasca, live upon its delicious venison.</p> + +<p>This, too, is the country of the Beaver Indians. It is not +uncommon for a single Indian to render from his winter trapping 200 +marten skins, and not less than 20,000 beavers are annually killed +by the tribe. Towards the end of March the sun had become warm +enough to soften the surface snow, and therefore we were compelled +to travel during the night, when the frost hardened it, and sleep +all day.</p> + +<p>On April 1, approaching the fort of Dunvegan, we were steering +between two huge walls of sandstone rock which towered up 700 feet +above the shore. Right in our onward track stood a large, dusky +wolf. My dogs caught sight of him, and in an instant they gave +chase. The wolf kept the centre of the river, and the carriole +bounded from snow-pack to snow-pack, or shot along the level ice. +The wolf, however, sought refuge amidst<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> the rocky shore, and +the dogs turned along the trail again. Two hours later we reached +Dunvegan, after having travelled incessantly for four-and-twenty +hours. Here I rested for three days, and then pushed on to Fort St. +John—our last dog march.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Through Cañon and +Rapid</i></div> + +<p>The time of winter travel had drawn to its close; the ice-road +had done its work. From April 15 the river began to break its ice +covering, and on April 20 spring had arrived; and with bud and sun +and shower came the first mosquito. I left Fort St. John on April +22, having parted with my dog train, except the faithful, untiring +Cerf-Vola; crossed the river on an ice bridge at great risk, and +horses and men scrambled up 1,000 feet to the top of the plateau. +There we mounted our steeds, and for two days followed the trail +through a country the beauty of which it is not easy to exaggerate, +and reached Half-way River, which we forded at infinite risk on a +roughly constructed raft, the horses being compelled to swim the +torrent.</p> + +<p>Crossing the Peace River at the fort known as Hudson's Hope in a +frail canoe, I narrowly escaped drowning by the craft upsetting, +losing gun and revolver, although, wonderful to relate, the gun was +recovered next day by my half-breed attendant, who dredged it with +a line and fish-hook! From Hudson's Hope we made the portage of ten +miles which avoids the great cañon of the Peace River at the +farther end of which the river becomes navigable for canoes; and +there we waited till April 29, when the ice in the upper part of +the river broke up.</p> + +<p>I took the opportunity of the delay to explore the cañon, +which at this point is 900 feet deep. Advancing cautiously to the +smooth edge of the chasm, I seized hold of a spruce-tree and looked +down. Below lay one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id= +"Page_97">97</a></span> of those grim glimpses which the earth +holds hidden, save from the eagle and the mid-day sun. Caught in a +dark prison of stupendous cliffs, hollowed beneath so that the +topmost ledge literally hung over the boiling abyss of water, the +river foamed and lashed against rock and precipice. The rocks at +the base held the record of its wrath in great trunks of trees, and +blocks of ice lying piled and smashed in shapeless ruin. It is +difficult to imagine by what process the mighty river had cloven +asunder this wilderness of rock—giving us the singular +spectacle, after it had cleared the cañon, of a wide, deep, +tranquil stream flowing through the principal mountain range of the +American continent.</p> + +<p>On May Day we started, a company of four—Little Jacques (a +French miner and trapper) as captain of the boat, another miner, my +Scottish half-breed servant, Kalder, myself, and Cerf-Vola—to +pole and paddle up-stream, fighting the battle with the current. +Many a near shave we had with the ice-floes and ice-jams. A week +afterwards we emerged from the pass to the open country, and before +us lay the central mountain system of north British Columbia, the +highest snowcapped peak of which I named Mount Garnet Wolseley, and +there we camped. A mile from camp a moose emerged from the forest; +I took bead on him and fired, aiming just below his long ears. +There was a single plunge in the water; the giant head went down, +and all was quiet. We towed him ashore and cut him up as he lay +stranded like a whale. Directly opposite the camp a huge cone +mountain arose up some eight or nine thousand feet above us, and +just ere evening fell his topmost peak, glowing white in the +sunlight, became mirrored in the clear, quiet river, while the life +stream of the moose flowed out over the tranquil surface, dyeing +the nearer waters into brilliant crimson.</p> + +<p>We came to the forks of the Peace River on May 9, took that +branch known as the Ominica, and through<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> perils without +number attempted to conquer in our canoe the passage of the deep +black cañon. Again and again we were beaten back, and even +lost our canoe in the rapids, although we afterwards recovered it +by building a raft. We discovered a mining prospector who had a +canoe at the upper end of the cañon, and agreed to exchange +canoes—he taking ours for his voyage down the river, while we +took his, after making a portage to a spot above the cañon, +where it had been cached.</p> + +<p>Three days after we entered the great central snowy range of +north British Columbia; and on the night of May 19 camped at last +at the mouth of the Wolverine Creek by quiet water. There we parted +with the river, having climbed up to near the snow-line, and next +day reached the mining camp of Germansen, where I stayed several +days and became acquainted personally or by reputation with the +leading "boys" of the northern mining country. Twelve miles from +Germansen there was another mining camp, the Mansen, and from +thence on to May 25 I started, in company with an express agent, to +walk across the Bald Mountains, on the topmost ridge of which the +snow ever dwells. On the other side of the mountains we packed our +goods on horses which we had obtained, and pushed forward, only to +encounter storms of snow and sleet on the summit of the table-land +which divides the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans.</p> + +<p>Then followed the trail of the long ascent up Look-Out Mountain, +from which we gazed on 500 snowy peaks along the horizon, while the +slopes immediately beneath us were covered with the Douglas pine, +the monarch of the Columbian forest. It was May 29 when we entered +the last post of the Hudson Bay Company, St. James Fort on the +southeast shore of the beautiful Stuart's Lake, the favourite home +of innumerable salmon and colossal sturgeon, some of the latter +weighing as much as 800 lb. After a day's delay I parted with<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> +my half-breed Kalder, took canoe down the Stuart River to the spot +where the trail crosses the stream, and then camped for the night. +Having procured horses, we rode through a rich land which fringes +the banks of the Nacharcole River. Then during the first two days +of June we journeyed through a wild, undulating country, filled +with lakes and rolling hills, and finally drew rein on a ridge +overlooking Quesnelle. Before me spread civilisation and the waters +of the Pacific; behind me vague and vast, lay a hundred memories of +the Wild North Land; and for many reasons it is fitting to end this +story here.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"> +100</a></span></p> + +<h4>JAMES COOK</h4> + +<h4>Voyages Round the World</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—To the South Seas</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Captain James Cook, son of a farm labourer, was born at Martin +Cleveland, England, on October 27, 1728. Picking up knowledge at +the village school, tending cows in the fields, apprenticed at +Staithes, near Whitby, the boy eventually ran away to sea. In 1755, +volunteering for the Royal Navy, he sailed to North America in the +Eagle; then, promoted to be master of the Mercury, he did efficient +service in surveying the St. Lawrence in co-operation with General +Wolfe. His first voyage of discovery was in the Endeavour with a +party to observe the transit of Venus in 1768, and after three +years he returned, to start again, on his second voyage, in 1772, +with the Resolution and Adventure to verify reports of a southern +continent in the Pacific. His third and last voyage in the +Resolution led him to explore the coast of North America as far as +Icy Cape, and returning to the Sandwich Islands, he met his death +while pacifying some angry natives on the shore of Owhyhee +(Hawaii), on February 14, 1779. The original folio edition of the +"Voyages" was published in 1784, compiled from journals of Cook, +Banks, Solander, and others who accompanied him.</p> +</div> + +<p>We left Plymouth Sound on August 26, 1768, and spent five days +at Madeira, where Nature has been very liberal with her gifts, but +the people lack industry. On reaching Rio de Janeiro, the captain +met with much incivility from the viceroy, who would not let him +land for a long time; but when we walked through the town the +females showed their welcome by throwing nosegays from the windows. +Dr. Solander and two other gentlemen of our party received so many +of these love-tokens that they threw them away by hatfuls.</p> + +<p>When we came in sight of Tierra del Fuego, the captain went +ashore to discourse with the natives, who rose up and threw away +the small sticks which they held in<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> their hands, as a +token of amity. Snow fell thick, and we were warned by the doctor +that "whoever sits down will sleep, and whoever sleeps will wake no +more." But he soon felt so drowsy that he lay down, and we could +hardly keep him awake. Setting sail again, we passed the strait of +Le Maire and doubled Cape Horn, and then, as the ship came near to +Otaheite, where the transit of Venus was observed, the captain +issued a new rule to this effect: "That in order to prevent +quarrels and confusion, every one of the ship's crew should +endeavour to treat the inhabitants of Otaheite with humanity, and +by all fair means to cultivate a friendship with them."</p> + +<p>On New Year's Day, 1770, we passed Queen Charlotte's Sound, +calling the point Cape Farewell. We found the natives of New +Zealand modest and reserved in their behaviour, and, sailing +northward for New Holland, we called a bay Botany Bay because of +the number of plants discovered there, and another Trinity Bay +because it was discovered on Trinity Sunday. After much dangerous +navigation, the ship was brought to in Endeavour River to be +refitted. On a clear day, Mr. Green, the astronomer, and other +gentlemen had landed on an island to observe the transit of +Mercury, and for this reason this spot was called Mercury Bay.</p> + +<p>Later, we discovered the mainland beyond York Islands, and here +the captain displayed the English colours, and called it New South +Wales, firing three volleys in the name of the king of Great +Britain. After we had left Booby Island in search of New Guinea, we +came in sight of a small island, and some of the officers strongly +urged the captain to send a party of men on shore to cut down the +cocoanut-trees for the sake of the fruit. This, with equal wisdom +and humanity, he peremptorily refused as unjust and cruel, sensible +that the poor Indians, who could not brook even the landing of a +small party on their coast, would have made vigorous efforts to +defend their property.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id= +"Page_102">102</a></span>Shortly afterwards, we were surprised at the sight of an island +W.S.W., which we flattered ourselves was a new discovery. Before +noon we had sight of houses, groves of trees, and flocks of sheep, +and after the boat had put off to land, horsemen were seen from the +ship, one of whom had a lace hat on, and was dressed in a coat and +waistcoat of the fashion of Europe. The Dutch colours were hoisted +over the town, and the rajah paid us a visit on board, accepting +gifts of an English dog and a spying-glass. During a short stay on +shore for the purchase of provisions, we found that the Dutch +agent, Mr. Lange, was not keeping faith with us. At his instigation +the Portuguese were driving away such of the Indians as had brought +palm-syrup and fowls to sell.</p> + +<p>At this juncture Captain Cook, happening to look at the old man +who had been distinguished by the name of Prime Minister, imagined +that he saw in his features a disapprobation of the present +proceedings, and willing to improve the advantage, he grasped the +Indian's hand, and gave him an old broadsword. This well-timed +present produced all the good effects that could be wished. The +prime minister was enraptured at so honourable a mark of +distinction, and, brandishing his sword over the head of the +impertinent Portuguese, he made both him and the men who commanded +the party sit down behind him on the ground, and the whole business +was accomplished.</p> + +<p>This island of Savu is between twenty and thirty miles long; the +women wear a kind of petticoat held up by girdles of beads, the +king and his minister a nightgown of coarse chintz, carrying a +silver-headed cane.</p> + +<p>On October 10, 1770, the captain and the rest of the gentlemen +went ashore on reaching the harbour of Batavia. Here the Endeavour +had to be refitted, and intermittent fever laid many of our party +low. Our surgeon, Dr. Monkhouse, died, our Indian boy, Tayeto, paid +the debt of Nature, and Captain Cook himself was taken ill.</p> + +<p><span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"> +103</a></span>We were glad to steer for Java, and on our way to the Cape of +Good Hope the water was purified with lime and the decks washed +with vinegar to prevent infection of fever. After a little stay at +St. Helena we sighted Beachy Head, and landed at Deal, where the +ship's company indulged freely in that mirth and social jollity +common to all English sailors upon their return from a long voyage, +who as readily forget hardships and dangers as with alacrity and +bravery they encounter them.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Round the World via the +Antarctic</i></div> + +<p>The King's expectation not being wholly answered, Captain Cook +was appointed to the Resolution, and Captain Furneaux to the +Adventure, both ships being fully equipped, with instructions to +find Cape Circumcision, said to be in latitude 54° S. and about +11° 20' E. longitude from Greenwich. Captain Cook was to +endeavour to discover whether this was part of the supposed +continent or only the promontory of an island, and then to continue +his journey southward and then eastward.</p> + +<p>On Monday, July 13, 1772, the two ships sailed from Plymouth, +passing the Eddystone, and after visiting the islands of Canaria, +Teneriffe, and others, reached the Cape of Good Hope on September +29. Here we stayed until November 22, when we directed our course +towards the Antarctic circle, meeting on December 8 with a gale of +such fury that we could carry no sails, and were driven by this +means to eastward of our intended course, not the least hope +remaining of our reaching Cape Circumcision.</p> + +<p>We now encountered in 51º 50' S. latitude and 21º 3' +E. longitude some ice islands. The dismal scene, a view to which we +were unaccustomed, was varied as well by birds of the petrel kind +as by several whales which made their appearance among the ice, and +afforded us some idea of a southern Greenland. But though the<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"> +104</a></span> appearance of the ice with the waves breaking over +it might afford a few minutes' pleasure to the eye, yet it could +not fail to fill us with horror when we reflected on our danger, +for the ship would be dashed to pieces in a moment were she to get +against the weather side of these islands, where the sea runs high. +Captain Cook had directed the Adventure, in case of separation, to +cruise three days in that place, but in a thick fog we lost sight +of her. This was a dismal prospect, for we now were exposed to the +dangers of the frozen climate without the company of our fellow +voyagers, which before had relieved our spirits when we considered +we were not entirely alone in case we lost our vessel.</p> + +<p>The spirits of our sailors were greatly exhilarated when we +reached Dusky Bay, New Zealand. Landing a shooting party at Duck +Cove, we found a native with his club and some women behind him, +who would not move. His fears, however, were all dissipated by +Captain Cook going up to embrace him. After a stay here we opened +Queen Charlotte's Sound and found the Adventure at anchor; none can +describe the joy we felt at this most happy meeting. They had +experienced terrible weather, and having made no discovery of land, +determined to bear away from Van Diemen's Land, which was supposed +to join New Holland and was discovered by Tasman, in 1642 <span +class="smcap">A.D</span>. Here they refitted their ship, and after +three months' separation met us again.</p> + +<p>During all this arduous experience of seamanship, sometimes +involved in sheets of snow, and in mists so dark that a man on the +forecastle could not be seen from the quarter-deck, it was +astonishing that the crew of the Resolution should continue in +perfect health. Nothing can redound more to the honour of Captain +Cook than his paying particular attention to the preservation of +health among his company. By observing the strictest discipline +from the highest to the lowest, his commands were duly observed and +punctually executed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id= +"Page_105">105</a></span>After a lengthened stay with the New Zealanders, and all hopes +of discovering a continent having now vanished, we were induced to +believe that there is no southern continent between New Zealand and +America, and, steering clear the island, we made our way to +Otaheite, where the Resolution lost her lower anchor in the bay. +Excursions were made inland, and King Otoo, a personable man, six +feet in height, and about thirty years of age, treated the party +with great entertainment.</p> + +<p>On January 30, 1774, we sailed from New Zealand, and reaching +latitude 67° 5' S., we found an immense field of ice with +ninety-seven ice-hills glistening white in the distance. Captain +Cook says: "I will not say it was impossible anywhere to get +further to the south, but the attempting it would have been a +dangerous and rash enterprise, and what I believe no man in any +situation would have thought of."</p> + +<p>We therefore sailed northward again, meeting with heavy storms, +and the captain, being taken ill with a colic, and in the extremity +of the case, the doctor fed him with the flesh of a favourite +dog.</p> + +<p>On the discovery of Palmerston Island—named after one of +the Lords of the Admiralty—and Savage Island, as appropriate +to the character of the natives, we had some adventures with the +Mallicos, who express their admiration by hissing like a goose.</p> + +<p>We stayed some time in Tanna, with its volcano furiously +burning, and then steering south-west, we discovered an uninhabited +island, which Captain Cook named Norfolk Island, in honour of the +noble family of Howard. We reached the Straits of Magalhaes, and, +going north, the captain gave the names of Cumberland Bay and the +Isle of Georgia, and then we found a land ice-bound and +inhospitable. At last we reached home, landing at Portsmouth on +July 30, 1775.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id= +"Page_106">106</a></span><i>III.—The Pacific Isles and the Arctic +Circle</i></div> + +<p>Former navigators had returned to Europe by the Cape of Good +Hope; the arduous task was now assigned to Captain Cook of +attempting it by reaching the high northern latitudes between Asia +and America. He was then ordered to proceed to Otaheite, or the +Society Islands, and then, having crossed the Equator into the +northern tropics, to hold such a course as might best probably give +success to the attempt of finding out a northern passage.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of July 11, 1776, Captain Cook set sail from +Plymouth in the Resolution, giving orders to Captain Clerke to +follow in the Discovery. After a short stay at Santa Cruz, in the +island of Teneriffe, we were joined by the Discovery at Cape +Town.</p> + +<p>Leaving the Cape, we passed some islands, which Captain Cook +named Princes Islands, and made for the land discovered by M. de +Kerguelen. Here, in a bay, we celebrated Christmas rejoicings amid +desolate surroundings. The captain named it Christmas Harbour, and +wrote on the other side of a piece of parchment, found in a bottle, +these words: <i>Naves Resolution et Discovery de Rege Magnæ +Britanniæ Decembris 1776</i>, and buried the same beneath a +pile of stones, waving above it the British flag.</p> + +<p>Having failed to see a human being on shore, he sailed to Van +Diemen's Land, and took the ships into Adventure Bay for water and +wood. The natives, with whom we were conversant, seemed mild and +cheerful, with little of that savage appearance common to people in +their situation, nor did they discover the least reserve or +jealousy in their intercourse with strangers.</p> + +<p>On our landing at Annamooka, in the Friendly Islands, we were +entertained with great civility by Toobou, the chief, who gave us +much amusement by a sort of pantomime,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> in which some +prizefighters displayed their feats of arms, and this part of the +drama concluded with the presentation of some laughable story which +produced among the chiefs and their attendants the most immoderate +mirth. This friendly reception was also repeated in the island of +Hapaee, where Captain Cook ordered an exhibition of fireworks, and +in return the king, Feenou, gave us an exhibition of dances in +which twenty women entered a circle, whose hands were adorned with +garlands of crimson flowers, and many of their persons were +decorated with leaves of trees, curiously scalloped, and ornamented +at the edges. In the island of Matavai it is impossible to give an +adequate idea of the joy of the natives on our arrival. The shores +everywhere resounded with the name of Cook; not a child that could +lisp "Toote" was silent.</p> + +<p>Before proceeding to the northern hemisphere we passed a cluster +of isles which Captain Cook distinguished by the name of Sandwich +Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich. They are not inferior +in beauty to the Friendly Islands, nor are the inhabitants less +ingenious or civilised.</p> + +<p>When in latitude 44° N., longitude 234° 30', the long +expected coast of New Albion, so named by Sir Francis Drake, was +descried at a distance of ten leagues, and pursuing our course we +reached the inlet which is called by the natives Nootka, but +Captain Cook gave it the name of King George's Sound, where we +moored our vessels for some time. The inhabitants are short in +stature, with limbs short in proportion to the other parts; they +are wretched in appearance and lost to every idea of cleanliness. +In trafficking with us some displayed a disposition to knavery, and +the appellation of thieves is certainly applicable to them.</p> + +<p>Between the promontory which the captain named Cape Douglas +after Dr. Douglas, the Dean of Windsor, and Point Banks is a large, +deep bay, which received the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> name of Smoky Bay; and +northward he discovered more land composed of a chain of mountains, +the highest of which obtained the name of Mount St. Augustine. But +the captain was now fully convinced that no passage could be +discovered by this inlet. Steering N.E., we discovered a passage of +waves dashing against rocks; and, on tasting the water, it proved +to be a river, and not a strait, as might have been imagined. This +we traced to the latitude of 61° 30' and the longitude of +210°, which is upwards of 210 miles from its entrance, and saw +no appearance of its source. [Here the captain having left a blank +in his journal, which he had not filled up with any particular +name, the Earl of Sandwich very properly directed it to be called +Cook's River.] The time we spent in the discovery of Cook's River +ought not to be regretted if it should hereafter prove useful to +the present or any future age, but the delay thus occasioned was an +effectual loss to us, who had a greater object in view. The season +was far advanced, and it was now evident that the continent of +North America extended much further to the west than we had reason +to expect from the most approved charts. A bottle was buried in the +earth containing some English coins of 1772, and the point of land +was called Point Possession, being taken under the flag in the name +of His Majesty.</p> + +<p>After passing Foggy Island, which we supposed from its situation +to be the island on which Behring had bestowed the same +appellation, we were followed by some natives in a canoe who sent +on board a small wooden box which contained a piece of paper in the +Russian language. To this was prefixed the date 1778, and a +reference made therein to the year 1776, from which we were +convinced that others had preceded us in visiting these dreary +regions.</p> + +<p>While staying at Oonalaska we observed to the north of Cape +Prince of Wales, neither tide nor current either on the coast of +America or that of Asia. This circumstance<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> gave rise to an +opinion which some of our people entertained, that the two coasts +were connected either by land or ice, and that opinion received +some degree of strength from our never having seen any hollow waves +from the northward, and from our seeing ice almost all the way +across.</p> + +<p>We were now by the captain's intention to proceed to Sandwich +Islands in order to pass a few of the winter months there, if we +should meet with the necessary refreshments, and then direct our +course to Kamtchatka in the ensuing year.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Life's Voyage Suddenly +Ended</i></div> + +<p>We reached the island called by the natives Owhyhee with the +summits of its mountains covered with snow. Here an eclipse of the +moon was observed. We discovered the harbour of Karakakooa, which +we deemed a proper place for refitting the ships, our masts and +rigging having suffered much. On going ashore Captain Cook +discovered the habitation of the Society of Priests, where he was +present at some solemn ceremonies and treated with great civility. +Afterwards the captain conducted the king, Terreeoboo, on to the +ship with every mark of attention, giving him a shirt, and on our +visits afterwards on shore we trusted ourselves among the natives +without the least reserve.</p> + +<p>Some time after, however, we noticed a change in their attitude. +Following a short absence in search of a better anchorage, we found +our reception very different, in a solitary and deserted bay with +hardly a friend appearing or a canoe stirring. We were told that +Terreeoboo was absent, and that the bay was tabooed. Our party on +going ashore was met by armed natives, and a scuffle arose about +the theft of some articles from the Discovery, and Pareea, our +friendly native, was, through a misunderstanding, knocked down with +an oar. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id= +"Page_110">110</a></span> Terreeoboo came and complained of +our having killed two of his people.</p> + +<p>On Sunday, February 14, 1779, that memorable day, very early in +the morning, there was excitement on shore, and Captain Cook, +taking his double-barrelled gun, went ashore to seize Terreeoboo, +and keep him on board, according to his usual practice, until the +stolen boat should be returned. He ordered that every canoe should +be prevented from leaving the bay, and the captain then awoke the +old king and invited him with the mildest terms to visit the ship. +After some disputation he set out with Captain Cook, when a woman +near the waterside, the mother of the king's two boys, entreated +him to go no further, and two warriors obliged him to sit down. The +old king, filled with terror and dejection, refused to move, +notwithstanding all the persuasions of Captain Cook, who, seeing +further attempts would be risky, came to the shore. At the same +time two principal chiefs were killed on the opposite side of the +bay. A native armed with a long iron spike threatened Captain Cook, +who at last fired a charge of small shot at him, but his mat +prevented any harm. A general attack upon the marines in the boat +was made, and with fury the natives rushed upon them, dangerously +wounding several of them.</p> + +<p>The last time the captain was distinctly seen he was standing at +the water's edge, ordering the boats to cease firing and pull in, +when a base assassin, coming behind him and striking him on the +head with his club, felled him to the ground, in such a direction +that he lay with his face prone to the water.</p> + +<p>A general shout was set up by the islanders on seeing the +captain fall, and his body was dragged on shore, where he was +surrounded by the enemy, who, snatching daggers from each other's +hands, displayed a savage eagerness to join in his destruction. It +would seem that vengeance was directed chiefly against our captain, +by whom they supposed their king was to be<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> dragged on board +and punished at discretion; for, having secured his body, they fled +without much regarding the rest of the slain, one of whom they +threw into the sea.</p> + +<p>Thus ended the life of the greatest navigator that this or any +other nation could ever boast of, who led his crews of gallant +British seamen twice round the world, reduced to a certainty the +non-existence of a southern continent, about which the learned of +all nations were in doubt, settled the boundaries of the earth and +sea, and demonstrated the impracticability of a north-west passage +from the Atlantic to the great southern ocean, for which our ablest +geographers had contended, and in pursuit of which vast sums had +been spent in vain, and many mariners had miserably perished.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"> +112</a></span></p> + +<h4>WILLIAM DAMPIER</h4> + +<h4>New Voyage Round the World</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Buccaneering in Southern +Seas</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>William Dampier, buccaneer and circumnavigator, was born at East +Coker, Somersetshire, England, in 1652, and died in London in +March, 1715. At sea, as a youth, he fought against the Dutch in +1673, and remained in Jamaica as a plantation overseer. Next he +became a logwood cutter on the Bay of Campeachy, and finding +himself short of wood to barter for provisions, joined the +privateers who waged piratical war on Spaniards and others, making +"many descents among the villages." Returning to England in 1678, +he sailed again in that year for Jamaica; "but it proved to be a +voyage round the world," as described in his book, and he did not +reach home till 1691. In 1698 he was given command of a ship, in +which he explored the Australian coast, but in returning was +wrecked on the Isle of Ascension. In 1711 he piloted the expedition +of Captain Woodes-Rogers which rescued Alexander Selkirk from the +Island of Juan Fernandez. The "New Voyage Round the World," which +was first published in 1697, shows Dampier to be a man of +considerable scientific knowledge, his observations of natural +history being trustworthy and accurate.</p> +</div> + +<p>I first set out of England on this voyage at the beginning of +the year 1679, in the Loyal Merchant, of London, bound for Jamaica, +Captain Knapman commander. I went a passenger, designing when I +came thither to go from thence to the Bay of Campeachy, in the Gulf +of Mexico, to cut logwood. We arrived safely at Port Royal in +Jamaica, in April, 1679, and went immediately ashore. I had brought +some goods with me from England, which I intended to sell here, and +stock myself with rum and sugar, saws, axes, hats, stockings, +shoes, and such other commodities as I knew would sell among the +Campeachy logwood-cutters. About Christmas one Mr. Hobby invited me +to go a short trading voyage to<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> the country of the +Mosquito Indians. We came to an anchor in Negril Bay, at the west +end of Jamaica; but, finding there Captains Coxon, Sawkins, Sharpe, +and other privateers, Mr. Hobby's men all left him to go with them +upon an expedition; and being thus left alone, after three or four +days' stay with Mr. Hobby, I was the more easily persuaded to go +with them too.</p> + +<p>I was resolved to march by land over the Isthmus of Darien. +Accordingly, on April 5, 1680, we went ashore on the isthmus, near +Golden Island, one of the Sambaloes, to the number of between 300 +and 400 men, carrying with us such provisions as were necessary, +and toys wherewith to gratify the wild Indians. In about nine days' +march we arrived at Santa Maria, and took it, and after a stay +there of about three days, we went on to the South Sea coast, and +there embarked ourselves in such canoes and periagoes as our Indian +friends furnished us withal. We were in sight of Panama on April +23, and having in vain attempted Pueblo Nuevo, before which +Sawkins, then commander-in-chief, and others, were killed, we made +some stay at the isle of Quibo.</p> + +<p>About Christmas we were got as far as the isle of Juan +Fernandez, where Captain Sharpe was, by general consent, displaced +from being commander, the company being not satisfied either with +his courage or behaviour. In his stead Captain Watling was +advanced; but he being killed shortly after before Arica, where we +were repulsed with great loss, we were without a commander. Off the +island of Plata we left Captain Sharpe and those who were willing +to go with him in the ship, and embarked into our launch and +canoes. We were in number forty-four white men who bore arms; a +Spanish Indian, who bore arms also, and two Mosquito Indians, who +always have arms among the privateers, and are much valued by them +for striking fish and turtle, or tortoise, and manatee, or sea-cow; +and five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"> +114</a></span> slaves taken in the South Seas, who fell to our +share. We sifted as much flour as we could well carry, and rubbed +up twenty or thirty pounds of chocolate, with sugar to sweeten it; +these things and a kettle the slaves carried on their backs after +we landed.</p> + +<p>We gave out that if any man faltered in the journey overland he +must expect to be shot to death; for we knew that the Spaniards +would soon be after us, and one man falling into their hands might +well be the ruin of us all. Guided by the Indians, we finished our +journey from the South Sea to the North in twenty-three days.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Adventures with the +Privateers</i></div> + +<p>It was concluded to go to a town called Coretaga (Cartagena), +and march thence on Panama. I was with Captain Archembo; but his +French seamen were the saddest creatures ever I was among. So, +meeting Captain Wright, who had taken a Spanish tartane (a +one-masted vessel) with four petereroes for stone shot, and some +long guns, we that came overland desired him to fit up his prize +and make a man-of-war of her for us. This he did, and we sailed +towards Blewfields River, where we careened our tartane.</p> + +<p>While we lay here our Mosquito men went in their canoe and +struck some sea-cow. This creature is about the bigness of a horse, +and ten or twelve feet long. The mouth of it is much like the mouth +of a cow, having great thick lips. The eyes are no bigger than a +small pea; the ears are only two small holes on the side of the +head; the neck is short and thick, bigger than the head. The +biggest part of this creature is at the shoulders, where it has two +large fins, one at each side of its belly.</p> + +<p>A calf that sucks is the most delicate meat; privateers commonly +roast them. The skin of the manatee is of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> great use to +privateers, for they cut them out into straps, which they make fast +on the sides of their canoes, through which they put their oars in +rowing, instead of pegs. The skin of the bull, or of the back of +the cow, they cut into horsewhips, twisted when green, and then +hung to dry.</p> + +<p>The Mosquitoes, two in a canoe, have a staff about eight feet +long, almost as big as a man's arm at the great end, where there is +a hole to place the harpoon in. At the other end is a piece of +light wood, with a hole in it, through which the small end of the +staff comes; and on this piece of bob-wood there is a line of ten +or twelve fathoms wound neatly about, the end of the line made fast +to it. The other end of the line is made fast to the harpoon, and +the Mosquito man keeps about a fathom of it loose in his hand.</p> + +<p>When he strikes, the harpoon presently comes out of the staff, +and as the manatee swims away the line runs off from the bob; and +although at first both staff and bob may be carried under water, +yet as the line runs off it will rise again. When the creature's +strength is spent they haul it up to the canoe's side, knock it on +the head, and tow it ashore.</p> + +<p>When we had passed by Cartagena we descried a sail off at sea and chased +her. Captain Wright, who sailed best, came up with her and engaged her; +then Captain Yanky, and they took her before we came up. We lost two or +three men, and had seven or eight wounded. The prize was a ship of +twelve guns and forty men, who had all good small arms; she was laden +with sugar and tobacco, and had eight or ten tons of marmalade on board. +We went to the Isle of Aves, where the Count d'Estrées's whole +squadron, sent to take Curaçoa for the French, had been wrecked. +Coming in from the eastward, the count fell in on the back of the reef, +and fired guns to give warning to the rest. But they, supposing their +admiral was engaged with enemies, crowded all sail and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" +id= "Page_116">116</a></span> ran ashore after him, for his light in the +maintop was an unhappy beacon. The men had time enough to get ashore, +yet many perished. There were about forty Frenchmen on board one of the +ships, where there was good store of liquor. The afterpart of her broke +away and floated off to sea, with all the men drinking and singing, who, +being in drink, did not mind the danger, but were never heard of +afterwards.</p> + +<p>Captain Payne, commander of a privateer of six guns, had a +pleasant accident at this island. He came hither to careen, +therefore hauled into the harbour and unrigged his ship. A Dutch +ship of twenty guns seeing a ship in the harbour, and knowing her +to be a French privateer, came within a mile of her, intending to +warp in and take her next day, for it is very narrow going in. +Captain Payne got ashore, and did in a manner conclude he must be +taken; but spied a Dutch sloop turning to get into the road, and +saw her, at the evening, anchor at the west end of the island. In +the night he sent two canoes aboard the sloop, took her, and went +away in her, making a good reprisal, and leaving his own empty ship +to the Dutchman.</p> + +<p>While we lay on the Caracas coast we went ashore in some of the +bays, and took seven or eight tons of cacao; and after that three +barques, one laden with hides, the second with European +commodities, the third with earthenware and brandy. With these +three barques we went to the island of Roques, where we shared our +commodities. Twenty of us took one of the vessels, and our share of +the goods, and went directly for Virginia, where we arrived in July +1682.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—On Robinson Crusoe's +Island</i></div> + +<p>I now enter upon the relation of a new voyage, proceeding from +Virginia by the way of Tierra del Fuego and the South Seas, the +East Indies, and so on, till my<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> return to England by +way of the Cape of Good Hope. On August 23, 1683, we sailed from +Achamack (Accomack), in Virginia, under the command of Captain +Cook. On February 6 we fell in with the Straits of Le Maire, and on +February 14, being in latitude 57°, and to the west of Cape +Horn, we had a violent storm, which held us till March +3—thick weather all the time, with small, drizzling rain. The +nineteenth day we saw a ship, and lay muzzled to let her come up +with us, for we supposed her to be a Spanish ship. This proved to +be one Captain Eaton, from London. Both being bound for Juan +Fernandez's Isle, we kept company, and we spared him bread and +beef, and he spared us water.</p> + +<p>On March 22, 1684, we came in sight of the island, and the next +day got in and anchored. We presently went ashore to seek for a +Mosquito Indian whom we left here when we were chased hence by +three Spanish ships in the year 1681, a little before we went to +Africa. This Indian lived here alone above three years. He was in +the woods hunting for goats when Captain Watling drew off his men, +and the ship was under sail before he came back to shore.</p> + +<p>He had with him his gun and a knife, with a small horn of powder +and a few shot. These being spent, he contrived a way, by notching +his knife, to saw the barrel of his gun into small pieces, +wherewith he made harpoons, lances, hooks, and a long knife; +heating the pieces first in the fire, which he struck with his +gun-flint, and a piece of the barrel of his gun, which he hardened, +having learnt to do that among the English. The hot pieces of iron +he would hammer out and bend as he pleased with stones, and saw +them with his jagged knife, or grind them to an edge by long +labour, and harden them to a good temper as there was occasion. +With such instruments as he made in that manner he got such +provision as the island afforded, either goats or fish. He told us +that at first he was forced to eat seal,<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> which is very +ordinary meat, before he had made hooks; but afterwards he never +killed any seals but to make lines, cutting their skins into +thongs.</p> + +<p>He had, half a mile from the sea, a little house or hut, which +was lined with goatskin. His couch, or barbecue of sticks, lying +along about two feet distant from the ground, was spread with the +same, as was all his bedding. He had no clothes left, having worn +out all those he brought from Watling's ship, but only a skin about +his waist. He saw our ship the day before we came to an anchor, and +did believe we were English, and therefore killed three goats in +the morning before we came to anchor, and dressed them with cabbage +to treat us when we came ashore.</p> + +<p>This island is about twelve leagues round, full of high hills +and small, pleasant valleys, which, if manured, would probably +produce anything proper for the climate. The sides of the mountains +are part woodland and part savannahs, well stocked with wild goats +descended from those left here by Juan Fernandez in his voyage from +Lima to Valdivia. Seals swarm as thick about this island as though +they had no other place to live in, for there is not a bay nor rock +that one can get ashore on but is full of them. They are as big as +calves, the head of them like a dog, therefore called by the Dutch +sea-hounds. Here are always thousands—I might say +millions—of them sitting on the bays, or going and coming in +the sea round the island. When they come out of the sea they bleat +like sheep for their young, and though they pass through hundreds +of other young ones before they come to their own, yet they will +not suffer any of them to suck. A blow on the nose soon kills them. +Large ships might here load themselves with sealskins and +train-oil, for they are extraordinary fat.</p> + +<p>Our passage lay now along the Pacific Sea. We made the best of +our way towards the line, and fell in with the mainland of South +America. The land is of a most<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> prodigious height. It +lies generally in ridges parallel to the shore, three or four +ridges one within another, each surpassing the other in height. +They always appear blue when seen at sea; sometimes they are +obscured with clouds, but not so often as the high lands in other +parts of the world—for there are seldom or never any rains on +these hills, nor are they subject to fogs. These are the highest +mountains that ever I saw, far surpassing the peak of Teneriffe, or +Santa Marta, and, I believe, any mountains in the world.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—More Buccaneering +Exploits</i></div> + +<p>On May 3 we descried a sail. Captain Eaton, being ahead, soon +took her; she was laden with timber. Near the island of Lobos we +chased and caught three sail, all laden with flour. In the biggest +was a letter from the viceroy of Lima to the president of Panama, +assuring him there were enemies in that sea, for which reason he +had despatched this flour, and desiring him to be frugal of it, for +he knew not when he should send more. In this ship were likewise +seven or eight tons of marmalade of quinces, and a stately mule +sent to the president, and a very large image of the Virgin Mary in +wood, carved and painted, to adorn a new church at Panama. She +brought also from Lima 800,000 pieces of eight to carry with her to +Panama; but while she lay at Huanchaco, taking in her lading of +flour, the merchants, hearing of Captain Swan's being at Valdivia +ordered the money ashore again.</p> + +<p>On September 20 we came to the island of Plata, so named, as +some report, after Sir Francis Drake took the Cacafuego—a +ship chiefly laden with plate, which they say he brought hither and +divided with his men. Near it we took an Indian village called +Manta, but found no sort of provision, the viceroy having sent +orders to all seaports to keep none, but just to supply +themselves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id= +"Page_120">120</a></span> At La Plata arrived Captain Swan, in +the Cygnet, of London. He was fitted out by very eminent merchants +of that city on a design only to trade with Spaniards or Indians; +but, meeting with divers disappointments, and being out of hopes to +obtain a trade in these seas, his men forced him to entertain a +company of privateers, who had come overland under the command of +Captain Peter Harris. Captains Davis and Swan sent our small barque +to look for Captain Eaton, the isle of Plata to be the general +rendezvous; and on November 2 we landed 110 men to take the small +Spanish seaport town of Payta. The governor of Piura had come the +night before to Payta with a hundred armed men to oppose our +landing, but our men marched directly to the fort and took it +without the loss of one man, whereupon the governor of Piura, with +all his men, and the inhabitants of the town, ran away as fast as +they could. Then our men entered the town, and found it emptied +both of money and goods. There was not so much as a meal of +victuals left for them. We anchored before the town, and stayed +till the sixth day in hopes to get a ransom. Our captains demanded +300 packs of flour, 300 lb. of sugar, twenty-five jars of wine, and +a thousand jars of water, but we got nothing of it. Therefore +Captain Swan ordered the town to be fired.</p> + +<p>Once in three years the Spanish Armada comes to Porto Bello, +then the Plate Fleet also from Lima comes hither with the king's +treasure, and abundance of merchant ships, full of goods and plate. +With other privateers we formed the plan, in 1685, of attacking the +Armada and capturing the treasure. On May 28 we saw the Spanish +fleet three leagues from the island of Pacheque—in all +fourteen sail, besides periagoes. Our fleet consisted of but ten +sail. Yet we were not discouraged, but resolved to fight them, for +being to windward, we had it in our choice whether we would fight +or not. We bore down right afore the wind upon our<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> +enemies, but night came on without anything besides the exchanging +of a few shot. When it grew dark the Spanish admiral put out a +light as a signal to his fleet to anchor. We saw the light in the +admiral's top about half an hour, and then it was taken down. In a +short time after we saw the light again, and being to windward, we +kept under sail, supposing the light to have been in the admiral's +top.</p> + +<p>But, as it proved, this was only a stratagem of theirs, for this +light was put out a second time at one of their barques' topmast +head, and then she went to leeward, which deceived us. In the +morning, therefore, contrary to our expectations, we found they had +got the weather-gauge of us, and were coming upon us with full +sail. So we ran for it, and after a running fight all day, were +glad to escape. Thus ended this day's work, and with it all that we +had been projecting for four or five months.</p> + +<p>The town of Puebla Nueva was taken with 150 men, and in July, +being 640 men in eight sail of ships, we designed to attempt the +city of Leon. We landed 470 men to march to the town, and I was +left to guard the canoes till their return. With eighty men Captain +Townley entered the town, and was briskly charged in a broad street +by 170 or 200 Spanish horsemen; but two or three of their leaders +being knocked down, the rest fled. The Spaniards talked of ransom, +but only to gain time to get more men. Our captains therefore set +the city on fire, and came away.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—Home by the East Indies</i></div> + +<p>Afterwards we steered for the coast of California, and some of +us taking the resolution of going over to the East Indies, we set +out from Cape Corrientes on March 31, 1686. We were two ships in +company, Captain Swan's ship, and a barque commanded under Captain +Swan by Captain Tait, and we were 150 men—100<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> +aboard of the ship, and 50 aboard the barque, besides slaves. It +was very strange that in all the voyage to Guam, in the Ladrones, +we did not see one fish, not so much as a flying fish.</p> + +<p>From Guam we went to Mindanao in the Philippines. About this +time some of our men, who were weary and tired with wandering, ran +away into the country. The whole crew were under a general +disaffection, and full of different projects, and all for want of +action. One day that Captain Swan was ashore, a Bristol man named +John Reed peeped into his journal and lighted on a place where +Captain Swan had inveighed bitterly against most of his men. +Captain Tait, who had been abused by Captain Swan, laid hold of +this opportunity to be revenged. So we left Captain Swan and about +thirty-six men ashore in the city, and sailed from Mindanao. Among +the Pescadores we had a storm in which the violent wind raised the +sea to a great height; the rain poured down as through a sieve; it +thundered and lightened prodigiously, and the sea seemed all of a +fire about us. I was never in such a violent storm in all my life; +so said all the company. Afterwards we came to Grafton and Monmouth +islands, the island of Celebes, and others.</p> + +<p>Being clear of all the islands, we stood off south, and on +January 4, 1688, we fell in with the land of New Holland, a part of +Terra Australis Incognita. It is not yet determined whether it is +an island or a main continent, but I am certain that it does not +join Asia, Africa, or America.</p> + +<p>We sailed from New Holland to Sumatra and the Nicobar Islands, +where, being anxious to escape from the ship, I desired Captain +Reed to set me ashore. Mr. Robert Hall, and a man named Ambrose, +whose surname I have forgot, were put ashore with me. From the +Nicobar people we bought for an axe a canoe, in which we stowed our +chests and clothes, and in this frail craft<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> we three +Englishmen, with four Malays and a mongrel Portuguese, made our way +to Achin. The hardships of this voyage, with the scorching heat of +the sun at our first setting out, and then the cold rain in a +fearful storm, cast us all into fevers. Three days after our +arrival our Portuguese died. What became of our Malays I know not. +Ambrose lived not long after.</p> + +<p>In January, 1691, there came to an anchor in Bencouli Road the +Defence, Captain Heath commander, bound for England. On this ship I +obtained a passage to England, where we arrived on September 16, +1691.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"> +124</a></span></p> + +<h4>CHARLES DARWIN</h4> + +<h4>The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—To the South American +Coast</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The "Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology +of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round +the World" was Darwin's first popular contribution to travel and +science. His original journal of the part he took in the +expedition, as naturalist of the surveying ships Adventure and +Beagle, was published, together with the official narratives of +Captains Fitzroy and King, a year after the return of the latter +vessel to England in October, 1836. It was not till 1845 that +Darwin issued his independent book, of which the following is an +epitome, written from the notes in his journal. It immediately +attracted considerable popular and scientific attention, and many +editions and cheap reprints have been issued during the past half +century. It is said that Darwin at first considered himself more as +a collector than as a scientific worker; but experience soon +brought to him the keen enjoyment of the original investigator. The +most striking feature of the book is the combined minuteness and +breadth of his observations and descriptions. There can be no doubt +that it was the gathered results of his discoveries, and the study +of his collected specimens of the zoology, botany, and geology of +the countries visited; his graphic presentation of their physical +geography; and their synthetic analysis, which laid the foundations +of his great generalisations of the "Origin of Species." (See <span +class="smcap">Science</span>.)</p> +</div> + +<p>After having been twice driven back by heavy south-west gales, +H.M.S. Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain +Fitzroy, R.N., sailed from Devonport on December 27, 1831. The +object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia +and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826-30; to +survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of some of the islands in the +Pacific; and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round +the world.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"> +125</a></span> On January 16, 1832, we touched at Porto Praya, St. +Jago, in the Cape de Verde archipelago, and sailed thence to Rio de +Janeiro, Brazil. Delight is a weak term to express the higher +feelings of wonder, astonishment, and devotion which fill the mind +of a naturalist in wandering through the Brazilian tropical forest. +The noise from the insects is so loud that it may be heard at sea +several hundred yards from the shore, yet within the recesses of +the forest a universal silence seems to reign. The wonderful and +beautiful flowering parasites invariably struck me as the most +novel object in these grand scenes. Among the cabbage-palms, waving +their elegant heads fifty feet from the ground, were woody +creepers, two feet in circumference, themselves covered by other +creepers.</p> + +<p>The humming birds are fond of shady spots, and these little +creatures, with their brilliant plumage, buzzing round the flowers +with wings vibrating so rapidly as scarcely to be visible, seek the +tiny insects in the calyx rather than the fabled honey. Insects are +particularly numerous, the bees excepted. The Beagle was employed +surveying the extreme southern and eastern coasts of America south +of the Plata during the two succeeding years. The almost entire +absence of trees in the pampas of Uruguay, the provinces of Buenos +Ayres [now Argentina], and Patagonia is remarkable.</p> + +<p>Fifteen miles from the Rio Negro, the principal river on the +whole line of coast between the Strait of Magellan and the Plata, +are several shallow lakes of brine in winter, which in summer are +converted into fields of snow-white salt two and a half miles long +and one broad. The border of the lakes is formed of mud, which is +thrown up by a kind of worm. How surprising it is that any creature +should be able to exist in brine, and that they should be crawling +among crystals of sulphate of soda and lime!</p> + +<p>The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"> +126</a></span> been excavated out of the sandstone plain; and +everywhere the landscape wears the same sterile aspect.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Fossil Monsters of the +Pampas</i></div> + +<p>The pampas are formed from the mud, gravel, and sand thrown up +by the sea during the slow elevation of the land; and the section +disclosed at Punta Alta, a few miles from Bahia Blanca, was +interesting from the number and extraordinary character of the +remains of gigantic land animals embedded in it. I also found +remains of immense armadillo-like animals on the banks of a +tributary of the Rio Negro; and, indeed, I believe that the whole +area of the pampas is one wide sepulchre of these extinct colossal +quadrupeds. The following, which I unearthed, are now deposited in +the College of Surgeons, London.</p> + +<p>(1) Head and bones of a <i>megatherium</i>, the huge dimensions +of which are expressed by its name; (2) the <i>megalonyx</i>, a +great allied animal; (3) the perfect skeleton of a +<i>scelidorium</i>, also an allied animal, as large as a +rhinoceros, in structure like the Cape ant-eater, but in some other +respects approaching the armadilloes; (4) the <i>mylodon +Darwinii</i>, a closely related genus, and little inferior in size; +(5) another gigantic dental quadruped; (6) another large animal +very like an armadillo; (7) an extinct kind of horse (it is a +marvellous fact in the history of the mammalia that, in South +America, a native horse should have lived and disappeared, to be +succeeded in after ages by the countless herds descended from the +few introduced with the Spanish colonists); (8) a pachydermatous +animal, a huge beast with a long neck like a camel; (9) the +toxodon, perhaps the strangest animal ever discovered; in size it +equalled an elephant, or <i>megatherium</i>, but was intimately +related to the Gnawers, the order which at the present day includes +most of the smallest quadrupeds; and judging from<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> the +position of the eyes, ears, and nostrils, it was probably +aquatic.</p> + +<p>We have good evidence that these gigantic quadrupeds, more +different from those of the present day than the oldest of the +Tertiary quadrupeds of Europe, lived whilst the sea was peopled +with most of its present inhabitants. These animals migrated on +land, since submerged, near Behring's Strait, from Siberia into +North America, and thence on land, since submerged, in the West +Indies into South America, where they mingled with the forms +characteristic of that southern continent, and have since become +extinct.</p> + +<p>The existing animals of the pampas include the puma, the South +American lion, while the birds are numerous. The largest is the +ostrich, which is found in groups. The ostriches are fleet in pace, +prefer running against the wind, and freely take to the water. At +first start they expand their wings, and, like a vessel, make all +sail. Of mammalia, the jaguar, or South American tiger, is the most +formidable. It frequents the wooded and reedy banks of the great +rivers. There are four species of armadilloes, notable for their +smooth, hard, defensive covering. Of reptiles there are many kinds. +One snake, a <i>trigonocephalus</i>, has in some respects the +structure of a viper with the habits of a rattlesnake. The +expression of this snake's face is hideous and fierce. I do not +think I ever saw anything more ugly, excepting, perhaps, some of +the viper-bats.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—In the Extreme South</i></div> + +<p>From the Rio Plata the course of the Beagle was directed to the +mouth of the Santa Cruz river, on the coast of Patagonia. One +evening, when we were about ten miles from the bay of San Blas, +vast numbers of butterflies, in bands and flocks of countless +myriads, extended as far as the eye could range. One dark night, +with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"> +128</a></span> fresh breeze, the foam and every part of the +surface of the waves glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove +before her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her wake +she was followed by a milky train. I am inclined to consider that +the phosphorescence is the result of organic particles, by which +process (one is tempted almost to call it a kind of respiration) +the ocean becomes purified.</p> + +<p>The geology of Patagonia is interesting. For hundreds of miles +of coast there is one great deposit composed of shells—a +white pumiceous stone like chalk, including gypsum and +<i>infusoria</i>. At Port St. Julian it is eight hundred feet +thick, and is capped by a mass of gravel forming probably one of +the largest beds of shingle in the world, extending to the foot of +the Cordilleras. For 1,200 miles from the Rio Plata to Tierra del +Fuego the land has been raised by many hundred feet, and the +uprising movement has been interrupted by at least eight long +periods of rest, during which the sea ate deep back into the land, +forming at successive levels the long lines of cliffs, or +escarpments, which separate the different plains as they rise like +steps one behind the other. What a history of geological change +does the simply constructed coast of Patagonia reveal! In some red +mud, capping the gravel, I discovered fossil bones which showed the +wonderful relationship in the same continent between the dead and +the living, and will, I have no doubt, hereafter throw more light +on the appearance of organic beings on our earth and their +disappearance from it than any other class of facts. Patagonia is +sterile, but is possessed of a greater stock of rodents than any +other country in the world. The principal animals are the llamas, +in herds up to 500, and the puma, which, with the condor and other +carrion hawks, preys upon them.</p> + +<p>From the Strait of Magellan, the Beagle twice made a compass of +the Falkland Islands, and archipelago in<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> nearly the same +latitude. It is a delicate and wretched land, everywhere covered by +a peaty soil and wiry grass of one monotonous colour. The only +native quadruped is a large wolf-like fox, which will soon be as +extinct as the dodo. The birds embrace enormous numbers of +sea-fowl, especially geese and penguins. The wings of a great +logger-headed duck called the "steamer" are too weak for flight; +but, by their aid, partly by swimming, partly flapping, they move +very quickly. Thus we found in South America three birds who use +their wings for other purposes besides flight—the penguins as +fins, the "steamers" as paddles, and the ostrich as sails.</p> + +<p>Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous land, +separated from the South American continent by the Strait of +Magellan, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep inlets and bays +occupy the place where valleys should exist. The mountain-sides, +except on the exposed western coasts, are covered from the water's +edge upwards to the perpetual snow-line by one great forest, +chiefly of beeches. Viewing the stunted natives on the west coast, +one can hardly conceive that they are fellow-creatures and +inhabitants of the same world; and I believe that in this extreme +part of South America man exists in a lower state of improvement +than in any other part of the globe. The zoology of Tierra del +Fuego is very poor. In the gloomy woods there are few birds, but +where flowers grow there are humming birds, a few parrots and +insects, but no reptiles.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Wonders of the +Cordilleras</i></div> + +<p>After encountering many adventures in these Antarctic seas, +among which was a narrow escape from shipwreck in a fierce gale +off Cape Horn, and amidst hitherto unexplored Antarctic islands, +the Beagle set a course northward in the open Pacific for +Valparaiso, the chief seaport of Chile, which was reached on July +23, 1834.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"> +130</a></span> Chile is a narrow strip of land between the +Cordilleras and the Pacific, and this strip itself is traversed by +many mountain lines which run parallel to the great range. Between +these outer lines and the main Cordilleras a succession of level +basins, generally opening into each other by narrow passages, +extend far to the southward. These basins, no doubt, are the +bottoms of ancient inlets and deep bays such as at the present day +intersect every part of Tierra del Fuego.</p> + +<p>From November, 1834, to March, 1835, the Beagle was employed in +surveying the island of Chiloe and the broken line called the +Chonos Archipelago. This archipelago is covered by one dense +forest, resembling that of Tierra del Fuego, but incomparably more +beautiful. There are few parts of the world within the temperate +regions where so much rain falls. The winds are very boisterous, +and the sky almost always clouded. Fortunately, for once, while we +were on the east side of Chiloe the day rose splendidly clear, and +we could see the great range of the Andes on the mainland with +three active volcanoes, each 7,000 feet high.</p> + +<p>While at Valdivia, on the mainland, on February 20, 1835, the +worst earthquake ever recorded in Chile occurred, and it was +followed for twelve days by no less than 300 tremblings. A bad +earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations; the earth, the +very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin +crust over a fluid. One second of time has created in the mind a +strange idea of insecurity which hours of reflection would not have +produced. The most remarkable effect was the permanent elevation of +the land round the Bay of Concepcion by several feet. The +convulsion was more effectual in lessening the size of the island +of Quiriquina off the coast than the ordinary wear and tear of the +sea and weather during the course of a whole century; but on the +other hand, on the Island of St. Maria putrid mussel-shells, still +adhering to the rocks, were found ten<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> feet above high-water +mark. Near Juan Fernandez Island a volcano uprose from under the +water close to the shore, and at the same instant two volcanoes in +the far-off Cordilleras bust forth into action.</p> + +<p>The space from which volcanic matter was actually erupted is 720 +miles in one line and 400 miles in another line at right-angles +from the first; hence, in all probability, a subterranean lake of +lava is here stretched out of nearly double the area of the Black +Sea. The frequent quakings of the earth on this line of coast are +caused, I believe, by the rending of the strata, necessarily +consequent on the tension of the land when upraised, and their +injection by fluidified rock. This rending and injection would, if +repeated often enough, form a chain of hills.</p> + +<p>I made the passage of the Cordilleras to Mendoza, the capital of +the republic of that name, on horseback. The features in the +scenery of the Andes which struck me most were that all the main +valleys have on both sides a fringe, sometimes expanding into a +narrow plain of shingle and sand. I am convinced that these shingle +terraces were accumulated during the gradual elevation of the +Cordilleras by the torrents delivering at successive levels their +detritus on the beach-heads of long, narrow arms of the sea, first +high up the valleys, then lower down and lower down as the land +slowly rose.</p> + +<p>If this be so, and I cannot doubt it, the grand and broken chain +of the Cordilleras, instead of having been suddenly thrown +up—as was till lately the universal, and still is the common, +opinion of geologists—has been slowly upheaved in mass in the +same gradual manner as the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific have +arisen within the recent period. The other striking features of the +Cordilleras were the bright colours, chiefly red and purple, of the +utterly bare and precipitous hills of porphyry; the grand and +continuous wall-like dikes; the plainly divided strata, which, +where nearly vertical,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id= +"Page_132">132</a></span> formed the picturesque and wild +central pinnacles, but where less inclined composed the great +massive mountains on the outskirts of the range; and lastly, the +smooth, conical piles of fine and brightly-coloured detritus, which +slope up sometimes to a height of more than 2,000 feet.</p> + +<p>It is an old story, but not less wonderful, to see shells which +were once crawling at the bottom of the sea now standing nearly +14,000 feet above its level. But there must have been a subsidence +of several thousand feet as well as the ensuing elevation. Daily it +is forced home on the mind of the geologist that nothing, not even +the wind that blows, is so unstable as the level of the crust of +the earth.</p> + +<p>From Valparaiso to Coquimbo, and thence to Copiapo, in Northern +Chile, the country is singularly broken and barren. On some of the +terraced plains rising to the Cordilleras, covered with cacti, +there were large herds of llamas. At one point in the coast range +great prostrate silicified trunks of fir trees were very numerous, +embedded in a conglomerate. I discovered convincing proof that this +part of the continent of South America has been elevated near the +coast from 400 feet to 1,300 feet since the epoch of existing +shells; and further inland the rise possibly may have been greater. +From the evidence of ruins of Indian villages at very great +altitude, now absolutely barren, and some fossil human relics, man +must have inhabited South America for an immensely long period.</p> + +<p>From the port of Iquique, in Peru, a visit was made across the +desert to the nitrate of soda mines. The nitrate stratum, between +two and three feet thick, lies close to the surface, and follows +for 150 miles the margin of the plain. From the troubled state of +the country, I saw very little of the rest of Peru.</p> + +<p>A month was spent in the Galapagos Archipelago—a group of +volcanic islands situated on the Equator between<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +500 and 600 miles westward of the coast of America. The little +archipelago is a little world within itself. Hence, both in time +and space, we seemed to be brought somewhere near to that great +fact, that mystery of mysteries, the first appearance of new beings +on this earth. The vegetation is scanty. The principal animals are +the giant tortoises, so large that it requires six or eight men to +lift one. The most remarkable feature of the natural history of +this archipelago is that the different islands are inhabited by +different kinds of tortoises; and so with the birds, insects, and +plants. One is astonished at the amount of creative force, if such +an expression may be used, displayed on these small, barren, and +rocky islands, and still more so at its diverse, yet analogous, +action on points so near each other.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—The Coral Islands of the Indian +Ocean</i></div> + +<p>Having completed the survey of the coasts and islands of the +South American continent, the Beagle sailed across the wide Pacific +to Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, in order to carry out the +chain of chronometrical measurements round the world. From +Australasia a run was then made for Keeling or Cocos Island in the +Indian Ocean. This lonely island, 600 miles from the coast of +Sumatra, is an atoll, or lagoon island. The land is entirely +composed of fragments of coral.</p> + +<p>There is, to my mind, much grandeur in the view of the outer +shores of these lagoon islands. The ocean, throwing its waters over +the broad barrier-like reef, appears an invincible, all-powerful +enemy. Yet these low, insignificant coral islets stand and are +victorious; for here another power, as an antagonist, takes part in +the contest. Organic forces separate the atoms of carbonate of +lime, one by one, from the foaming breakers, and unite them in a +symmetrical structure. Let the hurricane tear up its thousand huge +fragments, yet what will that<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> tell against the +accumulated labour of myriads of architects at work night and day, +month after month?</p> + +<p>There are three great classes of coral reefs—atoll, +barrier, and fringing. Now, the utmost depth at which corals can +construct reefs is between twenty and thirty fathoms, so that +wherever there is an atoll a foundation must have originally +existed within a depth of from twenty to thirty fathoms from the +surface. The coral formation is raised only to that height to which +the waves can throw up fragments and the winds pile up sand. The +foundation, such as a mountain peak, therefore, must have sunk to +the required level, and not have been raised, as has hitherto been +generally supposed.</p> + +<p>I venture, therefore, to affirm that, on the theory of the +upward growth of the corals during the sinking of the land, all the +leading features of those wonderful structures, the lagoon-islands +or atolls, as well as the no less wonderful barrier-reefs, whether +encircling small islands, or stretching for hundreds of miles along +the shores of a continent, are simply explained. On the other hand, +coasts merely fringed by reefs cannot have subsided to any +perceptible amount, and therefore they must, since the growth of +their corals, either have remained stationary or have been +upheaved.</p> + +<p>The chronometrical measurements were completed in the Indian +Ocean by a visit to Mauritius, and thence, voyaging around the Cape +of Good Hope, to the islands of St. Helena and Ascension, in the +Southern Atlantic, and to the mainland of Brazil at Bahia and +Pernambuco, from which the course was set for home. The Beagle made +the shores of England at Falmouth on October 2, 1836, after an +absence of nearly five years.</p> + +<p>On a retrospect, among the scenes which are deeply impressed on +my mind, including the spectacles of the Southern Cross, the Cloud +of Magellan, and the other constellations of the Southern +Hemisphere, the glacier leading its blue stream of ice overhanging +the sea in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id= +"Page_135">135</a></span> bold precipice, the lagoon-islands +raised by the reef-building corals, the active volcano, the +overwhelming effects of a violent earthquake—none exceed in +sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man, +whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are predominant, +or those of Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both +are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of +nature. No one can stand in those solitudes unmoved and not feel +that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. And so +with the boundless plains of Patagonia, or when looking from the +highest crest of the Cordilleras, the mind is filled with the +stupendous dimensions of the surrounding masses.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"> +136</a></span></p> + +<h4>FELIX DUBOIS</h4> + +<h4>Timbuctoo the Mysterious</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—From Paris to the Niger</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Felix Dubois has a considerable reputation in France and on the +European Continent generally as an African explorer. His sphere of +travel has been confined to the Dark Continent north of the +Equator. He first published in 1894 "Life on the Black Continent," +but his reputation rests mainly on "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," +issued in 1897, of which two English translations have appeared. +Dubois' style is vivacious and picturesque, with a vein of poetic +feeling in some passages. His "Early History of Northern Africa and +Timbuctoo," of the architecture of which he has made a special +study, is lucid; but in discussing the extension of the British and +French spheres of influence and protectorates during the past +century he betrays a certain measure of Gallic Anglophobia.</p> +</div> + +<p>Having fallen asleep in a railway carriage on your departure +from Paris, you awake six weeks later on a canoe-barge upon the +Niger. The steamer lands you at the entrance to the Senegal, in a +country which has belonged to France for centuries. The port of +Senegal is Dakar, the finest harbour on the west coast of Africa, +and from thence there is a railway to St. Louis. For eight days you +travel up the Senegal river in a steamer to Kayes, the port and +actual capital of the Sudan; and a narrow-gauge railway carries you +from the Senegal to the Niger at Dioubaba.</p> + +<p>This town is situated in the heart of lovely mountain and river +scenery. The Bakoy river here breaks into a rocky waterfall, some +hundreds of yards in length, full of rapids and foaming currents. +The horizon is bordered by mountain-tops, and the river banks are +covered by gigantic trees festooned with garlands of long creepers. +The road from Dioubaba to Bammaku cuts,<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> from east to +west, the massive Foota Jallon range that separates the basin of +the Senegal from that of the Niger, and is so abundantly watered +that you fall asleep every night to the sound of some gurgling +cascade.</p> + +<p>It was not without a certain amount of emotion that I approached +the great Niger. After days and days of travel a narrow path widens +suddenly, and its rocky sides fall right and left, like the leaves +of a door. A vast horizon lies at my feet, bathed in the splendours +of a tropical sunset; and down there, in a plain of gold and green +and red, shines a silver trail bordered by a line of darkness.</p> + +<p>The Niger, with its vast and misty horizons, is more like an +inland ocean than a river. I engaged for my voyage up-stream a boat +which was a whimsical mixture of a European barge and an aboriginal +canoe, in which a thatched hollow served me amidships as bedroom, +dining-room, study, and dressing-room. A small folding bedstead was +the only piece of furniture. The crew consisted of Bosos, the true +sailors of the Niger, of whose skill, patient endurance, and +loyalty I had full experience. Alone among them, travelling through +an imperfectly conquered, sometimes openly hostile country, never +once did I feel that my safety was in any way threatened.</p> + +<p>Coming to Lake Debo, a fief of the Niger, we enter a sea of +grass. Paddling being no longer possible, my Bosos crew, leaning +heavily upon bamboo poles, push the boat vigorously through the +grass, which, parting in front, closes together behind us with loud +rustling and crackling. We are no longer upon the water, but seem +to be sliding under a tropical sun over grassy steppes streaked +with watery paths. These Bosos, living at a distance of nearly 900 +miles from the coast, possess no idea of the sea, and the question +of what becomes of the mighty Niger beyond the regions they know +troubles them very little. One unusually intelligent Bosos,<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"> +138</a></span> when asked what became of the river beyond the +towns which he knew, or had heard of, down the Niger, said, "Beyond +them? Oh, beyond them the fishes swallow it."</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Valley of the Niger</i></div> + +<p>The country lying to the south of Timbuctoo, which is on the +threshold of the great Sahara desert, is the Sudan, otherwise +called the Valley and the Buckler of the Niger. It is a vast region +traversed to an extent of nearly 2,500 miles by one of the largest +rivers in the world. This river rises in the Kouranko chain of +mountains, and is really formed by two streams, the Paliko and the +Tembi, which unite at a place called Laya. The more important of +these is the Tembi, and the wood from which it springs is reputed +sacred, and is the subject of innumerable legends and +superstitions. Access to it is denied to the profane by the high +priests and lesser priests, who represent the diety to mortals. The +neighbouring kinglets refer to them before undertaking a war, or +other act of importance, and the common herd consult them on all +occasions of weight. The spirit of the spring, being eminently +practical, will only condescend to attend to them through the +medium of sacrifice, but the ceremonies are not very ferocious, +merely oxen being offered, and not human victims, as in the +neighbouring Dahomey.</p> + +<p>The region of the source of the Niger is the land of heavy +rainfall, and the slopes of the mountain ranges are channelled by +innumerable cascades, rivulets, brooks, and rivers that carry off +the heavenly overflow. These countries of the Upper Niger are +radiant. Tropical vegetation spreads over them with the utmost +prodigality. The river flings itself headlong over the entire +low-lying region between Biafaraba and Timbuctoo, covering it and +swamping it, until a steppe of barren sand becomes one of the most +fertile spots in the universe.<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> The Niger is to the +Sudan what the Nile is to Egypt; but we find there not one delta, +as in Egypt, but three. Thus a most complete system of irrigation +is formed, and fertility is spread over thousands of square miles. +The rise and fall of the waters is as regular as that of the Nile, +and an infinitely greater distance is covered.</p> + +<p>Bammaku is an important strategic centre, from which it is easy +to send reinforcements to any part of the Sudan that may be +momentarily threatened. This precaution is wise, for we do not +really know how far we are masters of this splendid country, which +is many times larger than France, and contains from ten to fifteen +millions of people. There are only 600 Europeans, including +officers and other officials, and 4,000 negroes are enrolled as +foot-soldiers, cavalry, and transport bearers, while it requires an +army of 40,000 men to maintain order in Algeria, about a fourth of +the size of the Sudan.</p> + +<p>Apart from the fertility of the soil for cereal crops, there are +three kinds of trees which grow abundantly everywhere. The most +interesting is the karita, or butter-tree, from the nuts of which a +vegetable butter is extracted with all the delectable flavour of +chocolate. Throughout the whole of the Sudan no other fatty +substance is used. The second tree is the flour tree. The flour is +enclosed in large pods, is of a yellow colour, rich in sugar, and +is used in the manufacture of pastry and confectionery. The third +is the cheese-tree, called <i>baga</i> by the natives, from the +capsules of which a fine and brilliant vegetable silk is yielded. +The principal articles of commerce sent by Bammaku to Timbuctoo are +the products of these trees, gold, and kola-nuts.</p> + +<p>In the voyage up the river beyond Bammaku we passed the +districts in which the principal towns are Nyamina, Sansanding, and +Segu, in which are the large cotton-fields, from the produce of +which the beautiful fabrics known as <i>pagnes de Segu</i> are +made, which are in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id= +"Page_140">140</a></span> great request in Senegal and the +markets of Timbuctoo. Near Segu is an establishment known as the +School of Hostages, instituted by the explorer Faidherbe for the +education of the sons of kings and chiefs of Senegambia, to enable +them to take part in home government, or to enter the civil and +military services of Senegal and Sudan.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—The Jewel of the Niger +Valley</i></div> + +<p>Jenne is the jewel of the valley of the Niger. A vast plain, +infinitely flat. In the midst of this a circle of water, and within +it reared a long mass of high and regular walls, erected on mounds +as high, and nearly as steep, as themselves. When I climbed the +banks from my boat and entered the walls, I was completely +bewildered by the novelty and strangeness of the town's interior. +Regular streets; wide, straight roads; well-built houses of two +stories instantly arrested the eye. But the buildings had nothing +in common with Arabic architecture. The style was not Byzantine, +Roman, or Greek; still less was it Gothic or Western. It was in the +ruins of the lifeless towns of ancient Egypt, in the valley of the +Nile, that I had witnessed this art before. Arrived at Jenne, the +traveller finds himself face to face with an entirely new +ethnographical entity—<i>viz.</i>, the Songhois.</p> + +<p>They themselves invariably told me that they came originally +from the Yemen to Egypt on the invitation of a Pharaoh, and settled +at Kokia, in the valley of the Nile, whence they spread westward to +the Niger in the middle of the seventh century. They built Jenne in +765, made it the market of their country, and founded the Songhois +Empire, which, under three distinct dynasties, lasted for a +thousand years.</p> + +<p>In the sixteenth century a marvellous civilisation appeared in +the very heart of the Black Continent. The prosperity of the Sudan, +and its wealth and commerce,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> were known far and +wide. Caravans returning to the coast proclaimed its splendours in +their camel-loads of gold, ivory, hides, musk, and the spoils of +the ostrich. So many attractions did not fail to rouse the cupidity +of neighbouring territories, chief among them being Morocco. El +Mansour, sultan of Morocco, invaded the Sudan in 1590, and in a few +years the fall of the Songhois Empire was complete. Two elements of +confusion established themselves, and augmented the general +anarchy—<i>viz.</i>, the Touaregs and the Foulbes, the former +coming from the great desert of Sahara, and the latter from the +west. Both were pastoral nomads. A petty Foulbe chief, of the +country of Noukouna, named Ahmadou, spread a report that he was of +the family of the Prophet, and for the next eighty years the Sudan +was given over to fire and sword by a succession of rulers who +massacred and pillaged in the name of God. Jenne happily escaped +serious ruin, because of its situation on an island at the junction +of two tributaries of the Niger.</p> + +<p>The houses of Jenne are built on the simple lines of Egyptian +architecture, with splendid bricks made from clay procured near the +town. The grand mosque was long famous in the valley of the Niger, +and was considered more beautiful than the Kaabah of Mecca itself. +It lasted eighteen centuries, and would have lasted many centuries +longer if Ahmadou, the Foulbe conquerer, had not commanded its +destruction in 1830. Jenne in the middle ages not only ranked above +Timbuctoo as a city, but took a place among the great commercial +centres of Islam. Jenne taught the Sudanese the art of commercial +navigation, and her fleets penetrated beyond Timbuctoo and the Kong +country. Regular lines of flyboats even now carry merchandise and +passengers at a fixed tariff, and for a consideration of two and a +half francs you can go to Timbuctoo, a twenty days' journey, and +for three francs can send thither a hundredweight of goods.<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"> +142</a></span> The characteristics of the people are sympathy, +kindness, and generosity.</p> + +<p>Here trades are specialised. Conformably with, and contrary to, +Arab usage, it is the men who weave the textiles, and not the +women. The latter do the spinning and the dyeing. Masonry is man's +work—in negro countries it is the women who build the +houses—and in the blacksmith's and other trades the craft +descends from father to son.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Timbuctoo, Queen of the +Sudan</i></div> + +<p>The day of my departure from Jenne was occupied in receiving +farewell visits from scores of friends, who first believed me a +harmless lunatic as "the man with the questions," and then received +me with affection. From Jenne to Timbuctoo we journeyed by boat for +311 miles in a labyrinth of meandering tributaries, creeks, and +channels along the course of the Niger, and reached at last the +Pool of Dai, whose waters appear under the walls of Timbuctoo +itself; and then, a few miles further on, we arrived at Kabara, the +landing-place and port of Timbuctoo.</p> + +<p>Two things arrest attention on disembarking—the sand and +the Touaregs. The sand, because you have no sooner set your foot on +shore than you flounder about in it as if it were a mire; and it +pursues you everywhere—in the country, in the streets, and in +the houses. The Touaregs are impressed on you because, though you +never see them, everything recalls them. The town is in ruins, but +its wretchedness is overpowered by life and movement. The quays are +astir with lively bustle, and encumbered with bales, jars, and +sacks in the process of unloading. To travel from Kabara to +Timbuctoo, only five miles distant, there is a daily +convoy—medley of people, donkeys and camels, attended by +twenty <i>tirailleurs</i> with rifles on their shoulders.</p> + +<p><span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"> +143</a></span>An immense and vivid sky, and an immense and brilliant stretch +of land, with the grand outlines of a town uniting the two. A dark +silhouette, large and long, an image of grandness in +immensity—thus appeared the Queen of the Sudan. She is indeed +the city of imagination, the Timbuctoo of legends. Her sandy +approaches are strewn with bones and carcasses that have been +disinterred by wild beasts, the remains of the camels and other +animals that have fallen and died in the last stages of the +journey.</p> + +<p>The illusion of walls, produced by the distinctness with which +the town stands out from the white sand, disappears, and three +towers at regular intervals dominate the mass. The terraces of +square houses are now distinguishable, renewing the first +impression of grandeur in immensity. We enter the town, and behold! +all the grandeur has suddenly disappeared, though the scene is +equally impressive on account of its tragic character rather than +its beauty. And this is the great Timbuctoo, the metropolis of the +Sudan and the Sahara, with its boasted wealth and commerce! This is +Timbuctoo the holy, the learned, that life of the Niger, of which +it was written, "We shall one day correct the texts of our Greek +and Latin classics by the manuscripts which are preserved there." +These ruins, this rubbish, this wreck of a town, is this the secret +of Timbuctoo the Mysterious? It is a city of deliquescence.</p> + +<p>Jenne had the vein of Egyptian civilisation; the origin of +Timbuctoo has to be sought in a different direction, for her past +is connected with the Arabian civilisation of Northern +Africa—the world of the Berbers and all those white people +whom we have known under the name of Touaregs in the Sahara, +Kabyles in Algeria, Moors in Morocco and Senegal, and Foulbes in +their infiltrations into the Sudan, who had been crowded back into +the interior by the invasions of Phœnician and Roman colonists. +So also, when the Moors were driven<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> out of Spain back to +Morocco, to find their ancient patrimony in the hands of Arabs, +they were forced to prolong their exodus into the south, and became +nomads about the great lakes on the left bank of the Niger, in the +neighbourhood of Oualata and Timbuctoo, carrying with them the name +of Andalusians, which they bear to the present day.</p> + +<p>Touareg is a generic name for a large number of tribes descended +from the Berbers. Being driven into the desert, to the terrible +glare of which they were not accustomed, nor their lungs to its +sandstorms, they adopted the head-dress of two veils. Being +perpetually kept on the march, every social and political +organisation disappeared, and they gradually lost all notion of law +and order. Like the Jews, and all other people thrown out of their +natural paths, their souls and brains became steeped in vice. Their +nomadic life reduced them to the level of vagabonds, thieves, and +brigands, and the only law they recognised was the right of the +strongest. Travellers and merchants were their principal victims, +and when these failed, they robbed and killed each other.</p> + +<p>They adopted a vague form of Islamism which they reduced to a +belief in talismans, and the Sudanese bestowed upon them three +epithets which epitomise their psychology—"Thieves, Hyenas, +and the Abandoned of God." Yet it was to these people that +Timbuctoo owed its origin, for it was there that they established a +permanent camp. It was under the dominion of Askia the Great, who +drove the Touaregs out of the city, that Timbuctoo became the great +and learned city whose fame spread even to Europe, and its apogee +was reached in 1494-1591.</p> + +<p>The decadence of the city began with the Moorish conquest in the +latter year, and it became the scene of repeated incursions by +various tribes—Touaregs, Foulbes, Roumas. Under the hands of +a thousand tyrants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id= +"Page_145">145</a></span> the inhabitants were robbed, +ill-treated, and killed on the least provocation. To avoid being +pillaged in the open street, and seeing their houses despoiled, +they adopted a new manner of living. They transformed their +garments and dwellings, and ceasing to be Timbuctoo the Great, they +became Timbuctoo the Mysterious. By these means the town acquired a +tumble-down and battered appearance. Timbuctoo is the meeting +place, says an old Sudanese chronicle, of all who travel by camel +or canoe. The camel represents the commerce of Sahara and the whole +of Northern Africa, while the canoe represents the trade of the +Sudan and Nigeria.</p> + +<p>A great part of the trade is in rock-salt, derived from the +mines of Taoudenni, near Timbuctoo. Large caravans from Morocco, +Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, numbering from 600 to 1,000 camels, +and from three to five hundred men, arrive from December to +January, and from July to August. Their freight represents from six +hundred thousand to a million francs' worth of goods. Smaller +caravans of sixty or a hundred camels arrive all the year round, +and between fifty and sixty thousand camels encamp annually in the +caravan suburb before the northern walls of the city. The city is +simply a temporary depot, and the permanent population are merely +brokers and contractors, or landlords of houses which are let to +travelling merchants. The chief manufacturing industry of the city +is exquisite embroidered robes, which cost from three to four +thousand francs each, and are principally exported to Morocco.</p> + +<p>An ancient Sudanese proverb says, "Salt comes from the north, +gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, +but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be +found in Timbuctoo." It would be an exaggeration to put the +university in the mosque of Sankoré on a level with those of +Egypt, Morocco, or Syria, but it was the great intellectual nucleus +of the Sudan, and also one of the great scientific<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +centres of Islam itself. Her collection of ancient manuscripts +leaves us in no doubt upon the point. There is an entire class of +the population devoted to the study of letters. They are called +Marabuts, or Sheikhs, and from them doctors, priests, +schoolmasters, and jurists are drawn.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—The Romance of the Modern +Conquest</i></div> + +<p>The prosperity of the French Sudan is so closely connected with +that of its principal market that if the general anarchy had been +prolonged in Timbuctoo all the sacrifices of human life and money +France had made on her threshold would have remained sterile. The +French Government decided that the sooner an end was put to the +ruinous dominion of the Touaregs the better it would be. Up to the +last moment England endeavoured to put her hand upon the commerce +of Timbuctoo. Failing in her efforts from Tripoli and the Niger's +mouth, she attempted to secure a footing by way of Morocco, and was +installed towards 1890 at Cape Juby. It was then too late. French +columns and posts had been slowly advanced by the Senegal route, +and in 1893 Jenne was captured.</p> + +<p>In the following year a flotilla of gunboats was dispatched +while two columns of troops followed up to anticipate any +concentration of nomad Touaregs, which might prevent the occupation +of the Mysterious City. From the flotilla a detachment of nineteen +men was landed. Of these only seven were Europeans, the remainder +being Senegalese negroes. They had two machine guns with them, and, +under the command of a naval lieutenant, Boiteux by name, they +marched to the walls of Timbuctoo, and demanded that the rulers of +the city should surrender it, and that they should sign a treaty of +peace placing the country under the protectorate of France. The +city was occupied, temporary<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> fortlets were run up, +and the nineteen mariners held them till January 10, 1894, when the +first of the two of the French columns entered the town. +Twenty-five days later the second column arrived.</p> + +<p>The French occupation of Timbuctoo the Mysterious was complete, +and Cape Juby was evacuated by England. Two large forts have now +replaced the improvised fortifications, and their guns command +every side of the town. Under their protection the inhabitants are +reviving. The long nightmare of the Touaregs is being slowly +dispelled. Houses are being repaired and rebuilt; the occupants +leave their doors ajar, and resume their beautifully embroidered +robes; and one can picture the city becoming a centre of European +civilisation and science as it was formerly of Mussulman +culture.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"> +148</a></span></p> + +<h4>RICHARD HAKLUYT</h4> + +<h4>The Principall Navigations</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Of the Book and Why it was +Made</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Richard Hakluyt, born about 1552 in Herefordshire, England, was +educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, and became in +1590 rector of Wetheringsett, in Suffolk, where he compiled and +arranged "The Principall Navigations, Voyages, Traffikes, and +Discoveries of the English Nation to the Remote Quarters of the +Earth at any Time within the Compass of these 1600 Years." He grew +to manhood in the midst of the most stirring period of travel and +discovery that England has known. Under Elizabeth, English sailors +and English travellers were penetrating beyond the dim borders of +the known world, and almost every returning ship brought back fresh +news of strange lands. "Richard Hakluyt, Preacher," tells how his +interest was attracted towards this subject of travel and +exploration which he made his own. He published other records of +travel, but it is through the "Principall Navigations" that his +name has been perpetuated. Hakluyt died on November 23, 1616.</p> +</div> + +<p>I do remember that being a youth, and one of her Majestie's +scholars at Westminster, that fruitfull nurserie, it was my happe +to visit the chamber of Master Richard Hakluyt, my cousin, a +gentleman of the Middle Temple, at a time when I found lying open +upon his borde certeine bookes of cosmographie, with an universall +mappe; he seeing me somewhat curious in the view thereof, began to +instruct my ignorance, by showing me the division of the earth into +three parts, after the old account, and then, according to the +latter and better distribution, into more. He pointed out with his +wand to all the known seas, gulfs, bayes, streights, capes, rivers, +empires, kingdoms, dukedoms, and territories of each part, with +declaration also of their speciall commodities, and particular +wants, which by the benefit of traffike, and intercourse of +merchants, are plentifully supplied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"> +149</a></span> From the mappe he brought me to the Bible, and +turning to the 107th Psalme, directed me to the 23rd and 24th +verses, where I read that "they which go downe to the sea in ships, +and occupy by the great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and +his wonders in the deepe," etc.</p> + +<p>Which words of the prophet together with my cousin's discourse +(things of high and rare delight to my young nature), tooke in me +so deepe an impression that I constantly resolved, if ever I were +preferred to the university, where better time, and more convenient +place might be ministered for these studies, I would, by God's +assistance, prosecute that knowledge and kinde of literature, the +doores whereof were so happily opened before me.</p> + +<p>According to which my resolution when, not long after, I was +removed to Christ Church in Oxford, my exercises of duty first +performed, I fell to my intended course, and by degrees read over +whatsoever printed or written discoveries and voyages I found +extant, either in the Greeke, Latine, Italian, Spanish, Portugall, +French, or English languages. In continuance of time I grew +familiarly acquainted with the chiefest captaines at sea, the +gretest merchants, and the best mariners of our nation, by which +means having gotten somewhat more than common knowledge.</p> + +<p>I passed at length the narrow seas into France. There I both +heard in speech and read in books other nations miraculously +extolled for their discoveries and notable enterprises by sea, but +the English, of all others, for their sluggish security and +continuall neglect of the like attempts, either ignominiously +reported or exceedingly condemned. Thus, both hearing and reading +the obluquie of our nation, and finding few or none of our owne men +able to replie heerin, and further, not seeing any man to have care +to recommend to the world the industrious labors and painefull +travels of our countrymen, myselfe returned from France, determined +to undertake the burden of that worke, wherein all others<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"> +150</a></span> pretended either ignorance or lacke of leasure, +whereas the huge toile, and the small profit to insue, were the +chiefe causes of the refusall.</p> + +<p>I calle the worke a burden, in consideration that these voyages +lay so dispersed and hidden in severall hucksters' hands that I now +wonder at myselfe to see how I was able to endure the delays, +curiosity, and backwardnesse of many from whom I was to receive my +originals. And thus, friendly reader, thou seest the briefe summe +and scope of my labours for the commonwealth's sake, and thy sake, +bestowed upon this work, which may, I pray, bring thee no little +profit.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Victories of King Arthur in +Foreign Lands</i></div> + +<p>Arthur, which was sometimes the most renowned king of the +Britaines, was a mightie and valiant man, and a famous warriour. +This kingdome was too little for him, and his minde was not +contented with it. He therefore valiantly subdued all Scantia, +which is now called Norway, and islands beyond Norway, to wit, +Island and Greenland, Sweueland, Ireland, Gotland, Denmarke, and +all the other lands and islands of the East Sea, even into Russia, +and many others islands beyond Norway, even under the North Pole, +which are appendances of Scantia, now called Norway. These people +were wild and savage, and held not in them the love of God nor of +their neighbours, because all evill cometh from the North; yet +there were among them certeine Christians living in secret. But +King Arthur was an exceeding good Christian, and caused them to be +baptised and thorowout all Norway to worship one God, and to +receive and keepe inviolably for ever faith in Christ onely.</p> + +<p>At that time, all the noble men of Norway tooke wives of the +noble nation of the Britaines, whereupon the<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +Norses say that they are descended of the race and blood of this +kingdome. The aforesaid King Arthur obteined also, in those days of +the Pope and court of Rome, that Norway should be for ever annexed +to the crown of Britaine for the inlargement of this kingdome, and +he called it the chamber of Britaine. For this cause the Norses say +that they ought to dwell with us in this kingdome—to wit, +that they belong to the crowne of Britaine; for they had rather +dwell here than in their owne native countrey, which is drie and +full of mountaines, and barren, and no graine growing there, but in +certain places. But this countrey of Britaine is fruitfull, wherein +corne and all other good things do grow and increase, for which +cause many cruell battles have been often-times fought betwixt the +Englishmen and the people of Norway, and infinite numbers of people +have been slaine, and the Norses have possessed many lands and +islands of this Empire, which unto this day they doe possess, +neither could they ever afterwards be fully expelled.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—How Martin Frobisher Sought a +Passage to Cathaya by the North-West</i></div> + +<p>It appeareth that not onely the middle zone but also the zones +about the Poles are habitable. Which thing, being well considered, +and familiarly knowen to our generall, Captaine Frobisher, as well +for that he is thorowly furnished of the knowledge of the sphere +and all other skilles appertaining to the arte of navigation, as +also for the confirmation he hath of the same by many yeares +experience, both by sea and land, and being persuaded of a new and +nerer passage to Cathaya than by Capo di Buona Sperança; he +began first with himself to devise, and then with his friends to +conferre, and declared unto them that that voyage was not onely +possible by the North-west, but he could prove easie to be +performed.</p> + +<p>And, further, he determined and resolved with himselfe<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> +to go make full proofe thereof, and to accomplish or bring true +certificate of the truth, or else never to return againe, knowing +this to be the onely thing of the world that was left yet undone, +whereby a notable minde might be made famous and fortunate. But, +although his will were great to performe this notable voyage, yet +he wanted altogether meanes and ability to set forward, and +performe the same. He layed open to many great estates and learned +men the plot and summe of his device. And so, by litle and litle, +with no small expense and paine, he brought his cause to some +perfection, and had drawen together so many adventurers and such +summes of money as might well defray a reasonable charge to furnish +himselfe to sea withall.</p> + +<p>He prepared two small barks of twenty and five and twenty tunne +apiece, wherein he intended to accomplish his pretended voyage. +Wherefore, being furnished with the aforesayd two barks, and one +small pinnesse of ten tun burthen, having therein victuals and +other necessaries for twelve months provision, he departed upon the +sayd voyage from Blacke-wall the fifteenth of June, <i>Anno +Domini</i>, 1576. One of the barks wherein he went was named the +Gabriel, and the other the Michael, and, sailing northwest from +England upon the eleventh of July he had sight of an high and +ragged land which he judged to be Frisland, but durst not approch +the same, by reason of the great store of ice that lay alongst the +coast, and the great mists that troubled them not a litle. Not +farre from thence he lost company of his small pinnesse, which by +meanes of a great storme he supposed to be swallowed up of the sea, +wherein he lost onely foure men. Also the other barke, named the +Michael, mistrusting the matter, conveyed themselves privily away +from him, and returned home, with great report that he was cast +away.</p> + +<p>The worthy captaine, notwithstanding these discomforts, although +his mast was sprung, and his toppe mast<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> blowen overboord +with extreame foul weather, continued his course towards the +north-west, knowing that the sea at length must needs have an +ending, and that some land should have a beginning that way; and +determined, therefore, at the least to bring true proofe what land +and sea the same might be so farre to the north-westwards, beyond +any man that had heretofore discovered. And the twentieth of July +he had sight of an high land which he called Queen Elizabeth's +Forland, after her majestie's name, and sailing more northerly +alongst that coast, he descried another forland with a great gut, +baye, or passage, divided as it were two maine lands or continents +asunder.</p> + +<p>He determined to make proofe of this place, to see how farre +that gut had continuance, and whether he might carry himself thorow +the same into some open sea on the backe side, whereof he conceived +no small hope, and so entered the same the one and twentieth of +July, and passed above fifty leagues therein as he reported, having +upon either hand a great maine, or continent. And that land upon +his right hand as he sailed westward he judged to be the continent +of Asia, and there to be divided from the firme of America, which +lieth upon the left hand over against the same. This place he named +after his name, Frobisher's Streights.</p> + +<p>After our captaine, Martin Frobisher, had passed sixty leagues +into this foresayed streight, he went ashore, and found signes +where fire had bene made.</p> + +<p>He saw mighty deere that seemed to be mankinde, which ranne at +him, and hardly he escaped with his life in a narrow way where he +was faine to use defence and policy to save his life. In this place +he saw and perceived sundry tokens of the peoples resorting +thither. And, being ashore upon the top of a hill, he perceived a +number of small things fleeting in the sea afarre off, which he +supposed to be porposes or seales, or some kinde of strange fish; +but, coming neerer, he discovered<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> them to be men in +small boats made of leather. And, before he could descend downe +from the hill, certeine of those people had almost cut off his boat +from him, having stolen secretly behinde the rocks for that +purpose, when he speedily hasted to his boat, and bent himselfe to +his halberd, and narrowly escaped the danger, and saved his +boat.</p> + +<p>Afterwards, he had sundry conferences with them, and they came +aboord his ship, and brought him salmon and raw flesh and fish, and +greedily devoured the same before our men's faces.</p> + +<p>After great courtesie, and many meetings, our mariners, contrary +to their captaine's direction, began more easily to trust them, and +five of our men, going ashore, were by them intercepted with their +boat, and were never since heard of to this day againe, so that the +captaine, being destitute of boat, barke, and all company, had +scarsely sufficient number to conduct back his barke againe. He +could not now convey himselfe ashore to rescue his men—if he +had been able—for want of a boat; and againe the subtile +traitours were so wary, as they would after that never come within +our men's danger.</p> + +<p>The captaine notwithstanding, desirous to bring some token from +thence of his being there, was greatly discontented that he had not +before apprehended some of them; and, therefore, to deceive the +deceivers he wrought a prety policy, for, knowing wel how they +greatly delited in our toyes, and specially in belles, he rang a +pretty lowbel, making signes that he would give him the same that +would come and fetch it. And to make them more greedy of the matter +he rang a louder bel, so that in the end one of them came nere the +ship side to receive the bel; which when he thought to take at the +captaine's hand he was thereby taken himselfe; for the captaine, +being readily provided, let the bel fall and caught the man fast, +and plucked him with main force, boat and all, into his barke out +of the sea. Whereupon, when he<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> found himself in +captivity, for very choler and disdaine he bit his tongue in twain +within his mouth; notwithstanding, he died not thereof, but lived +until he came in England, and then he died of cold.</p> + +<p>Nor with this new pray (which was a sufficient witnesse of the +captaine's farre and tedious travell towards the unknowen parts of +the world, as did well appeare by this strange infidell, whose like +was never seene, read, nor heard of before, and whose language was +neither knowen nor understood of any), the sayd Captaine Frobisher +returned homeward, and arrived in England in Harwich, the second of +October following, and thence came to London, 1576, where he was +highly commended by all men for his notable attempt, but specially +for the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathaya.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Valiant Fight of the Content +against some Spanish Ships</i></div> + +<p>Three ships of Sir George Carey made a notable fight against +certaine Spanish galleys in the West Indies, and this is the +relation of it.</p> + +<p>The 13th of June, 1591, being Sunday, at five of the clock in +the morning we descried six saile of the King of Spain, his ships. +We met with them off the Cape de Corrientes, which standeth on the +Island of Cuba. The sight of the foresayd ships made us joyfull, +hoping that they should make our voyage. But as soon as they +descryed us they made false fires one to another, and gathered +their fleet together. We, therefore, at six of the clock in the +morning, having made our prayers to Almighty God, prepared +ourselves for the fight. We in the Content bare up with their +vice-admiral, and (ranging along by his broadside aweather of him) +gave him a volley of muskets and our great ordinance; then, coming +up with another small ship ahead of the former, we hailed her in +such sort that she payd roome.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span>Thus being in fight with the little ship, we saw a great smoke +come from our admiral, and the Hopewel and Swallow, forsaking him +with all the sailes they could make; whereupon, bearing up with our +admiral (before we could come to him) we had both the small ships +to windward of us, purposing (if we had not bene too hotte for +them) to have layd us aboord.</p> + +<p>Thus we were forced to stand to the northwards, the Hopewel and +the Swallow not coming in all this while to ayde us, as they might +easily have done. Two of their great ships and one of their small +followed us. They having a loom gale (we being altogether becalmed) +with both their great ships came up faire by us, shot at us, and on +the sudden furled their sprit sailes and mainsailes, thinking that +we could not escape them. Then falling to prayer, we shipped our +oars that we might rowe to shore, and anker in shallow water, where +their great ships could not come nie us, for other refuge we had +none.</p> + +<p>Then one of their small ships being manned from one of their +great, and having a boat to rowe themselves in, shipped her oars +likewise, and rowed after us, thinking with their small shot to +have put us from our oars until the great ships might come up with +us; but by the time she was within musket shot, the Lord of His +mercie did send us a faire gale of wind at the north-west, off the +shore, what time we stood to the east.</p> + +<p>Afterward (commending our selves to Almightie God in prayer, and +giving him thankes for the winde which he had sent us for our +deliverance) we looked forth, and descryed two saile more to the +offen; these we thought to have bene the Hopewel and the Swallow +that had stoode in to ayde us; but it proved farre otherwise, for +they were two of the king's gallies.</p> + +<p>Then one of them came up, and (hayling of us whence our shippe +was) a Portugall which we had with us, made them answere, that we +were of the fleete of Terra Firma,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> and of Sivil; with +that they bid us amaine English dogs, and came upon our quarter +star-boord, and giving us five cast pieces out of her prowe they +sought to lay us aboord; but we so galled them with our muskets +that we put them from our quarter. Then they winding their gallie, +came up into our sterne, and with the way that the gallie had, did +so violently thrust into the boorde of our captaine's cabbin, that +her nose came into its minding to give us all their prowe and so to +sinke us. But we, being resolute, so plyed them with our small shot +that they could have no time to discharge their great ordnance; and +when they began to approch we heeved into them a ball of fire, and +by that meanes put them off; whereupon they once again fell asterne +of us, and gave us a prowe.</p> + +<p>Then, having the second time put them off, we went to prayer, +and sang the first part of the 25th Psalme, praysing God for our +safe deliverance. This being done, we might see two gallies and a +frigat, all three of them bending themselves together to encounter +us; whereupon we (eftsoones commending our estate into the hands of +God) armed ourselves, and resolved (for the honour of God, her +majestie, and our countrey) to fight it out till the last man.</p> + +<p>Then, shaking a pike of fire in defiance of the enemie, and +weaving them amaine, we bad them come aboord; and an Englishman in +the gallie made answer that they would come aboord presently. Our +fight continued with the ships and with the gallies from seven of +the clocke in the morning till eleven at night.</p> + +<p>Howbeit God (which never faileth them that put their trust in +Him) sent us a gale of winde about two of the clocke in the +morning, at east-north-east, which was for the preventing of their +crueltie and the saving of our lives. The next day being the +fourteenth of June in the morning, we sawe all our adversaries to +lee-ward of us; and they, espying us, chased us till<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> ten +of the clocke; and then, seeing they could not prevaile, gave us +over.</p> + +<p>Thus we give God most humble thankes for our safe deliverance +from the cruell enemie, which hath beene more mightie by the +Providence of God than any tongue can expresse; to whom bee all +praise, honour, and glory, both now and ever, Amen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"> +159</a></span></p> + +<h4>A. W. KINGLAKE</h4> + +<h4>Eothen</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Through Servia to +Constantinople</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Alexander William Kinglake, born near Taunton, England, Aug. 5, +1809, was the eldest son of William Kinglake, banker and solicitor, +of Taunton. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, where he was a +friend of Tennyson and Thackeray. In 1835 he made the Eastern tour +described in "Eothen [Greek, 'from the dawn'], or Traces of Travel +Brought Home from the East," which was twice re-written before it +appeared in 1844. It is more a record of personal impressions of +the countries visited than an ordinary book of travel, and is +distinguished for its refined style and delightful humour. Kinglake +accompanied St. Arnaud and his army in the campaign which resulted +in the conquest of Algiers for France. In 1854 he went to the +Crimea with the British troops, met Lord Raglan, and stayed with +the British commander until the opening of the siege of Sebastopol. +At the request of Lady Raglan he wrote the famous history of the +"Invasion of the Crimea," which appeared at intervals between 1863 +and 1887. He died on January 2, 1891.</p> +</div> + +<p>At Semlin I was still encompassed by the scenes and sounds of +familiar life, yet whenever I chose to look southward I saw the +Ottoman fortress—austere, and darkly impending high over the +vale of the Danube—historic Belgrade. I had come to the end +of wheel-going Europe, and now my eyes would see the splendour and +havoc of the East. We managed the work of departure from Semlin +with nearly as much solemnity as if we had been departing this +life. The plague was supposed to be raging in the Ottoman Empire, +and we were asked by our Semlin friends if we were perfectly +certain that we had wound up all our affairs in Christendom.</p> + +<p>We soon reached the southern bank in our row-boat, and were met +by an invitation from the pasha to pay<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> him a visit. In +the course of an interesting interview, conducted with Oriental +imagery by our dragoman, we informed the pasha that we were obliged +for his hospitality and the horses he had promised for our journey +to Constantinople, whereupon the pasha, standing up on his divan, +said, "Proud are the sires and blessed are the dams of the horses +that shall carry your excellency to the end of your prosperous +journey."</p> + +<p>Our party, consisting of my companion, Methley, our personal +servants, interpreter, and escort, started from Belgrade, as usual, +hours after the arranged time, and night had closed in as we +entered the great Servian forest through which our road lay for +more than a hundred miles. When we came out of the forest our road +lay through scenes like those of an English park. There are few +countries less infested by "lions in the path," in the shape of +historic monuments, and therefore there were no perils. The only +robbers we saw anything of had been long since dead and gone.</p> + +<p>The poor fellows had been impaled upon high poles, and so +propped up by the transverse spokes beneath them that their +skeletons, clothed with some white, wax-like remains of flesh, +still sat up lolling in the sunshine, and listlessly stared without +eyes. After a fifteen days' journey we crossed the Golden Horn, and +found shelter in Stamboul.</p> + +<p>All the while I stayed at Constantinople the plague was +prevailing. Its presence lent a mysterious and exciting, though not +very pleasant, interest to my first knowledge of a great Oriental +city. Europeans, during the prevalence of the plague, if they are +forced to enter into the streets, will carefully avoid the touch of +every human being they pass. The Moslem stalks on serenely, as +though he were under the eye of his God, and were "equal to either +fate."</p> + +<p>In a steep street or a narrow alley you meet one of those +coffin-shaped bundles of white linen which implies<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> an +Ottoman lady. She suddenly withdraws the yashmak, shines upon your +heart and soul with all the pomp and might of her beauty. This +dazzles your brain; she sees and exults; then with a sudden +movement she lays her blushing fingers upon your arm and cries out, +"Yumourdjak!" (plague), meaning, "There is a present of the plague +for you." This is her notion of a witticism.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Troad, Smyrna, and +Cyprus</i></div> + +<p>While my companion, Methley, was recovering from illness +contracted during our progress to Constantinople, I studied +Turkish, and sated my eyes with the pomps of the city and its +crowded waters. When capable of travelling, we determined to go to +Troad together. Away from our people and our horses, we went +loitering along the plains of Troy by the willowy banks of a stream +which I could see was finding itself new channels from year to +year, and flowed no longer in its ancient track. But I knew that +the springs which fed it were high in Ida—the springs of +Simois and Scamander. Methley reminded me that Homer himself had +warned us of some such changes. The Greeks, in beginning their +wall, had neglected the hecatombs due to the gods, and so, after +the fall of Troy, Apollo turned the paths of the rivers that flow +from Ida, and sent them flooding over the wall till all the beach +was smooth and free from the unhallowed works of the Greeks.</p> + +<p>After a journey of some days, we reached Smyrna, from which +place private affairs obliged Methley to return to England. Smyrna +may be called the chief town of the Greek race, against which you +will be cautioned so carefully as soon as you touch the Levant. For +myself, I love the race, in spite of their vices and their +meannesses. I remember the blood that is in them. I<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +sailed from Smyrna in the Amphitrite—a Greek brigantine which +was confidently said to be bound for the coast of Smyrna. I knew +enough of Greek navigation to be sure that our vessel should touch +at many an isle before I set foot upon the Syrian coast. My +patience was extremely useful to me, for the cruise altogether +endured some forty days. We touched at Cyprus, whither the ship ran +for shelter in half a gale of wind. A Greek of Limasol who hoisted +his flag as English Vice-Consul insisted upon my accepting his +hospitality. The family party went off very well. The mamma was shy +at first, but she veiled the awkwardness she felt by affecting to +scold her children, who had all of them immortal names. Every +instant I was delighted by some such phrases as these: +"Themistocles, my love, don't fight," "Alcibiades, can't you sit +still?" "Socrates, put down the cup!" "Oh, fie! Aspasia, don't be +naughty!"</p> + +<p>The heathenish longing to visit the scene where for Pallas +Athene "the hundred altars glowed with Arabian incense, and +breathed with the fragrance of garlands ever fresh," found +disenchantment when I spent the night in the cabin of a Greek +priest—not a priest of the goddess, but of the Greek +church—where there was but one room for man, priest, and +beast. A few days after, our brigantine sailed for Beyrout.</p> + +<p>At Beyrout I soon discovered that the standing topic of interest +was the Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived in an old convent on the +Lebanon range at a distance of a day's journey from the town, and +was acknowledged as an inspired being by the people of the +mountains, and as more than a prophet.</p> + +<p>I visited Lady Hester in her dwelling-place, a broad, grey mass +of irregular buildings on the summit of one of the many low hills +of Lebanon. I was received by her ladyship's doctor, and apartments +were set apart for myself and my party. After dinner the doctor +conducted me to Miladi's chamber, where the lady prophetess +received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"> +163</a></span> me standing up to the full of her majestic +height, perfectly still and motionless until I had taken my +appointed place, when she resumed her seat on a common European +sofa.</p> + +<p>Her ladyship addressed to me some inquiries respecting my +family; and then the spirit of the prophetess kindled within her, +and for hours and hours this wondrous white woman poured forth her +speech, for the most part concerning sacred and profane mysteries. +Now and again she adverted to the period when she exercised +astonishing sway and authority over the wandering Bedouin tribes in +the desert which lies between Damascus and Palmyra.</p> + +<p>Lady Hester talked to me long and earnestly on the subject of +religion, announcing that the Messiah was yet to come. She strived +to impress me with the vanity and falseness of all European creeds, +as well as with a sense of her own spiritual greatness. Throughout +her conversation upon these high topics, she skilfully insinuated, +without actually asserting, her heavenly rank.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Nazareth, Jordan, and the Dead +Sea</i></div> + +<p>I crossed the plain of Esdraelon, and entered amongst the hills +of beautiful Galilee. It was at sunset that my path brought me +sharply round into the gorge of a little valley, and close upon a +grey mass of dwellings that lay happily nestled in the lap of the +mountain. It was Christian Nazareth.</p> + +<p>Within the precincts of the Latin convent, in which I was +quartered, there stands a great Catholic church, which encloses the +sanctuary—the dwelling of the Blessed Virgin. This is a +grotto, forming a little chapel, to which you descend by steps.</p> + +<p>The attending friar led me down, all but silently, to the +Virgin's home. Religion and gracious custom commanded me that I +fall down loyally and kiss the rock<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> that blessed Mary +pressed. With a half-consciousness, a semblance of a thrilling hope +that I was plunging deep into my first knowledge of some most holy +mystery, or of some new, rapturous, and daring sin, I knelt and +bowed down my face till I met the smooth rock with my lips.</p> + +<p>One moment—my heart, or some old pagan demon within me, +woke up, and fiercely bounded—my bosom was lifted and swam as +though I had touched her warm robe. One moment—one more, and +then—the fever had left me. I rose from my knees. I felt +hopelessly sane. The mere world reappeared. My good old monk was +there, dangling his keys with listless patience; and as he guided +me from the church, and talked of the refectory and the coming +repast, I listened to his words with some attention and +pleasure.</p> + +<p>Having engaged a young Nazarene as guide to Jerusalem, our party +passed by Cana, and the house in which the water had been turned +into wine, and came to the field in which our Saviour had rebuked +the Scotch Sabbath-keepers of that period by suffering His +disciples to pluck corn on the Sabbath day.</p> + +<p>I rode over the ground on which the fainting multitude had been +fed, and was shown some massive fragments—relics, I was told, +of that wondrous banquet, now turned into stone. The petrifaction +was most complete. I ascended the heights on which our Lord was +standing when He wrought the miracle, and looked away eagerly +eastward. There lay the Sea of Galilee, less stern than Wastwater, +less fair than gentle Windermere, but still with the winning ways +of an English lake. My mind, however, flew away from the historical +associations of the place, and I thought of the mysterious desert +which stretched from these grey hills to the gates of Bagdad.</p> + +<p>I went on to Tiberias, and soon got afloat upon the water. In +the evening I took up my quarters in the Catholic church. Tiberias +is one of the four holy cities,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> the others being +Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safet; and, according to the Talmud, it is +from Tiberias, or its immediate neighbourhood, that the Messiah is +to arise. Except at Jerusalem, never think of attempting to sleep +in a "holy city."</p> + +<p>After leaving Tiberias, we rode for some hours along the right +bank of the Jordan till we came to an old Roman bridge which +crossed the river. My Nazarene guide, riding ahead of the party, +led on over the bridge. I knew that the true road to Jerusalem must +be mainly by the right bank, but I supposed that my guide had +crossed the bridge in order to avoid some bend in the river, and +that he knew of a ford lower down by which we should regain the +western bank. For two days we wandered, unable to find a ford +across the swollen river, and at last the guide fell on his knees +and confessed that he knew nothing of the country. Thrown upon my +own resources, I concluded that the Dead Sea must be near, and in +the afternoon I first caught sight of those waters of death which +stretched deeply into the southern desert. Before me and all around +as far as the eye could follow, blank hills piled high over hills, +pale, yellow, and naked, walled up in her tomb for ever the dead +and damned of Gomorrah.</p> + +<p>The water is perfectly bright and clear, its taste detestable. +My steps were reluctantly turned towards the north. On the west +there flowed the impassable Jordan, on the east stood an endless +range of barren mountains, on the south lay the desert sea. +Suddenly there broke upon my ear the ludicrous bray of a living +donkey. I followed the direction of the sound, and in a hollow came +upon an Arab encampment. Through my Arab interpreter an arrangement +was come to with the sheikh to carry my party and baggage in safety +to the other bank of the river on condition that I should give him +and his tribe a "teskeri," or written certificate of their good +conduct, and some baksheish.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span>The passage was accomplished by means of a raft formed of +inflated skins and small boughs cut from the banks of the river, +and guided by Arabs swimming alongside. The horses and mules were +thrown into the water and forced to swim over. We camped on the +right side of the river for the night, and the Arabs were made most +savagely happy by the tobacco with which I supplied them, and they +spent the whole night in one smoking festival. I parted upon very +good terms from this tribe, and in three hours gained Rihah, a +village said to occupy the ancient site of Jericho. Some hours +after sunset I reached the convent of Santa Saba.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Jerusalem and Bethlehem</i></div> + +<p>The enthusiasm that had glowed, or seemed to glow, within me for +one blessed moment when I knelt by the shrine of the Blessed Virgin +at Nazareth was not rekindled at Jerusalem. In the stead of the +solemn gloom, and a deep stillness which by right belonged to the +Holy City, there was the hum and the bustle of active life. It was +the "height of the season." The Easter ceremonies drew near, and +pilgrims were flocking in from all quarters. The space fronting the +church of the Holy Sepulchre becomes a kind of bazaar. I have never +seen elsewhere in Asia so much commercial animation. When I entered +the church I found a babel of worshippers. Greek, Roman, and +Armenian priests were performing their different rites in various +nooks, and crowds of disciples were rushing about in all +directions—some laughing and talking, some begging, but most +of them going about in a regular, methodical way to kiss the +sanctified spots, speak the appointed syllables, and lay down their +accustomed coins. They seemed to be not "working out," but +"transacting" the great business of salvation.</p> + +<p>The Holy Sepulchre is under the roof of this great<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +church. It is a handsome tomb of oblong form, partly subterranean. +You descend into the interior by a few steps, and there find an +altar with burning tapers. When you have seen enough of it you +feel, perhaps, weary of the busy crowd, and ask your dragoman +whether there will be time before sunset to procure horses and take +a ride to Mount Calvary.</p> + +<p>"Mount Calvary, signor! It is upstairs—on the first +floor!" In effect you ascend just thirteen steps, and then are +shown the now golden sockets in which the crosses of our Lord and +the two thieves were fixed.</p> + +<p>The village of Bethlehem lies prettily couched on the slope of a +hill. The sanctuary is a subterranean grotto, and is committed to +the joint guardianship of the Romans, Greeks, and Armenians, who +vie with each other in adorning it. Beneath an altar gorgeously +decorated, and lit with everlasting fires, there stands the low +slab of stone which marked the holy site of the Nativity, and near +to this is a hollow scooped out of the living rock. Here the infant +Jesus was laid. Near the spot of the Nativity is the rock against +which the Blessed Virgin was leaning when she presented her babe to +the adoring shepherds.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—To Cairo and the Pyramids</i></div> + +<p>Gaza is upon the edge of the desert, to which it stands in the +same relation as a seaport to the sea. It is there that you charter +your camels, "the ships of the desert," and lay in your stores for +the voyage. The agreement with the desert Arabs includes a safe +conduct through their country as well as the hire of the camels. On +the ninth day, without startling incident, I arrived at the capital +of Egypt.</p> + +<p>Cairo and the plague! During the whole time of my stay, the +plague was so master of the city, and showed himself so staringly +in every street and alley,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" +id="Page_168">168</a></span> that I can't now affect to +dissociate the two ideas. I was the only European traveller in +Cairo, and was provided with a house by one Osman Effendi, whose +history was curious. He was a Scotchman born, and landed in Egypt +as a drummer-boy with Mackenzie Fraser's force, taken prisoner, and +offered the alternative of death or the Koran.</p> + +<p>He did not choose death, and followed the orthodox standard of +the Prophet in fierce campaigns against the Wahabees. Returning to +Cairo in triumph from his Holy Wars, Osman began to flourish in the +world, acquired property, and became effendi, or gentleman, giving +pledge of his sincere alienation from Christianity by keeping a +couple of wives. The strangest feature in Osman's character was his +inextinguishable nationality. In his house he had three shelves of +books, and the books were thoroughbred Scotch! He afterwards died +of the plague, of which visitation one-half of the whole people of +the city, 200,000 in number, were carried off. I took it into my +pleasant head that the plague might be providential or epidemic, +but was not contagious, and therefore I determined that it should +not alter my habits in any one respect. I hired a donkey, and saw +all that was to be seen in the city in the way of public +buildings—one handsome mosque, which had been built by a +wealthy Hindoostanee merchant, and the citadel. From the platform +of the latter there is a superb view of the town. But your eyes are +drawn westward over the Nile, till they rest upon the massive +enormities of the Ghizeh pyramids. At length the great difficulty +which I had in procuring beasts for my departure was overcome, and +with two dromedaries and three camels I and my servants gladly +wound our way from out the pest-stricken city.</p> + +<p>Of course, I went to see and explore the pyramids of Ghizeh, +Aboucir, and Sakkara, which I need not describe. Near the pyramids, +more wondrous and more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id= +"Page_169">169</a></span> awful than all else in the land of +Egypt, there sits the lonely sphinx. Upon ancient dynasties of +Ethiopian and Egyptian kings, upon conquerors, down through all the +ages till to-day, this unworldly sphinx has watched like a +Providence with the same earnest eyes, and the same sad, tranquil +mien. And we shall die, and Islam will wither away, and the +Englishman, leaning far over to hold his loved India, will plant a +firm foot on the banks of the Nile and sit in the seats of the +faithful, and still that sleepless rock will lie watching and +watching the works of the new, busy race with those same sad, +earnest eyes, the same tranquil mien everlasting.</p> + +<p>I accomplished the journey to Suez after an exciting adventure +in the desert. There are two opinions as to the point at which the +Israelites passed the Red Sea. One is that they traversed only the +very small creek at the northern extremity of the inlet, and that +they entered the bed of the water at the spot on which Suez now +stands. The other is that they crossed the sea from a point +eighteen miles down the coast.</p> + +<p>From Suez I crossed the desert once more to Gaza, and thence to +Nablous and Safet—beautiful on its craggy height. Thereafter, +for a part of two days, I wound under the base of the snow-crowned +Djibel El Sheik, and then entered upon a vast plain. Before evening +came there were straining eyes that saw, and joyful voices that +announced, the sight of the holy, blessed Damascus. This earthly +paradise of the Prophet is a city of hidden palaces, of copses and +gardens, fountains and bubbling streams.</p> + +<p>The path by which I crossed the Lebanon is like that of the +Foorca in the Bernese Oberland, and from the white shoulder of the +mountain I saw the breadth of all Syria west of the range. I +descended, passing the group of cedars which is held sacred by the +Greek Church. They occupy three or four acres on the mountain-side, +and many of them are gnarled in a way that<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> implies great +age; but I saw nothing in their appearance that tended to prove +them contemporaries of the cedars employed in Solomon's temple. +Beyrout was reached without further adventure, and my eastern +travel practically ended.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"> +171</a></span></p> + +<h4>AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD</h4> + +<h4>Nineveh and Its Remains</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Mosul and its Hidden +Mysteries</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Sir Austen Henry Layard, the most famous of all Oriental +archæological explorers and discoverers, was born in Paris, +on March 5, 1817, and died on July 5, 1894. Intended for the +English legal profession, but contracting a dislike to the +prospect, he determined to make himself familiar with the romantic +regions of the Near East, and travelled in all parts of the Turkish +and Persian Empires, and through several districts of Arabia. The +desire came upon him to investigate the mysterious mounds on the +great plains of the Tigris and the Euphrates, and he began that +series of excavations which resulted in the most sensational +discoveries of modern times, for he unearthed the remains of the +long-buried city of Nineveh. With the marvellous, massive, and +sublime sculptures of winged, human-headed bulls and lions, and +eagle-headed deities, he enriched the galleries of the British +Museum, England thus becoming possessed of the finest collection of +the kind in the world. Layard's two volumes, "Nineveh and Its +Remains" (1848) and "Monuments of Nineveh" (1850), are unique +records of special enterprise and skill.</p> +</div> + +<p>During the autumn of 1839 and winter of 1840, I had been +wandering through Asia Minor and Syria, scarcely leaving untrod one +spot hallowed by tradition, or unvisited one spot consecrated by +history. I was accompanied by one no less curious and enthusiastic +than myself—Edward Ledwich Mitford, afterwards engaged in the +civil service in Ceylon. We were both equally careless of comfort +and unmindful of danger. We rode alone; our arms were our only +protection; and we tended our own horses, except when relieved from +the duty by the hospitable inhabitants of a Turcoman village or an +Arab tent.</p> + +<p>We left Aleppo on March 18, took the road through<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> Bir +and Orfa, and, traversing the low country at the foot of the +Kurdish hills, reached Mosul on April 10.</p> + +<p>During a short stay in the town we visited the great ruins on +the east bank of the river which have been generally believed to be +the remains of Nineveh. We rode into the desert and explored the +mound of Kalah Shergat, a vast, shapeless mass, covered with grass, +with remains of ancient walls laid open where the winter rains had +formed ravines.</p> + +<p>A few fragments of ancient pottery and inscribed bricks proved +that it owed its construction to the people who had founded the +city of which the mounds of Nimroud are the remains. These huge +mounds of Assyria made a deeper impression upon me than the temples +of Baalbec and the theatres of Ionia. My curiosity had been greatly +excited, and I formed the design of thoroughly examining, whenever +it might be in my power, the ruins of Nimroud.</p> + +<p>It was not till the summer of 1842 that I again passed through +Mosul on my way to Constantinople. I found that M. Botta had, since +my first visit, commenced excavations on the opposite side of the +Tigris in the large mound of Kouyunjik, and in the village of +Khorsabad. To him is due the honour of having found the first +Assyrian monument. He uncovered an edifice belonging to the age +preceding the conquests of Alexander. This was a marvellous and +epoch-making discovery.</p> + +<p>My first step on reaching Mosul was to present my letters to +Mohammed Pasha, governor of the province. His appearance matched +his temper and conduct, and thus was not prepossessing. Nature had +placed hypocrisy beyond his reach. He had one eye and one ear, was +short and fat, deeply marked by small-pox, and uncouth in gestures +and harsh in voice. At the time of my arrival the population was in +despair at his exactions and cruelties.</p> + +<p>The appearance of a stranger led to hopes, and reports<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"> +173</a></span> were whispered about the town that I was the bearer +of the news of the disgrace of the tyrant. But his vengeance +speedily fell on the principal inhabitants, for such as had +hitherto escaped his rapacity were seized and stripped of their +property, on the plea that they had spread reports detrimental to +his authority.</p> + +<p>Such was the pasha to whom I was introduced two days after my +arrival by the British Vice-Consul, M. Rassam. I understood that my +plans must be kept secret, though I was ready to put them into +operation. I knew that from the authorities and people of the town +I could only look for the most decided opposition. On November 8, +having secretly procured a few tools, I engaged a mason at the +moment of my departure, and carrying with me a variety of guns, +spears, and other formidable weapons, declared that I was going to +hunt wild boars in a neighbouring village, and floated down the +Tigris on a small raft, accompanied by Mr. Ross, a British merchant +then residing at Mosul, my cavass, and a servant.</p> + +<p>At this time of year nearly seven hours are required to descend +the Tigris, from Mosul to Nimroud. It was sunset before we reached +the Awai, or dam across the river. We landed and walked to a small +hamlet called Naifa. We had entered a heap of ruins, but were +welcomed by an Arab family crouching round a heap of +half-extinguished embers. The half-naked children and women +retreated into a corner of the hut. The man, clad in ample cloak +and white turban, being able to speak a little Turkish, and being +active and intelligent, seemed likely to be of use to me.</p> + +<p>I acquainted him with the object of my journey, offering him +regular employment in the event of the experiment proving +successful, and assigning him fixed wages as superintendent of the +workmen. He volunteered to walk, in the middle of the night, to +Selamiyah, a village three miles distant, and to some Arab tents in +the neighbourhood,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id= +"Page_174">174</a></span> to procure men to assist in +the excavations. I slept little during the night. Hopes long +cherished were now to be realised, or were to end in +disappointment.</p> + +<p>Visions of palaces under ground, of gigantic monsters, or +sculptured figures, and endless inscriptions floated before me. In +the morning I was roused and informed that six workmen had been +secured. Twenty minutes' walk brought us to the principal mound. +Broken pottery and fragments of brick, inscribed with cuneiform +characters, were strewn on all sides. With joy I found the fragment +of a bas-relief. Convinced that sculptured remains must still exist +in some parts of the mound, I sought for a place where excavations +might be commenced with some prospects of success. Awad led me to a +piece of alabaster which appeared above the soil. We could not +remove it, and on digging downward it proved to be the upper part +of a large slab. I ordered the men to work around it, and shortly +we uncovered a second slab.</p> + +<p>One after another, thirteen slabs came to light, the whole +forming a square, with a slab missing at one corner. We had found a +chamber, and the gap was at its entrance. I now dug down the face +of one of the stones, and a cuneiform inscription was soon exposed +to view. Leaving half the workmen to remove the rubbish from the +chamber, I led the rest to the south-west corner of the mound, +where I had observed many fragments of calcined alabaster.</p> + +<p>A trench, opened in the side of the mound, brought me almost +immediately to a wall, bearing inscriptions in the same character. +Next day, five more workmen having joined, before evening the work +of the first party was completed, and I found myself in a room +panelled with slabs about eight feet high, and varying from six to +four feet in breadth.</p> + +<p>Some objects of ivory, on which were traces of gold leaf had +been found by Awad in the ruins, and these I<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> told +him to keep, much to his surprise. But word had already been sent +to the pasha of all details of my doings. When I called on him he +pretended at first to be ignorant of the excavations, but +presently, as if to convict me of prevarication in my answers to +his questions as to the amount of treasure discovered, pulled out +of his writing-tray a scrap of paper in which was an almost +invisible particle of gold leaf. This, he said, had been brought to +him by the commander of the irregular troops at Selamiyah, who had +been watching my proceedings.</p> + +<p>I suggested that he should name an agent to be present as long +as I worked at Nimroud, to take charge of all the precious metals +that might be discovered. He promised to write on the subject to +the chief of the irregulars, but offered no objection to the +continuation of my researches. I returned to Nimroud on the 19th, +increased my workmen to thirty, and divided them into three +parties. The excavations were actively carried on, and an entrance, +or doorway, leading into the interior of the mound, being cleared, +rich results soon rewarded our efforts. In a chamber that the Arabs +unearthed were found two slabs on which were splendid bas-reliefs, +depicting on each a battle scene. In the upper part of the largest +were represented two chariots, each drawn by richly caparisoned +horses at full speed, and containing a group of three warriors, the +principal of which was beardless and evidently a eunuch, grasping a +bow at full stretch.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—"They have Found Nimrod +Himself!"</i></div> + +<p>Mohammed Pasha was deposed, and on my return to Mosul, in the +beginning of January, I found Ismail Pasha installed in the +government. My fresh experiments among the ruins speedily led to +the discoveries of extraordinary bas-reliefs. The most perfect of +these represented a king, distinguished by his high, conical +tiara,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"> +176</a></span> raising his extended right hand and resting his +left on a bow. At his feet crouched a warrior, probably a captive +or rebel. A eunuch held a fly-flapper over the head of the king, +who appeared to be talking with an officer standing in front of +him, probably his vizir or minister.</p> + +<p>The digging of two long trenches led to the discovery of two +more walls with sculptures not well preserved. I abandoned this +part of the mound and resumed excavations in the north-west ruins +near the chamber first opened, where the slabs were uninjured. In +two days the workmen reached the top of an entire slab, standing in +its original position. In a few hours the earth was completely +removed, and there stood to view, to my great satisfaction, two +colossal human figures, carved in low relief and in admirable +preservation.</p> + +<p>The figures were back to back, and from the shoulders of each +sprang two wings. They appeared to represent divinities, presiding +over seasons. One carried a fallow deer on his right arm, and in +his left a branch bearing five flowers. The other held a square +vessel or basket in the left hand, and an object resembling a fir +cone in his right.</p> + +<p>On the morning following these discoveries some of the Arab +workmen came towards me in the utmost excitement, exclaiming: +"Hasten to the diggers, for they have found Nimrod himself! Wallah! +it is wonderful, but we have seen him with our own eyes. There is +no God but God." On reaching the trench I found unearthed an +enormous human head sculptured out of the alabaster of the +country.</p> + +<p>They had uncovered the upper part of a figure, the remainder of +which was still buried in the earth. I saw at once that the head +must belong to a winged bull or lion, similar to those at Khorsabad +and Persepolis. It was in admirable preservation. I was not +surprised that the Arabs had been amazed and terrified at this +apparition. They declared that this was one of the giants whom<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"> +177</a></span> Noah cursed before the flood, and was not the work +of men's hands at all. By the end of March I unearthed several +other such colossal figures. They were about twelve feet high and +twelve feet long.</p> + +<p>I used to contemplate for hours these mysterious emblems, and +muse over their intent and history. What more noble forms could +have ushered the people into the temples of their gods? They formed +the avenue to the portals. For twenty-five centuries they had been +hidden from the eye of man, and now they stood forth once more in +their ancient majesty.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Unearthing the Palaces of +Assyria</i></div> + +<p>As the discoveries proceeded in several successive seasons, they +threw vivid light on the manners and customs of the Assyrians. My +working parties were distributed over the mound, in the ruins of +the north-west and south-west palaces; near the gigantic bulls in +the centre, and in the south-east corner, where no traces of +buildings had as yet been discovered.</p> + +<p>I was anxious to pack some of the slabs, which were of the +highest interest, to England. They represented the wars of the king +and his victories over foreign nations. Above him was the emblem of +the supreme deity, represented, as at Persepolis, by a winged man +within a circle, and wearing a horned cap resembling that of the +human-headed lions. Like the king, he was shooting an arrow, the +head of which was in the form of a trident.</p> + +<p>Four bas-reliefs, representing a battle, were especially +illustrative of Assyrian customs. A eunuch is seen commanding in +war, as we have before seen him ministering to the king at +religious ceremonies, or waiting on him as his arms-bearer during +peace. Judging from the slabs, cavalry must have formed a large and +important portion of the Assyrian armies.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span>The lower series of bas-reliefs contained three subjects: the +siege of a castle, the king receiving prisoners, and the king with +his army crossing a river. To the castle, the besiegers had brought +a battering-ram, which two warriors were seeking to hold in its +place by hooks, this part of the bas-relief illustrating the +account in the Book of Chronicles and in Josephus of the machine +for battering walls, instruments to cast stones, and +grappling-irons made by Uzziah.</p> + +<p>A cargo of sculptures had already been sent to England for the +British Museum, and by the middle of December a second was ready to +be dispatched on the river to Baghdad.</p> + +<p>When the excavations were recommenced after Christmas eight +chambers had been discovered. There were now so many outlets and +entrances that I had no trouble in finding new chambers, one +leading into another. By the end of April I had uncovered almost +the whole building, and had opened twenty-eight halls and rooms +cased with alabaster slabs.</p> + +<p>The colossal figure of a woman with four wings, carrying a +garland, now in the British Museum, was discovered in a chamber on +the south side of the palace, as was also the fine bas-relief of +the king leaning on a wand, one of the best-preserved and most +highly finished specimens of Assyrian sculpture in the national +collection.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the palace was a great hall, or rather court, +for it had probably been without a roof and open to the air, with +entrances on the four sides, each formed by colossal human-headed +lions and bulls. To the south of this hall was a cluster of small +chambers, opening into each other. At the entrance to one of them +were two winged human figures wearing garlands, and carrying a wild +goat and an ear of corn.</p> + +<p>In another chamber were discovered a number of beautiful ivory +ornaments, now in the British Museum. On<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> two slabs, +forming an entrance to a small chamber in this part of the +building, some inscriptions containing the name of Sargon, the king +who built the Khorsabad palace. They had been cut above the +standard inscription, to which they were evidently posterior.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Kouyunjik</i></div> + +<p>Having finished my work at Nimroud, I turned my attention to +Kouyunjik. The term means in Turkish "the little sheep." The great +mount is situated on the plain near the junction of the Khausser +and the Tigris, the former winding round its base and then making +its way into the great stream.</p> + +<p>The French consul had carried on desultory excavations some +years at Kouyunjik, without finding any traces of buildings. I set +my workmen commencing operations by the proper method of digging +deep trenches. One morning, as I was at Mosul, two Arab women came +to me and announced that sculptures had been discovered.</p> + +<p>I rode to the ruins, and found that a wall and the remains of an +entrance had been reached. The wall proved to be one side of a +chamber. By following it, we reached an entrance, formed by winged +human-headed bulls, leading into a second hall. In a month nine +halls and chambers had been explored. In its architecture the newly +discovered edifice resembled the palaces of Nimroud and Khorsabad. +The halls were long and narrow, the walls of unbaked brick and +panelled with sculptured slabs.</p> + +<p>The king whose name is on the sculptures and bricks from +Kouyunjik was the father of Esarhaddon, the builder of the +south-west palace at Nimroud, and the son of Sargon, the Khorsabad +king, and is now generally admitted to be Sennacherib.</p> + +<p>By the middle of the month of June my labours in Assyria drew to +a close. The time assigned for the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> excavations had been +expended, and further researches were not contemplated for the +present. I prepared, therefore, to turn my steps homeward after an +absence of many years. The ruins of Nimroud had been again covered +up, and its palaces were once more hidden from the eye.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"> +181</a></span></p> + +<h4>CAROLUS LINNÆUS</h4> + +<h4>A Tour in Lapland</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—A Wandering Scientist</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Carolus Linnæus, the celebrated Swedish naturalist, was +born at Rashult on May 23, 1707. At school his taste for botany was +encouraged, but after an unsatisfactory academic career his father +decided to apprentice him to a tradesman. A doctor called Rothmann, +however, recognised and fostered his scientific talents, and in +1728, on Rothmann's advice, he went to Upsala and studied under the +celebrated Rudbeck. In 1732 he made his famous tour in Lapland. He +gives a fascinating account of this journey in "A Tour in Lapland" +("Lachesis Lapponica"), published in 1737. In 1739 he was appointed +a naval physician, and in 1741 became professor of medicine at the +University of Upsal, but in the following year exchanged his chair +for that of botany. To Linnæus is due the honour of having +first enunciated the true principles for defining genera and +species, and that honour will last so long as biology itself +endures. He found biology a chaos; he left it a cosmos. He died on +January 10, 1778. Among his published works are "Systema +Naturæ," "Fundamenta Botanica," and the "Species +Plantarum."</p> +</div> + +<p>Having been appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences to travel +through Lapland for the purpose of investigating the three kingdoms +of nature in that country, I prepared my wearing apparel and other +necessaries for the journey.</p> + +<p>I carried a small leather bag, half an ell in length, but +somewhat less in breadth, furnished on one side with hooks and +eyes, so that it could be opened and shut at pleasure. This bag +contained one shirt, two pairs of false sleeves, two half shirts, +an inkstand, pencase, microscope, and spying glass, a gauze cap to +protect me occasionally from the gnats, a comb, my journal, and a +parcel of paper stitched together for drying plants, both in folio; +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"> +182</a></span> my manuscript ornithology, <i>Flora Uplandica</i>, +and <i>Characteres generici</i>. I wore a hanger at my side, and +carried a small fowling-piece, as well as an octangular stick, +graduated for the purpose of measuring.</p> + +<p>I set out alone from the city of Upsal on Friday, May 22, 1732, +at eleven o'clock, being at that time within half a day of +twenty-five years of age.</p> + +<p>At this season nature wore her most cheerful and delightful +aspect, and Flora celebrated her nuptials with Phœbus. The +winter corn was half a foot in height, and the barley had just shot +out its blade. The birch, the elm, and the aspen-tree began to put +forth their leaves.</p> + +<p>A number of mares with their colts were grazing everywhere near +the road. I remarked the great length of the colts' legs, which, +according to common opinion, are as long at their birth as they +will ever be. I noticed young kids, under whose chin, at the +beginning of the throat, were a pair of tubercles, like those seen +in pigs, about an inch long, and clothed with a few scattered +hairs. Of their use I am ignorant. The forest abounded with the +yellow anemone (<i>Anemone ranunculoides</i>), which many people +consider as differing from that genus. One would suppose they had +never seen an anemone at all. Here, also, grew hepatica, and wood +sorrel. Their blossoms were all closed. Who has endowed plants with +intelligence to shut themselves up at the approach of rain? Even +when the weather changes in a moment from sunshine to rain they +immediately close.</p> + +<p>Near the great river Linsnan I found blood-red stones. On +rubbing them I found the red colour external and distinct from the +stone; in fact, it was a red byssus.</p> + +<p>At Enänger the people seemed somewhat larger in stature +than in other places, especially the men. I inquired whether the +children are kept longer at the breast than is usual with us, and +was answered in the affirmative. They are allowed that nourishment +more than twice as long as in other places. I have a notion that +Adam and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"> +183</a></span> Eve were giants, and that mankind from one +generation to another, owing to poverty and other causes, have +diminished in size. Hence, perhaps, the diminutive stature of the +Laplanders.</p> + +<p>The old tradition that the inhabitants of Helsingland never have +the ague is untrue, since I heard of many cases.</p> + +<p>Between the post-house of Iggsund and Hudwiksvall a +violet-coloured clay is found in abundance, forming a regular +stratum. I observed it likewise in a hill, the strata of which +consisted of two or three fingers' breadths of common vegetable +mould, then from four to six inches of barren sand, next about a +span of the violet clay, and lastly, barren sand. The clay +contained small and delicately smooth white bivalve shells, quite +entire, as well as some larger brown ones, of which great +quantities are to be found near the waterside. I am therefore +convinced that all these valleys and marshes have formerly been +under water, and that the highest hills only then rose above it. At +this spot grows the <i>Anemone hepatica</i> with a purple flower; a +variety so very rare in other places that I should almost be of the +opinion of the gardeners, who believe the colours of particular +earths may be communicated to flowers.</p> + +<p>On May 21 I found at Natra some fields cultivated in an +extraordinary manner. After the field had lain fallow three or four +years, it is sown with one part rye and two parts barley, mixed +together. The barley ripens, and is reaped. The rye, meantime, goes +into leaf, but shoots up no stem, since it is smothered by the +barley. After the barley has been reaped, however, the rye grows +and ripens the following year, producing an abundant crop.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Lapland Customs</i></div> + +<p>The Laplanders of Lycksele prepare a kind of curd or cheese from +the milk of the reindeer and the leaves of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> sorrel. They boil +these leaves in a copper vessel, adding one-third part water, +stirring it continually with a ladle that it may not burn, and +adding fresh leaves from time to time till the whole acquires the +consistence of a syrup. This takes six or seven hours, after which +it is set by to cool, and is then mixed with the milk, and +preserved for use from autumn till the ensuing summer in wooden +vessels, or in the first stomach of the reindeer. It is stored +either in the caves of the mountains or in holes dug in the ground, +lest it should be attacked by the mountain mice.</p> + +<p>In Angermanland the people eat sour milk prepared in the +following manner. After the milk is turned, and the curd taken out, +the whey is put into a vessel, where it remains till it becomes +sour. Immediately after the making of cheese, fresh whey is poured +lukewarm on the former sour whey. This is repeated several times, +care being always taken that the fresh whey be lukewarm. This +prepared milk is esteemed a great dainty by the country people. +They consider it as very cooling and refreshing. Sometimes it is +eaten along with fresh milk. Intermittent fevers would not be so +rare here as they are if they could be produced by acid diet, for +then this food must infallibly occasion them.</p> + +<p>In Westbothland one of the peasants had shot a young beaver, +which fell under my examination. It was a foot and a half long, +exclusive of the tail, which was a palm in length and two inches +and a half in breadth. The hairs on the back were longer than the +rest; the external ones brownish black, the inner pale brown; the +belly clothed with short, dark-brown fur; body depressed; ears +obtuse, clothed with fine short hairs and destitute of any +accessory lobe; snout blunt, with round nostrils; upper lip cloven +as far as the nostrils; lower very short; the whiskers black, long, +and stout; eyebrow of three bristles like the whiskers over each +eye; neck, none. The fur of the belly was distinguished from that +of the sides<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id= +"Page_185">185</a></span> by a line on each side, in which the +skin was visible. Feet clothed with very short hairs, quite +different from those of the body. A fleshy integument invested the +whole body. There were two cutting teeth in each jaw, of which the +upper pair were the shortest, and notched at the summit like steps; +the lower and larger pair were sloped off obliquely—grinders +very far remote from the fore-teeth, which is characteristic of the +animal, four on each side; hind feet webbed, but fore feet with +separate claws; tail flat, oblong, obtuse, with a reticulated naked +surface.</p> + +<p>At Lycksele was a woman supposed to have a brood of frogs in her +stomach, owing to drinking water containing frogs' spawn. She +thought she could feel three of them, and that she and those beside +her could hear them croak. Her uneasiness was alleviated by +drinking brandy. Salt had no effect in killing the frogs, and even +<i>nux vomica</i>, which had cured another case of the same kind, +was useless. I advised her to try tar, but she had already tried it +in vain.</p> + +<p>The Lycksele Laplanders are subject, when they are compelled to +drink the warm sea water, to <i>allem</i>, or colic, for which they +use soot, snuff, salt, and other remedies. They also suffer from +asthma, epilepsy, pleurisy, and rheumatism. Fever and small-pox are +rare. They cure coughs by sulphur laid on burning fungus.</p> + +<p>On June 3, being lost amid marshes, I sent a man to obtain a +guide. About two in the afternoon he returned, accompanied by an +extraordinary creature. I can scarce believe that any practical +description of a fury could come up to the idea which this Lapland +fair one excited. It might well be imagined she was really of +Stygian origin. Her stature was very diminutive; her face of the +darkest brown, from the effects of smoke; her eyes dark and +sparkling; her eyebrows black. Her pitchy-coloured hair hung loose +about her head, and she wore a flat, red cap.</p> + +<p><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span>Though a fury in appearance, she addressed me with mingled pity +and reserve.</p> + +<p>I inquired how far it was to Sorsele.</p> + +<p>"That we do not know," replied she; "but in the present state of +the roads it is at least seven days' journey, as my husband has +told me."</p> + +<p>I was exhausted and famishing. How I longed to meet once more +people who feed on spoon-meat! I inquired of the woman if she could +give me food. She replied that she could give me only fish, but +finding the fish full of maggots, I could not touch it. On arriving +at her hut, however, I perceived three cheeses, and succeeded in +buying the smallest. Then I returned through the marshes the way I +came.</p> + +<p>I remarked that all the women hereabouts feed their infants by +means of a horn; nor do they take the trouble of boiling the milk, +so it is no wonder the children have worms. I could not help being +astonished that these peasants did not suckle their children.</p> + +<p>Near the road I saw the under-jaw of a horse, having six +fore-teeth, much worn and blunted; two canine teeth; and at a +distance from the latter twelve grinders, six on each side. If I +knew how many teeth, and of what peculiar form, as well as how many +udders and where situated, each animal has, I should perhaps be +able to contrive a most natural methodical arrangement of +quadrupeds. [This observation seems to record the first idea of the +Linnæan system of the order of the mammalia.]</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Ignorance Incorrigible</i></div> + +<p>On June 18 the people brought me a peasant's child, supposed to +have cataract. I concluded that it was not cataract; but noticing +that the eyeballs rolled upwards when the child was spoken to, I +asked the mother whether, when she was with child, she had seen +anybody turn their eyes in that manner. She replied that<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"> +187</a></span> she had attended her mother, or mother-in-law, who +was supposed to be dying, whose eyes rolled in a similar fashion. +This was the cause of the infant's misfortune.</p> + +<p>At Lulea I was informed of a disease of cattle so pestilential +that though the animals were flayed even before they were cold, +whenever their blood had come in contact with the human body it had +caused gangrenous spots and sores. Some persons had both their +hands swelled, and one his face, in consequence of the blood coming +upon it. Many people had lost their lives by the disease, insomuch +that nobody would now venture to flay any more of the cattle, but +contrived to bury them whole.</p> + +<p>On June 30 I arrived at Jockmock, where the curate and +schoolmaster tormented me with their consummate and most +incorrigible ignorance. I could not but wonder that so much pride +and ambition, such scandalous want of information, with such +incorrigible stupidity, could exist in persons of their profession, +who are commonly expected to be men of knowledge. No man will deny +the propriety of such people as these being placed as far as +possible from civilised society.</p> + +<p>The learned curate began his conversation by remarking how the +clouds as they strike the mountains carry away stones, trees, and +cattle. I ventured to suggest that such accidents were rather to be +attributed to the force of the wind, since the clouds could not of +themselves carry away anything. He laughed at me, saying surely I +had never seen any clouds. For my part it seemed to me that he +could never have been anywhere but in the clouds. I explained that +when the weather is foggy I walk in clouds, and that when the cloud +is condensed it rains. At all such reasoning, being above his +comprehension, he only laughed with a sardonic smile. Still less +was he satisfied with my explanation how watery bubbles may be +lifted into the air. He insisted that the clouds were solid bodies, +reinforced his assertion with a<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> text of Scripture, +silenced me by authority, and laughed at my ignorance.</p> + +<p>He next condescended to inform me that a phlegm is always to be +found on the mountains where the clouds have touched them. I told +him that the phlegm was a vegetable called nostoc, and he thereupon +concluded that too much learning had turned my brain, and, fully +persuaded of his own complete knowledge of nature, was pleased to +be very facetious at my expense. Finally, he graciously advised me +to pay some regard to the opinions of people skilled in these +abstruse matters, and not to expose myself on my return by +publishing such absurd and preposterous opinions.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the pedagogue lamented that people should bestow so +much attention upon temporal vanities, and consequently, alas, +neglect their spiritual good; and he remarked that many a man had +been ruined by too great application to study. Both these wise men +concurred in one thing: they could not conceal their wonder that +the Royal Academy should have appointed a mere student for the +purposes for which I was sent when there were competent men like +themselves in the country ready to undertake the business.</p> + +<p>The common method of the Laplanders for joining broken +earthenware is to tie the fragments together with a thread, and +boil the whole in fresh milk, which acts as a cement.</p> + +<p>The Laplanders are particularly swift-footed because: They wear +no heels to their half-boots; they are accustomed to run from their +infancy, and habitually exercise their muscles; their muscles are +not stiffened by labour; they eat animal food, and do not overeat; +they are of small stature. They are healthy because they breathe +pure air and drink pure water, eat their food cold and thoroughly +cooked, never overload their stomachs, and have a tranquil +mind.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"> +189</a></span><i>IV.—A Lapland Marriage</i></div> + +<p>All the Laplanders are blear-eyed, owing to the sharp wind, the +glare on the snow, fogs, and smoke. Yet I never met any people who +lead such easy, happy lives as the Laplanders. In summer they have +two meals of milk a day, and when they have milked their reindeer +or made cheese, they resign themselves to indolent tranquillity, +not knowing what to do next.</p> + +<p>When a Laplander wishes to marry he goes with all his nearest +relatives to the hut of the young woman. He himself remains +outside; but the others, laden with provisions and presents, enter +and begin negotiations. When they are all seated the young man's +father presents some brandy to the young woman's father, and being +asked the reason of the gift, replies: "I am come hither with a +good intention, and I pray God it may prosper." He then declares +his errand, and if his suit is favourably received, the friends of +the lover place the presents—usually utensils and silver +coins—on a reindeer skin before the father and mother of the +prospective bride, and the father, or the mother, of the lover +apportions the money to the young woman and her parents. If the +presents are considered satisfactory, the daughter, who has usually +retired to another hut, is sent for.</p> + +<p>When the bride enters the hut her father asks her whether she is +satisfied with what he has done. To which she replies that she +submits herself to the disposal of her father, who is the best +judge of what is proper for her. The mother then lays in the +bride's lap the sum apportioned for her. If it proves less than she +expected, she shows her dissatisfaction by various gestures and +signs of refusal, and may possibly obtain at least the promise of a +larger sum.</p> + +<p>When such pecuniary matters are finally arranged the father and +mother of the bridegroom present him and his<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> +bride with a cup of brandy, of which they partake together, and +then all the company shake hands. Afterwards they take off their +hats, and one of the company makes an oration, praying for God's +blessing upon the newly married couple, and returning thanks to Him +who "gives every man his own wife, and every woman her own +husband."</p> + +<p>Then the provisions, which generally consist of several cheeses +and a piece of meat dried and salted, are brought forward, and the +company sit down to feast. The bride and bridegroom are placed +together, and are given the best of the provisions. The company +then serve themselves, taking their meat on the points of their +knives, and dipping each morsel into some of the broth in which it +was boiled.</p> + +<p>The dinner being over, the whole company shake hands, return +thanks for the entertainment, and retire to bed. Next morning they +all feed on the remainder of the feast. The banns are usually +published once. The marriage ceremony, which is very short, is +performed after the above-mentioned company has departed.</p> + +<p>The tranquil existence of the Laplanders corresponds to Ovid's +description of the golden age, and to the pastoral state as +depicted by Virgil. It recalls the remembrance of the patriarchal +life, and the poetical descriptions of the Elysian fields.</p> + +<p>About one o'clock on the afternoon of October 10, I returned +safe to Upsal. To the Maker and Preserver of all things, be praise, +honour, and glory for ever!</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"> +191</a></span></p> + +<h4>DAVID LIVINGSTONE</h4> + +<h4>Missionary Travels and Researches</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Early Experiences</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>David Livingstone was born at Blantyre, on the Clyde (Scotland), +on March 19, 1813, the son of a small tea-dealer. Working as a boy +in a cotton-mill, he learnt Latin by the midnight candle, and later +attended medical and Greek classes at Glasgow University, where he +qualified as doctor of medicine. He sailed as missionary to Africa +in 1840, and worked at Kuruman with Moffat, whose daughter he +married. Setting out to explore the interior in 1849, Livingstone +eventually discovered Lakes Ngami, Shirwa, Dilolo, Bangweolo, +Tanganyika, and Nyassa, and the Rivers Zambesi, Shire, and Kasai, +also the Victoria and Murchison Falls. His scientific researches +were invaluable, his character so pure and brave that he made the +white man respected. Stanley visited and helped him in 1871, but on +May 1, 1873, he died at Ilala, and his remains, carefully preserved +by his native servants, were brought to England and buried with +great honours in Westminster Abbey. His "Missionary Travels and +Researches in South Africa," published during his visit to England +in 1857, make delightful reading, and thoroughly reflect the inmost +character of the man. There is no attempt at literary style; the +story is told with a simplicity and an apparent unconsciousness of +having done anything remarkable that cannot fail to captivate.</p> +</div> + +<p>My own inclination would lead me to say as little as possible +about myself. My great-grandfather fell at Culloden, my grandfather +used to tell us national stories, and my grandmother sang Gaelic +songs. To my father and the other children the dying injunction +was, "Now, in my lifetime I have searched most carefully through +all the traditions I could find of our family, and I never could +discover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, +therefore, any of you or any of your children should take to +dishonest ways, it will not be because it<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> runs in your +blood, it does not belong to you. I leave this precept with +you—Be honest."</p> + +<p>As a boy I worked at a cotton factory at Blantyre to lessen the +family anxieties, and bought my "Rudiments of Latin" out of my +first week's wages, pursuing the study of that language at an +evening school, followed up till twelve o'clock or later, if my +mother did not interfere by jumping up and snatching the books out +of my hands. Reading everything I could lay my hands on, except +novels, scientific works and books of travel were my especial +delight. Great pains had been taken by my parents to instil the +doctrines of Christianity into my mind. My early desire was to +become a pioneer missionary in China, and eventually I offered my +services to the London Missionary Society, having passed my medical +examination at Glasgow University.</p> + +<p>I embarked for Africa in 1840, and from Cape Town travelled up +country seven hundred miles to Kuruman, where I joined Mr. Moffat +in his work, and after four years as a bachelor, I married his +daughter Mary.</p> + +<p>Settling among the Mabotsa tribe, I found that they were +troubled with attacks from lions, so one day I went with my gun +into the bush and shot one, but the wounded beast sprang upon me, +and felled me to the ground. While perfectly conscious, I lost all +sense of fear or feeling, and narrowly escaped with my life. +Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth +wounds on the upper part of my arm.</p> + +<p>I attached myself to the tribe called Bakwains, whose chief, +Sechele, a most intelligent man, became my fast friend, and a +convert to Christianity. The Bakwains had many excellent qualities, +which might have been developed by association with European +nations. An adverse influence, however, is exercised by the Boers, +for, while claiming for themselves the title of Christians, they +treat these natives as black property, and their system of domestic +slavery and robbery is a disgrace to the white<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> man. +For my defence of the rights of Sechele and the Bakwains, I was +treated as conniving at their resistance, and my house was +destroyed, my library, the solace of our solitude, torn to pieces, +my stock of medicines smashed, and our furniture and clothing sold +at public auction to pay the expenses of the foray.</p> + +<p>In travelling we sometimes suffered from a scarcity of meat, and +the natives, to show their sympathy for the children, often gave +them caterpillars to eat; but one of the dishes they most enjoyed +was cooked "mathametlo," a large frog, which, during a period of +drought, takes refuge in a hole in the root of certain bushes, and +over the orifice a large variety of spider weaves its web. The +scavenger-beetle, which keeps the Kuruman villages sweet and clean, +rolls the dirt into a ball, and carries it, like Atlas, on its +back.</p> + +<p>In passing across the great Kalahari desert we met with the +Bushmen, or Bakalahari, who, from dread of visits from strange +tribes, choose their residences far away from water, hiding their +supplies of this necessity for life in pits filled up by women, who +pass every drop through their mouths as a pump, using a straw to +guide the stream into the vessel. They will never disclose this +supply to strangers, but by sitting down and waiting with patience +until the villagers were led to form a favourable opinion of us, a +woman would bring out a shell full of the precious fluid from I +knew not where.</p> + +<p>At Nchokotsa we came upon a number of salt-pans, which, in the +setting sun, produced a most beautiful mirage as of distant water, +foliage, and animals. We discovered the river Zouga, and +eventually, on August 1, 1849, we were the first Europeans to gaze +upon the broad waters of Lake Ngami. My chief object in coming to +this lake was to visit Sebituane, the great chief of the Makololo, +a man of immense influence, who had conquered the black tribes of +the country and made himself dreaded even by the terrible +Mosilikatse.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id= +"Page_194">194</a></span>During our stay with him he treated us with great respect, and +was pleased with the confidence we had shown in bringing our +children to him. He was stricken with inflammation of the lungs, +and knew it meant death, though his native doctors said, "Sebituane +can never die." I visited him with my little boy Robert. "Come +near," said he, "and see if I am any longer a man. I am done." +After sitting with him some time and commending him to the mercy of +God, I rose to depart, when the dying chieftain, raising himself up +a little from his prone position, called a servant, and said, "Take +Robert to Maunku (one of his wives), and tell her to give him some +milk." These were the last words of Sebituane.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Among the Makololo</i></div> + +<p>On questioning intelligent men amongst these natives as to a +knowledge of good and evil, of God and the future state, they +possessed a tolerably clear perception on these subjects. Their +want, however, of any form of public worship, or of idols, or of +formal prayers and sacrifices, make both the Caffres and Bechuanas +appear as amongst the most godless races of mortals known anywhere. +When an old Bushman on one occasion was sitting by the fire +relating his adventures, including his murder of five other +natives, he was remonstrated with. "What will God say when you +appear before Him?" "He will say," replied he, "that I was a very +clever fellow." But I found afterwards in speaking of the Deity +they had only the idea of a chief, and when I knew this, I did not +make any mistake afterwards.</p> + +<p>The country round Unku was covered with grass, and the flowers +were in full bloom. The thermometer in the shade generally stood at +98 deg. from 1 to 3 p.m., but it sank as low as 65 deg. by night, +so that the heat was by no means exhausting. At the surface of the +ground in the sun it marked 125 deg., and three inches below +138<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"> +195</a></span> deg. The hand cannot be held on the ground, and +even the horny soles of the natives are protected by hide sandals, +yet the ants were busy working in it. The water in the floods was +as high as 100 deg., but as water does not conduct heat readily +downwards, deliriously cool water may be obtained by anyone walking +into the middle and lifting up the water from the bottom to the +surface by the hands.</p> + +<p>We at last reached a spot where, by climbing the highest tree, +we could see a fine large sheet of water, surrounded on all sides +by an impenetrable belt of reeds. This was the river Chobe, and is +called Zambesi. We struggled through the high, serrated grass, the +heat stifling for want of air, and when we reached one of the +islands, my strong moleskins were worn through at the knees, and +the leather trousers of my companion were torn, and his legs +bleeding. The Makololo said in their figurative language: "He has +dropped among us from the clouds, yet came riding on the back of a +hippopotamus. We Makololo thought no one could cross the Chobe +without our knowledge, but here he drops among us like a bird."</p> + +<p>On our arrival at Linyanti, the capital, the chief, Sekelutu, +took me aside and pressed me to mention those things I liked best +and hoped to get from him. Anything either in or out of the town +should be freely given if I would only mention it. I explained to +him that my object was to elevate him and his people to be +Christians; but he replied that he did not wish to learn to read +the Book, for he was afraid "it might change his heart and make him +content with one wife like Sechele." I liked the frankness of +Sekelutu, for nothing is so wearying to the spirit as talking to +those who agree with everything advanced.</p> + +<p>While at Linyanti I was taken with fever, from chills caught by +leaving my warm wagon in the evening to conduct family worship at +my people's fires. Anxious to ascertain whether the natives +possessed the knowledge of any remedy, I sent for one of their +doctors. He put some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id= +"Page_196">196</a></span> roots into a pot with water, and +when it was boiling, placed it beneath a blanket thrown around both +me and it. This produced no effect, and after being stewed in their +vapour baths, smoked like a red-herring over green twigs, and +charmed <i>secundem artem</i>, I concluded I could cure my fever +more quickly than they could.</p> + +<p>Leaving Linyanti, we passed up the Lecambye river into the +Barotse country, and on making inquiries whether Santuru, the +Moloiana, had ever been visited by white men, I could find no +vestige of any such visit before my arrival in 1851.</p> + +<p>In our ascent up the River Leeba, we reached the village of +Manenko, a female chief, of whose power of tongue we soon had ample +proof. She was a woman of fine physique, and insisted on +accompanying us some distance with her husband and drummer, the +latter thumping most vigorously, until a heavy, drizzling mist set +in and compelled him to desist. Her husband used various +incantations and vociferations to drive away the rain, but down it +poured incessantly, and on our Amazon went, in the very lightest +marching order, and at a pace that few men could keep up with. +Being on ox-back, I kept pretty close to our leader, and asked her +why she did not clothe herself during the rain, and learnt that it +is not considered proper for a chief to appear effeminate. My men, +in admiration of her pedestrian powers, every now and then +remarked, "Manenko is a soldier!" Thoroughly wet and cold, we were +all glad when she proposed a halt to prepare for our night's +lodging on the banks of a stream.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Peril and Patience</i></div> + +<p>When we arrived at the foot of the Kasai we were badly in want +of food, and there seemed little hope of getting any; one of our +guides, however, caught a light-blue mole and two mice for his +supper. Katende, the chief, sent for me the following morning, and +on my walking into his hut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" +id="Page_197">197</a></span> I was told that he wanted a man, +a tusk, beads, copper rings, and a shell as payment for leave to +pass through his country. Having humbly explained our circumstances +and that he could not expect to "catch a humble cow by the +horns"—a proverb similar to ours that "You cannot draw milk +out of a stone"—we were told to go home, and he would speak +to us next day. I could not avoid a hearty laugh at the cool +impudence of the savage. Eventually I sent him one of my worst +shirts, but added that when I should reach my own chief naked, and +was asked what I had done with my clothes, I should be obliged to +confess I had left them with Katende.</p> + +<p>Passing onwards, we crossed a small rivulet, the Sengko, and +another and larger one with a bridge over it. At the farther end of +this structure stood a negro who demanded fees. He said the bridge +was his, the guides were his children, and if we did not pay him, +he would prevent further progress. This piece of civilisation I was +not prepared to meet, and stood a few seconds looking at our bold +toll-keeper, when one of our men took off three copper bracelets, +which paid for the whole party. The negro was a better man than he +at first seemed, for he immediately went into his garden and +brought us some leaves of tobacco as a present.</p> + +<p>We were brought to a stand on the banks of the Loajima, a +tributary of the Kasai, by the severity of my fever, being in a +state of partial coma, until late at night, I found we were in the +midst of enemies; and the Chiboque natives insisting upon a +present, I had to give them a tired-out ox. Later on we marched +through the gloomy forest in gloomier silence; the thick atmosphere +prevented my seeing the creeping plants in time to avoid them; I +was often caught, and as there is no stopping the oxen when they +have the prospect of giving the rider a tumble, came frequently to +the ground. In addition to these mishaps, my ox Sinbad went off at +a plunging gallop, the bridle broke, and I came down behind on the +crown of my head. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id= +"Page_198">198</a></span> gave me a kick in the thigh at the +same time. I felt none the worse for this rough treatment, but +would not recommend it to others as a palliative in cases of +fever.</p> + +<p>We shortly afterwards met a hostile party of natives, who +refused us further passage. Seeing that these people had plenty of +iron-headed arrows and some guns, I called a halt, and ordered my +men to put the luggage in the centre in case of actual attack. I +then dismounted, and advancing a little towards our principal +opponent, showed him how easily I could kill him, but pointed +upwards, saying, "I fear God." He did the same, placing his hand on +his heart, pointing upwards, and saying, "I fear to kill, but come +to our village; come, do come."</p> + +<p>During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever, but a +terrible sense of sinking came back with the feeling of safety. +These people stole our beads, and though we offered all our +ornaments and my shirts, they refused us passage. My men were so +disheartened that they proposed a return home, which distressed me +exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared to +them that if they returned, I would go on alone, and went into my +little tent with the mind directed to Him Who hears the sighing of +the soul, and was soon followed by the head of Mohorisi, saying, +"We will never leave you. Do not be disheartened. Wherever you +lead, we will follow. Our remarks were made only on account of the +injustice of these people."</p> + +<p>We were soon on the banks of the Quango, and after some +difficulties reached the opposite bank.</p> + +<p>The village of Cassenge is composed of thirty or forty traders' +houses on an elevated flat spot in the great Quango, or Cassenge, +valley. As I always preferred to appear in my own proper character, +I was an object of curiosity to the hospitable Portuguese. They +evidently looked upon me as an agent of the English government, +engaged in some new movement for the suppression of slavery. They +could not divine what a "missionario"<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> had to do with the +latitudes and longitudes which I was intent on observing.</p> + +<p>On coming across the plains to Loanda we first beheld the sea; +my companions looked upon the boundless ocean with awe. In +describing their feelings afterwards they remarked, "We marched +along with our father thinking that what the ancients had always +told us was true, that the world has no end, but all at once the +world said to us, 'I am finished, there is no more of me.'"</p> + +<p>Here in this city, among its population of 12,000 souls there +was but one genuine English gentleman, who bade me welcome, and +seeing me ill, benevolently offered me his bed. Never shall I +forget the luxuriant pleasure I enjoyed feeling myself again on a +good English couch, after six months sleeping on the ground.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Into the Wilderness +Again</i></div> + +<p>For the sake of my Makololo companions I refused the tempting +offer of a passage home in one of her majesty's cruisers.</p> + +<p>During my journey through Angola I received at Cassenge a packet +of the "Times" from home with news of the Russian war up to the +terrible charge of the light cavalry. The intense anxiety I felt to +hear more may be imagined by every true patriot.</p> + +<p>After leaving the Kasai country, we entered upon a great level +plain, which we had formerly found in a flooded condition. We +forded the Lotembwa on June 8, and found that the little Lake +Dilolo, by giving a portion to our Kasai and another to the +Zambesi, distributes its waters to the Atlantic and Indian oceans. +From information derived from Arabs at Zanzibar, whom I met at +Naliele in the middle of the country, a large shallow lake is +pointed out in the region east of Loanda, named Tanganyenka, which +requires three days in crossing in canoes. It is connected with +another named Kalagwe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id= +"Page_200">200</a></span> (Garague?), farther north, and may +be the Nyanja of the Maravim.</p> + +<p>Although I was warned that the Batoka tribe would be hostile, I +decided on going down the Zambesi, and on my way I visited the +falls of Victoria, called by the natives Mosioatunya, or more +anciently, Shongwe. No one can imagine the beauty of the view from +anything witnessed in England. It has never been seen before by +European eyes, but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by +angels in their flight. Five columns of "smoke" arose, bending in +the direction of the wind. The entire falls is simply a crack made +in a hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the +Zambesi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty +or forty miles of hills. The whole scene was extremely beautiful; +the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan +vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of +our visit several of the trees were spangled over with +blossoms.</p> + +<p>In due time we reached the confluence of the Loangwa and the +Zambesi, most thankful to God for His great mercies in helping us +thus far. I felt some turmoil of spirit in the evening at the +prospect of having all my efforts for the welfare of this great +region and its teeming population knocked on the head by savages +to-morrow, who might be said to "know not what they do."</p> + +<p>When at last we reached within eight miles of Tete I was too +fatigued to go on, but sent the commandant the letters of +recommendation of the bishop and lay down to rest. Next morning two +officers and some soldiers came to fetch us, and when I had +partaken of a good breakfast, though I had just before been too +tired to sleep, all my fatigue vanished. The pleasure of that +breakfast was enhanced by the news that Sebastopol had fallen and +the war finished.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"> +201</a></span></p> + +<h4>PIERRE LOTI</h4> + +<h4>The Desert</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Arabia Deserta</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Pierre Loti, whose real name is Louis Marie Julien Viaud, and +who has made his whole career in the French navy, was born at +Rochefort on January 14, 1850. Distinguished though his naval +activities have been, it is as a man of letters that Pierre Loti is +known to the world. His first production, "Aziyade," appeared in +1876, and gave ample promise of that style, borrowed from no one +and entirely his own, which has since characterized all his works. +"The Desert," published in 1894, is a masterpiece of a peculiarly +modern kind. Loti leaves to other writers the task of depicting the +Bedouin. The spectacle of nature in her wildest and severest mood +was what he went out to see; and he employs all the resources of +his incomparable genius for description in painting the vacant +immensity of the Arabian wilderness. Tired and distracted by the +whirl and fever of life in Paris, Loti set out, like Tancred, in +Beaconsfield's romance on a pilgrimage from Sinai to Calvary to +recover the faith he had lost in civilisation.</p> +</div> + +<p><i>February 22, 1894.</i> All about us was the empty infinitude; +the twilight desert swept by a great cold wind; the desert that +rolled, in dull, dead colours, under a still more sombre sky which, +on the circular horizon, seemed to fall on it and crush it.</p> + +<p>Sitting under the palm-tree of the Oasis of Moses, half an +hour's march from the Red Sea, surrounded by our camels and +camel-men, we stared at the desert, and the emotion and the ecstasy +of solitude came over us. We longed to plunge headlong into the +dim, luring immensity, to run with the wind blowing over the +desolate dunes. So we ran, and reaching the heights, we looked down +on a larger wilderness, over which trailed a dying gleam of +daylight, fallen from the yellow sky through a rent made by the +wind in the cloudy veil.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"> +202</a></span> But so sinister was the desert in the winter wind, +that from some remote, ancestral source of feeling a strange +melancholy welled up and mingled with our desire for the solitude. +In it was the instinctive fear which makes the sheep and cattle of +the green lands retrace their steps at the sight of regions over +which hangs the shadow of death.</p> + +<p>But under our tent, lighted and sheltered from the wind, we +recovered our gaiety of mood. There was the novelty of our first +meal in the desert to excite us, and the pleasure of packing up our +ridiculous European costumes, and dressing ourselves in the more +useful and far more decorative burnous and veils of the sheiks of +Arabia.</p> + +<p>All the next three days we travelled through a waterless waste, +following a vague trace which, in the course of ages, men and +beasts have made in the dry sand. Far in front the sky-line danced +in the heat. The sand around was strewn with greyish stones; +everything was grey, grey-red or grey-yellow. Here and there was a +plant of a pale green, with an imperceptible flower, and the long +necks of the camels bent and stretched trying to crop it.</p> + +<p>Little by little one's mind grows drowsy, lulled by the monotony +of the slow, swinging movement of the tall, indefatigable camel. In +the foreground of the grey scene, one's sleepy, lowered eyes see at +last nothing but the continual undulation of its neck, of the same +grey-yellow as the sand, and the back of its shaggy head, similar +to the little head of a lion, encircled with a barbaric ornament of +white shells and blue pearls, with hangings of black wool.</p> + +<p>As we go on, the last signs of life disappear. There is not a +bird, not an insect; even the flies which exist in all the lands of +the earth are not found. While the deserts of the sea contain vital +wealth in profusion, here are sterility and death. Yet one is +intoxicated with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id= +"Page_203">203</a></span> stillness and lifelessness of it +all, and the air is pure and virginal, blowing from the world +before the creation.</p> + +<p>The wind drops, and in an atmosphere of an absolute purity the +sun mounts and burns with a white fire. Under the dazzling light, +one shuts one's eyes in spite of oneself for long periods. When one +opens them, the horizon seems a black circle breaking on the +brightness of the heavens, while the precise spot in which one is +remains astonishingly white. Nothing sings, nothing flies, nothing +stirs. The immense silence is dully broken only by the incessant, +monotonous tread of our slow, swinging camels.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day we leave the plain and strike into the +mountainous solitudes of the Sinai peninsula.... As we ascend, vast +new tracts are unrolled on all sides beneath our eyes, and the +impression of the desert becomes more distressing by reason of this +visible affirmation of its illimitableness. It is terrifying in its +magnificence! The limpidity of the air gives an extraordinary depth +to the perspectives, and in the clear and far-receding distances +the chains of mountains are interlaced and overlaid in regular +forms which, from the beginning of the world, have been untouched +by the hand of man, and with hard, dry contours which no vegetation +has ever softened or changed. In the foreground they are of a +reddish brown; then in their flight to the sky-line they pass into +a wonderful tone of violet, which grows bluer and bluer until it +melts into the pure indigo of the extreme distance. And all this is +empty, silent, and dead. It is the splendour of an invariable +region, from which is absent the ephemeral beauty of forest, +verdure, or herbage; the splendour of eternal matter, affranchised +from all the instability of life; the geological splendour of the +world before the creation.</p> + +<p>Oh, the sunset this evening! Never have we seen so much gold +poured out for us alone around our lonely camp. Our camels, +wandering beyond our tents, and<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> strangely enlarged +against the vacant horizon, have gold on their heads, on their +legs, on their long necks; they are all edged with gold.</p> + +<p>And then night comes, the limpid night with its stillness. If at +this moment one goes away from the camp and loses sight of it, or +even separates oneself from the little handful of living creatures +strayed in the midst of dead space, in order to feel more +absolutely alone in the nocturnal vacancy, one has an impression of +terror in which there is something religious. Less distant, less +inaccessible than elsewhere, the stars blaze in the depths of the +cosmic abysses; and in this desert, unchangeable and untouched by +time, from which one looks at them, one feels oneself nearer to +conceiving their inconceivable infinity; one has almost the +illusion of sharing in their starry duration, their starry +impassibility.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Habitation of +Solitude</i></div> + +<p><i>March 1.</i> After climbing two days in snow, thunder, and +tempest, we see at last, amid the dim, cloudy peaks of granite, the +tall ramparts and the cypress trees of the convent of Sinai. Alas! +how silent, sinister, and chill appears the holy mountain, whose +name alone still flames for us in the distance. It is as empty as +the sky above our heads.</p> + +<p>Trembling with the cold in our thin, wet burnous, we alight from +our camels, that suffer and complain, disquieted by the white +obscurity, the lashing wind, the strange, wild altitude. For twenty +minutes we clamber by lantern light among blocks and falls of +granite, with bare feet that slip at every step on the snow. Then +we reach a gigantic wall, the summit of which is lost in darkness, +and a little low door, covered with iron, opens. We pass in. Two +more doors of a smaller kind lead through a vaulted tunnel in the +rampart. They close behind us with the clang of armour, and we +creep up some flights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id= +"Page_205">205</a></span> of rough, broken stairs, hewed out +of the rock, to a hostel for pilgrims at the top of the great +fortress.</p> + +<p>Some hospitable monks in black robes, and with long hair like +women, hasten to cheer us with a little hot coffee and a little +lighted charcoal, carried in a copper vase. Everything has an air +of nonchalant wretchedness and Oriental dilapidation in this +convent built by the Emperor Justinian fourteen centuries ago. Our +bare, whitewashed bedrooms are like the humblest of Turkish +dwellings, save for the modest icon above the divan, with a +night-light burning before it. The little chamber is covered with +the names of pilgrims gathered from the ends of the earth; Russian, +Arabian, and Greek inscriptions predominate.</p> + +<p>Aroused by a jet of clear sunlight, and surprised by the +strangeness of the place, I ran to the balcony; there I still +marvelled to find the fantastic things seen by glimpses last night, +standing real and curiously distinct in the implacable white light, +but arranged in an unreal way, as if inset into each other without +perspective, so pure is the atmosphere—and all silent, silent +as if they were dead of their extreme old age. A Byzantine church, +a mosque, cots, cloisters, an entanglement of stairways, galleries, +and arches falling to the precipices below: all this in miniature; +built up in a tiny space; all this encompassed with formidable +ramparts, and hooked on to the flanks of gigantic Sinai! From the +sharpness and thinness of the air, we know that we are at an +excessive height, and yet we seem to be at the bottom of a well. On +every side the extreme peaks of Sinai enclose us, as they mount and +scale the sky; their titanic walls, all of blood-red granite +without stain or shadow, are so vertical and so high that they +dizzy and appal. Only a fragment of the sky is visible, but its +blueness is of a profound transparency, and the sun is magnificent. +And still the same eerie silence envelops the phantom-like +monastery, whose antiquity is accentuated under the<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> +cold, dazzling sunlight and the sparkling snow. One feels that it +is verily "the habitation of solitude," encompassed by the great +wildernesses.</p> + +<p>Its situation has preserved it from the revolutions, the wars, +and the changing fashions of the world. Almost everything remains +just as it was built in 550 by Justinian. And when one of the +long-haired monks shows us the marvellous treasures of the +basilica—a dim, richly barbaric structure, filled with +priceless offerings from the ancient kings of the earth—we no +longer wonder at the enormous height and thickness of the ramparts +which protect the convent from the Bedouins.</p> + +<p>Behind the tabernacle of the basilica is the holy place of +Sinai—the crypt of the "Burning Bush." It is a sombre cavern +lined with antique tiles of a dim blue-green, which are hidden +under the icons of gold and precious stone attached to the walls, +and under the profusion of gold and silver lamps hanging from the +low roof. Rigid saints in vermilion robes, whose faces are +concealed in the dark shadow of their barbaric glistening crowns, +looked at us as we entered. We stepped in reverently, on bare feet, +and never, in any place, did we have so entire an impression of a +recoil into the long past ages of the world.</p> + +<p>Peoples and empires have passed away, while these precious +things slowly tarnished in this dim crypt. Even the monk who +accompanies us resembles, with his long red hair falling over his +shoulders, and the pale beauty of his ascetic face, the mystics of +the early ages; and his thoughts are infinitely removed from ours. +And the vague reflection of sunlight which arrives through a +single, little window in the thick wall, and falls in a circle of +ghostly radiance on the icons and mosaics, seems to be some gleam +from an ancient day, some gleam from an age far different from the +sordid, impious century in which we live.</p> + +<p>A kind of lodge, paved with chiselled silver, and hung<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"> +207</a></span> with lighted lamps, rises in the depth of the +crypt; it is there that, according to the venerated tradition, the +<i>Angel of the Eternal</i> appeared to Moses in the midst of the +burning bush.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Where Nothing Changes</i></div> + +<p><i>March 16.</i> We have now left the blue lonely waters and the +red granite cliffs of the Gulf of Akaba, and entered the great +desert of Tih, the solitudes of which, our camel-men say, are as +immense and as flat as the sea, and the scene of incessant mirages. +It is peopled by a few tribes of savage Bedouins, descended from +the Amalekites. This is the land in which nothing changes: the true +Orient, immutable in its dust and its dreams. Behind the barren +hill on which we have camped, Arabia Deserta unrolls the infinite +tract of its red desolation. On our right is the wild wilderness of +Petra and the sinister mountains of the land of Edom. In front +stretches the gloomier waste of the plateau of Tih.</p> + +<p>From the spot on which we stand, light tracks, made by the +regular movement of caravans, run out into the distance, +innumerable as the threads in a weaver's loom. They form two rays: +one dies away into the west, the other into the north. The first is +the route of the believers coming from Egypt and Morocco; the +second, which we are about to follow, is the path of the pilgrims +from Syria to Palestine. This wild crossway of the desert, along +which pass every year crowds of twenty or thirty thousand men +marching to the holy city of Mecca, is now empty, infinitely empty, +and the mournful, vacant grandeur which it wears under the sombre +sky is terrible. The habitual halting-place of multitudes, it is +strewn with tombstones, little rough, unhewn blocks, one at the +head, the other at the feet—places in which the pious +pilgrims who passed by have laid down to rest for eternity.</p> + +<p><span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"> +208</a></span>Our dromedaries, excited by the wide, open space in front of +them, raise their heads and scent the wind, and then change their +languid gait into something that becomes almost a race. It is of a +mud-grey colour, this desert that calls to them, and as even as a +lawn. As far as the eye can reach, no change is seen in it, and it +is gloomy under a still gloomier sky. It has almost the shimmer of +something humid, but its immense surface is all made of dry mud, +broken and marked like crackled porcelain.</p> + +<p>The next day the colour of the wilderness changes from muddy +grey to deep black, and the sun soared up, white-hot, in a clear +blue sky. The empty, level distances trembled in the heat, and +seemed to be preparing for all sorts of visions and mirages.</p> + +<p>"Gazal! Gazal!" (gazelles) cried the sheik. They were passing in +an opposite course to ours, like a whirl of sand, little creatures +slenderly fine, little creatures timid and quick in flight. But the +moving, troubled air altered their images and juggled them away +from our defeated eyes.</p> + +<p>Then the first phantom lake appeared, and deceived even the +Bedouin chief—the water was so blue, and the shadows of a +border of palm-trees seemed to be reflected in it. And very soon +the tempting waters show on all sides, retreating before us, +changing their shapes, spreading out, going away, coming back; +large lakes or winding rivers or little ponds edged with imaginary +reeds. Every minute they increase, and it seems like a sea which +little by little gains on us—a disquieting sea that trembles. +But at noon all this blue phantasmagoria vanishes abruptly, as if +it were blown away at a breath. There is nothing but dried sands. +Clear, real, implacable, reappears the land of thirst and +death.</p> + +<p><i>Easter Sunday, March 25, 1894.</i> We were awakened this +morning by the singing of the larks. After travelling for three +hours, look, here are some trees—the first we<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> have +seen—a long valley full of trees; and there, on the far +sky-line, is the blue edge of the sea. And at last Gaza, with its +white minarets and grey houses; Gaza, in the midst of its gardens +and its woods; Gaza, that seems a sumptuous city to us poor +wanderers of the desert!</p> + +<p>The moon is high. It is the hour that our Bedouins depart. +Seated on their tall swinging beasts, the sheiks go by, and wave to +us a friendly farewell. They are returning to the terrible land +where they were born and where they love to live, and their +departure brings to an end our dream of the desert. To-morrow, at +break of day, we shall ascend towards Jerusalem.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"> +210</a></span></p> + +<h4>SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE</h4> + +<h4>Voyage and Travel</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Of the Holy Land and the Way +Thereto</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The celebrated "Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville" was +first published in French between 1357 and 1371. The identity of +its author has given rise to much difference of opinion, but its +authorship is now generally ascribed to Jehan de Bourgoigne, a +physician who practised at Liège. There is, indeed, some +evidence that this name was assumed, and that the physician's real +name, Mandeville, had been discarded when he fled from England +after committing homicide. A tomb at Liège, seen at so late +as the seventeenth century, bore the name of Mandeville, and gave +the date of his death as November 17, 1372. As to the book itself, +its material is evidently borrowed chiefly from other writers, +especially from the account of the travels of Friar Odoric and from +a French work on the East, and only a small part contains +first-hand information. Numerous manuscripts exist, in several +languages. The English version is probably not the work of the +original writer, but it is, nevertheless, regarded as a standard +piece of mediæval English prose.</p> +</div> + +<p>For as much as the land beyond the sea, that is to say, the Holy +Land, passing all other lands, is the most worthy land, most +excellent, and Lady and Sovereign of all other lands, and is +blessed and hallowed of the precious Body and Blood of our Lord +Jesus Christ; and that land He chose before all other lands as the +best and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the +world; wherefore, every good Christian man, that is of power, and +hath whereof, should strive with all his strength for to conquer +our right heritage, and chase out all misbelieving men. And for as +much as many men desire to hear speak of the Holy Land, I, John +Mandeville, Knight, albeit I be not worthy, that was born in +England, in the town of Saint Albans, passed the sea, in the year +of our Lord Jesus Christ 1322, on the day of Saint Michael, and +hitherto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"> +211</a></span> have been a long time over the sea, and have seen +and gone through many divers lands. And I shall devise you some +part of things that there be, when time shall be, after it may best +come to my mind; and specially for them that are in purpose for to +visit the Holy City of Jerusalem, and I shall tell the way that +they should hold thither. For I have oftentimes passed and ridden +that way, with good company of many lords; God be thanked.</p> + +<p>In the name of God, glorious and almighty, he that will pass +over the sea to go to the city of Jerusalem, if he come from the +west side of the world, as from England, he may and he will go +through Almayne and through the kingdom of Hungary, that marcheth +to the land of Polayne. And after go men to Belgrave and enter into +the land of Bourgres, and through the land of Pyncemartz, and come +to Greece, and so to the city of Constantynoble. And there dwelleth +commonly the Emperor of Greece. And there is the most fair church +and the most noble of all the world; and it is of Saint Sophie. +From Constantynoble he that will go by water goeth to an isle that +is clept Sylo, and then to the isle of Patmos.</p> + +<p>From Patmos men go into Ephesus, a fair city and nigh to the +sea. And there died Saint John, and was buried behind the high +altar, in a tomb. And in the tomb of Saint John is nought but +manna, that is clept angels' meat. For his body was translated into +Paradise. And Turks hold now all that place, and the city and the +church. And all Asia the less is clept Turkey. And ye shall +understand that St. John made his grave there in his life, and laid +himself therein all quick. And therefore some men say that he died +not, but that he resteth there till the Day of Doom. And forsooth +there is a great marvel, for men may see there the earth of the +tomb apertly many times stir and move, as there were quick things +under.</p> + +<p>And from Ephesus men go through many isles in the sea, and to +the isle of Crete, and through the isles of Colos and of Lango, of +the which isles Ypocras was lord. And<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> some men say that in +the isle of Lango is yet the daughter of Ypocras, in form and +likeness of a great dragon that is a hundred fathom of length, as +men say, for I have not seen her. And they of the isles call her +Lady of the Land. And she lieth in an old castle, in a cave, and +showeth twice or thrice in the year. And she doth none harm to no +man but if man do her harm. And she was thus changed and +transformed from a fair damsel in the likeness of a dragon by a +goddess that was clept Diana. And men say that she shall so endure +in the form of a dragon unto the time that a knight come that is so +hardy that dare come to her and kiss her on the mouth; and then +shall she turn again to her own kind, and be a woman again, but +after that she shall not live long.</p> + +<p>And it is not long since that a knight that was hardy and +doughty in arms said that he would kiss her. And when he was upon +his courser and went to the castle and entered into the cave, the +dragon lifted up her head against him. And when the knight saw her +in that form so hideous and so horrible, he fled away. And the +dragon bore the knight upon a rock, and from that rock she cast him +into the sea; and so was lost both horse and man.</p> + +<p>Egypt is a long country, but it is strait, that is to say +narrow, for they may not enlarge it toward the desert, for default +of water. And the country is set along upon the river of Nile; by +as much as that river may serve by floods or otherwise, that when +it floweth it may spread through the country, so is the country +large of length. For there it raineth not but little in that +country, and for that cause they have no water but if it be of the +flood of that river. And for as much as it raineth not in that +country, but the air is always pure and clear, therefore in that +country be they good astronomers, for they find there no clouds to +let them.</p> + +<p>In Egypt is the city of Elyople, that is to say, the City of the +Sun. In that city there is a temple made round, after the shape of +the Temple of Jerusalem. The<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> priests of that temple +have all their writings under the date of the fowl that is clept +Phœnix; and there is none but one in all the world. And he +cometh to burn himself upon the altar of the temple at the end of +500 years; for so long he liveth. And at the 500 years' end the +priests array their altar honestly, and put thereupon spices and +sulphur and other things that will burn lightly. And then the bird +Phœnix cometh, and burneth himself to ashes. And the first day +next after men find in the ashes a worm; and the second day after +men find a bird quick and perfect; and the third day next after, he +flieth away.</p> + +<p>And so there is no more birds of that kind in all the world but +it alone. And truly that is a great miracle of God, and men may +well liken that bird unto God; because that there is no God but +one, and also that our Lord arose from death to life the third day. +This bird men see oftentime flying in the countries; and he is not +much greater than an eagle. And he hath a crest of feathers upon +his head more great than the peacock hath; and his neck is yellow; +and his back is coloured blue as Ind; and his wings be of purple +colour, and the tail is yellow and red. And he is a full fair bird +to look upon against the sun, for he shineth fully gloriously and +nobly.</p> + +<p>From Egypt men may go by the Red Sea, and so by desert to the +Mount of Synay; and when they have visited the holy places nigh to +it, then will they turn toward Jerusalem. They shall see here the +Holy Sepulchre, where there is a full fair church, all round and +open above and covered with lead. And then they may go up to +Golgatha by degrees, and they shall see the Mount of Calvarie. +Likewise they will behold the Temple of our Lord; and many other +blessed things all whereof I cannot tell nor show him.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span><i>II.—Of Strange Peoples and Strange +Beasts in Divers Lands</i></div> + +<p>From the south coast of Chaldea is Ethiopia, a great country +that stretcheth to the end of Egypt. Ethiopia is departed in two +principal parts, and that is the East part and the Meridional part. +And the folk of that country are black, and more black than in the +other part, and they be clept Moors. In Ethiopia be folk that have +but one foot, and they go so fast that it is a marvel; and the foot +is so large, that it shadoweth all the body against the sun, when +they will lie and rest them. In that country when the children be +young and little they be all yellow, and when they wax of age that +yellowness turneth to be all black. And as men go forth towards +Ind, they come to the city of Polombe, and above the city is a +great mountain.</p> + +<p>And at the foot of that mount is a fair well and a great, that +hath odour and savour of all spices, and at every hour of the day +he changeth his odour and his savour diversely. And whoso drinketh +three times fasting of that water of that well he is whole of all +manner of sickness that he hath. And they that dwell there and +drink often of that well they never have sickness, and they seem +always young. I have drunken of it, and yet, methinketh, I fare the +better. Some men call it the Well of Youth, for they that often +drink thereof seem always young and live without sickness. And men +say that that well cometh out of Paradise, and that therefore it +hath such virtue.</p> + +<p>To that land go the merchants for spicery. And there men worship +the ox for his simpleness and for his meekness, and for the profit +that cometh of him. And they say that he is the holiest beast in +the earth. For it seemeth to them that whosoever is meek and +patient he is holy and profitable; for then they say he hath all +virtues<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"> +215</a></span> in him. They make the ox to labour six years or +seven, and then they eat him. And the king of the country hath +always an ox with him; and he that keepeth him hath every day great +fees.</p> + +<p>Now shall I tell you of countries and isles that lie beyond +those countries that I have spoken of. Wherefore I tell you that in +passing by the land of Cathay toward the higher Ind, men pass by a +kingdom that they call Caldilhe, that is a full fair country. And +there groweth a manner of fruit, as it were gourds; and when they +be ripe men cut them in two, and men find within a little beast, in +flesh, in bone and blood, as though it were a little lamb without +wool. And men eat both the fruit and the beast, and that is a great +marvel. Of that fruit I have eaten, although it were wonderful; but +that I know well that God is marvellous in His works. And +nevertheless, I told them of as great a marvel to them that is +among us; for I told them that in our country were trees that bear +a fruit that become birds flying, and those that fall into the +water live, and they that fall on the earth die anon; and they be +right good for man's meat. And thereof they also had great marvel, +that some of them trowed it were an impossible thing to be.</p> + +<p>And beyond this land, men go towards the land of Bacharie, where +be full evil folk and full cruel.</p> + +<p>In that land be trees that bear wool, as though it were of +sheep; whereof men make clothes, all things that may be made of +wool. And there be also many griffons, more plenty than in any +other country. Some men say that they have the body upward as an +eagle and beneath as a lion; and truly they say sooth that they be +of that shape. But one griffon hath the body more great and is more +strong than eight lions; of such lions as be of this half; and more +great and stronger than a hundred eagles such as we have amongst +us. For one griffon there will bear, flying to his nest, a great +horse, or two oxen yoked together, as they go at the plough. For +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"> +216</a></span> hath his talons so long and so large and great upon +his feet, as though they were horns of great oxen or of bugles or +of kine; so that men make cups of them, to drink of. From thence go +men, by many journeys, through the land of Prester John, the great +Emperor of Ind.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Of the Land of Prester +John</i></div> + +<p>The Emperor Prester John holdeth a full great land, and hath +many full noble cities and good towns in his realm, and many great +isles and large. And he hath under him seventy-two provinces, and +in every province is a king. And these kings have kings under them, +and all are tributaries to Prester John. And he hath in his +lordships many great marvels. For in his country is the sea that +men call the Gravelly Sea, that is all gravel and sand without any +drops of water; and it ebbeth and floweth in great waves, as other +seas do, and it is never still nor in peace. And no man may pass +that sea by navy, nor by no manner of craft, and therefore may no +man know what land is beyond that sea. And albeit that it have no +water, yet men find therein and on the banks full good fish of +other manner of kind and shape than men find in any other sea; and +they are of right good taste and delicious to man's meat.</p> + +<p>In the same lordship of Prester John there is another marvellous +thing. There is a vale between two mountains, that dureth nigh on +four miles; and some call it the Vale of Devils, and some call it +the Valley Perilous. In that vale men hear often time great +tempests and thunders and great murmurs and noises all days and +nights; and great noise, as it were sown of tabors, and of +trumpets, as though it were of a great feast. This vale is all full +of devils, and hath been always. And men say there, that is one of +the entries of hell. And in mid place of that vale under a rock is +a head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"> +217</a></span> and the visage of a devil bodily, full horrible and +dreadful to see, and it showeth not but the head to the +shoulders.</p> + +<p>But there is no man in the world so hardy, Christian man nor +other, but that he would be in dread for to behold it and that he +would be ready to die for dread, so is it hideous for to behold. +For he beholdeth every man so sharply with dreadful eyes that be +evermore moving and sparkling as fire, and changeth and stareth so +often in diverse manner with so horrible countenance that no man +dare come nigh him. And in that vale is gold and silver and rich +jewels great plenty. And I and my fellows passed that way in great +dread, and we saw much people slain. And we entered fourteen +persons, but at our going out we were but nine. And so we wisten +never whether that our fellows were lost or turned again for +dread.</p> + +<p>But we came through that vale whole and living for that we were +very devout, for I was more devout then than ever I was before or +after, and all for the dread of fiends, that I saw in diverse +figures. And I touched none of the gold and silver that meseemed +was there, lest it were only there of the subtlety of the devils, +and because I would not be put out of my devotions. So God of His +grace helped us, and so we passed that perilous vale, without peril +and without encumbrance, thanked be Almighty God.</p> + +<p>These things have I told, that men may know some of all those +marvellous things that I have seen in my way by land and sea. And +now I, John Mandeville, Knight, that have passed many lands and +many isles and countries, and searched many full strange places, +and have been in many a full good honourable company, and at many a +fair deed of armes—albeit that I did none myself, for mine +unable insuffisance—now I am come home—mawgree +myself—to rest. And so I have written these things in this +book. Wherefore I pray to all the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> readers and hearers of +this book that they would pray to God for me. And I shall pray for +them, and beseech Almighty God to full fill their souls with +inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in saving them from all their +enemies both of body and soul, to the worship and thanking of Him +that in perfect Trinity liveth and reigneth God, in all worlds and +in all times; Amen, Amen, Amen.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"> +219</a></span></p> + +<h4>MUNGO PARK</h4> + +<h4>Travels in the Interior of Africa</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Up the Gambia</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Mungo Park, who was born Sept. 20, 1771, on a farm near Selkirk, +Scotland, and died in 1806 in Africa, will for ever be regarded as +the most distinguished pioneer of the illustrious procession of +African explorers. Trained as a surgeon at Edinburgh, in 1792 he +undertook an adventurous exploration in the East Indies. In 1795 +the African Association appointed him successor to Major Houghton, +who had perished in seeking to trace the course of the Niger and to +penetrate to Timbuctoo. He disappeared in the interior for eighteen +months, and was given up for lost, but survived to tell the +romantic story of his experiences. Returning to Scotland, Mungo +Park married, but his passion for travel was irrepressible. In May, +1805, he set out on another expedition, with an imposing party of +over forty Europeans. The issue was disastrous. Park and his +companions were ambushed and slain by treacherous natives while +passing through a river gorge. His "Travels in the Interior of +Africa" was published in 1799, and has been frequently reprinted. +Told in simple, unaffected style, the general accuracy of the +narrative has never been questioned.</p> +</div> + +<p>Soon after my return from the East Indies in 1793, having learnt +that noblemen and gentlemen associated for the purpose of +prosecuting discoveries in the interior of Africa were desirous of +engaging a person to explore that continent by way of the Gambia +River, I took occasion, through means of the president of the Royal +Society, to whom I had the honour of being known, of offering +myself for that service. I had a passionate desire to examine into +the productions of a country so little known. I knew I was able to +bear fatigue, and relied on my youth and strength of constitution +to preserve me from the effects of climate.</p> + +<p>The committee accepted me for the service, and their <span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"> +220</a></span> kindness supplied me with all that was necessary. I +took my passage in the brig Endeavour, a small brig trading to the +Gambia for beeswax and honey, commanded by Captain Richard Wyatt. +My instructions were very plain and concise. I was directed, on my +arrival in Africa, to pass on to the River Niger, either by way of +Bambouk, or by such other route as should be found most convenient; +that I should ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and +termination of that river; that I should use my utmost exertions to +visit the principal towns or cities in its neighbourhood, +particularly Timbuctoo and Houssa.</p> + +<p>We sailed from Portsmouth on May 22, 1795; on June 4 saw the +mountains over Mogadore on the coast of Africa; and on June 22 +anchored at Jillifree, a town on the northern bank of the River +Gambia, opposite to James's Island, where the English formerly had +a small port. The kingdom of Barra, in which the town of Jillifree +is situated, produces great plenty of the necessaries of life; but +the chief trade is in salt, which they carry up the river in canoes +as high as Barraconda, and bring down in return Indian corn, cotton +cloths, elephants' teeth, small quantities of gold dust, etc.</p> + +<p>On June 23 we proceeded to Vintain, two miles up a creek on the +southern side of the river, much resorted to by Europeans on +account of the great quantities of beeswax brought hither for sale. +The wax is collected in the woods by the Feloops, a wild and +unsociable race of people, who in their trade with Europeans +generally employ a factor or agent of the Mandingo nation. This +broker, who speaks a little English, and is acquainted with the +trade of the river, receives certain part only of the payment, +which he gives to his employer as a whole. The +remainder—which is very truly called the "cheating +money"—he receives when the Feloop is gone, and appropriates +to himself as a reward for his trouble.</p> + +<p>On June 26 we left Vintain, and continued our course<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> up +the deep and muddy river. The banks are covered with impenetrable +thickets of mangrove, and the whole of the adjacent country appears +to be flat and swampy. At the entrance of the Gambia from the sea +sharks abound, and higher up alligators and hippopotami. In six +days after leaving Vintain we reached Jonkakonda, a place of +considerable trade, where our vessel was to take in part of her +lading. Dr. Laidley, a gentleman who had resided many years at an +English factory on the Gambia, to whom I had a letter of +recommendation, came to invite me to his house, to remain there +till an opportunity should offer of prosecuting my journey. I set +out for Pisania, a small village in the dominions of the King of +Yany, and arrived there on July 5, and was accommodated in the +doctor's home.</p> + +<p>On this occasion I was referred to certain traders called +slatees. These are free black merchants, of great consideration in +this region, who come down from the interior chiefly with enslaved +negroes for sale. But I soon found that very little dependence +could be placed on their descriptions. They contradicted each other +in the most important particulars, and all of them seemed most +unwilling that I should prosecute my journey.</p> + +<p>The country is a uniform and monotonous level, but is of +marvellous fertility. Grain and rice are raised in great abundance, +besides which the inhabitants in the vicinity of the towns and +villages have gardens which produce onions, calavances, yams, +cassava, ground-nuts, pompions, gourds, watermelons, and other +esculent plants. I observed also near the towns small patches of +cotton and indigo.</p> + +<p>The chief wild animals are the antelope, hyæna, panther, +and the elephant. When I told some of the inhabitants how the +natives of India tame and use the elephant, they laughed me to +scorn, and exclaimed, "Tobaubo fonnio!" (white man's lie). The +negroes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"> +222</a></span> hunt the elephant chiefly for the sake of the +teeth. The flesh they eat, and consider it a great delicacy. The +ass is the usual beast of burden in all the negro territories. +Animal labour is nowhere applied to purposes of agriculture; the +plough, therefore, is wholly unknown.</p> + +<p>As the Slatees and others composing the caravans seemed +unwilling to further my purpose, I resolved to avail myself of the +dry season and proceed without them. Dr. Laidley approved my +determination, and with his help I made preparations.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Penetrating the Wild +Interior</i></div> + +<p>The kingdom of Kajaaga, in which I now commenced to travel, is +bounded on the south-east and south by Bambouk, on the west by +Bondou, and on the north by the River Senegal. The people, who are +jet black, are called Serawoollies. They are habitually a trading +tribe. Arriving in December at Joag, the frontier town, we took up +our residence at the house of the chief man, who is called the +dooty. My fellow-travellers were ten dealers, forming a little +caravan, bound for the Gambia. Their asses were loaded with ivory, +the large teeth being conveyed in nets, two on each side of the +ass; the small ones are wrapped up in skins and secured with +ropes.</p> + +<p>Journeying by easy stages from place to place, I at length +arrived at the important town of Jarra, which is situated in the +Moorish kingdom of Ludamar. The greater part of the inhabitants are +negroes, who prefer a precarious protection from the Moors, which +they purchase by a tribute, rather than continued exposure to their +predatory hostilities. Of the origin of these Moorish tribes +nothing further seems to be known than that before the Arabian +conquest, about the middle of the seventh century, all the +inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended from Numidians, +Phœnicians,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id= +"Page_223">223</a></span> Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, +or Goths, were comprehended under the general name of <i>Mauri</i>, +or Moors. All these nations were converted to the religion of +Mahomet during the Arabian empire under the caliphs.</p> + +<p>The Moors, who are widely spread over the African continent, are +a subtle and treacherous race. They take every opportunity of +cheating and plundering the credulous and unsuspecting negroes.</p> + +<p>On my arrival at Jarra, I obtained a lodging at the house of +Daman Jumma, a Gambia slatee, who owed money to Dr. Laidley, from +whom I had an order on him for the money, to the amount of six +slaves. But he said he was afraid he could not in his present +situation pay more than the value of two slaves. However, he gave +me his aid in exchanging my beads and amber for gold, which was a +portable article, and more easily concealed from the Moors.</p> + +<p>Difficulties speedily arose. The unsettled state of the country +from recent wars, and, above all, the overbearing deportment of the +Moors, so completely frightened my attendants that they declared +they would relinquish every claim to reward rather than proceed a +step farther eastward. Indeed the danger they incurred of being +seized by the Moors and sold into slavery became more apparent +every day. Thus I could not condemn their apprehensions.</p> + +<p>In this situation, deserted by my attendants, with a Moorish +country of ten days' journey before me, I applied to Daman to +obtain permission from Ali, the chief or sovereign of Ludamar, that +I might pass unmolested through his territory, and I hired one of +Daman's slaves to accompany me as soon as the permit should arrive. +I sent Ali a present of five garments of cotton cloth, which I +purchased of Daman for one of my fowling-pieces. Fourteen days +elapsed, and then one of Ali's slaves arrived with directions, as +he pretended,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"> +224</a></span> to conduct me in safety as far as Goomba. He +told me that I was for this service to pay him one garment of blue +cotton cloth. Things being adjusted, we set out from Jarra, and, +after a toilsome journey of three days, came to Deena, a large +town, where the Moors are in greater proportion to the negroes than +at Jarra. Assembling round the hut of the negro where I lodged, the +Moors treated me with the greatest insolence. They hissed, shouted, +and abused me; they even spat in my face, with a view to irritate +me and afford a pretext for seizing my baggage. Finding such +insults had not the desired effect, they had recourse to the final +argument that I was a Christian, and that, of course, my property +was lawful plunder to the followers of Mahomet.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they opened my bundles and robbed me of everything +they fancied. My attendants refused to go farther, and I resolved +to proceed alone rather than to pause longer among these insolent +Moors. At two the next morning I departed from Deene. It was +moonlight, but the roaring of wild beasts made it necessary to +proceed with caution. Two negroes, altering their minds, followed +me and overtook me, in order to attend me. On the road we observed +immense quantities of locusts, the trees being quite black with +them.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III—Romantic Savage Life</i></div> + +<p>Arriving at Dalli, we found a dance proceeding in front of the +dooty's house. It was a feast day. Informed that a white man was in +the place, the performers stopped their dance and came to the spot +where I was, walking in order, two by two, following the musician, +who played on a curious sort of flute. Then they danced and sang +till midnight, crowds surrounding me where I sat. The next day, our +landlord, proud of the honour of entertaining a white man, insisted +on my staying with him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id= +"Page_225">225</a></span> and his friends till the cool of the +evening, when he said he would conduct me to the next village. I +was now within two days of Goombia, had no apprehensions from the +Moors, accepted the invitation, and spent the forenoon very +pleasantly with these poor negroes. Their company was the more +acceptable as the gentleness of their manners presented a striking +contrast to the rudeness and barbarity of the Moors. They enlivened +their conversation by drinking a fermented liquor made from corn. +Better beer I never tasted in England.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this harmless festivity I flattered myself that +all danger from the Moors was over, and fancy had already placed me +on the banks of the Niger, when a party of Moors entered the hut, +and dispelled the golden dream. They said that they came by Ali's +orders to convey me to his camp at Benown. If I went peaceably, +they told me, I had nothing to fear; but if I refused, they had +orders to bring me by force. I was struck dumb by surprise and +terror, which the Moors observing, repeated that I had nothing to +fear. They added that the visit was occasioned by the curiosity of +Ali's wife, Fatima, who had heard so much about Christians that she +was very anxious to see one. We reached Benown after a journey in +great heat of four days, during which I suffered much from thirst. +Ali's camp consisted of a great number of dirty-looking tents, +amongst which roamed large herds of camels, sheep, and goats.</p> + +<p>My arrival was no sooner observed than the people who drew water +at the wells threw down their buckets, those in the tents mounted +their horses, and men, women, and children came running or +galloping towards me. At length we reached the king's tent. Ali was +an old Arab, with a long, white beard, of sullen and indignant +aspect. He surveyed me with attention, and seemed much surprised +when informed that I could not speak Arabic. He continued silent, +but the surrounding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id= +"Page_226">226</a></span> attendants, especially the +ladies, were abundantly inquisitive, and asked a thousand +questions. They searched my pockets, inspected every part of my +apparel, and even counted my fingers and toes, as if doubtful +whether I was in truth a human being.</p> + +<p>I was submitted to much irritation and insult by the Moors in +the camp, and never did any period of my life pass away so heavily +as my sojourn there. The Moors are themselves very indolent, but +are rigid taskmasters over those who are under them.</p> + +<p>Ali sent to inform me that there were many thieves in the +neighbourhood, and that to prevent my things from being stolen it +was necessary to convey them all to his tent. So my clothes, +instruments, and everything belonging to me were carried away. To +make sure of everything, he sent people the next morning to examine +whether I had anything concealed on my person. They stripped me +with the utmost rudeness of all my gold, amber, my watch, and +pocket-compass. The gold and amber were gratifying to Moorish +avarice, but the compass was an object of superstitious +curiosity.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Long Sought for +Niger</i></div> + +<p>It is impossible to describe my joy when, after being three +months in captivity, I succeeded in effecting my escape. Arduous +days of travelling lay before me, and after many weeks of endurance +and fatigue, I saw with infinite pleasure the great object of my +mission—the long-sought-for, majestic Niger, glittering in +the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing +slowly <i>to the eastward</i>. I hastened to the brink, drank of +the water, and lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer to the Great +Ruler of all things for having thus far crowned my endeavours with +success.</p> + +<p>I waited more than two hours without having an opportunity of +crossing the river, during which time the<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> people who had +crossed carried information to Mansong, the king, that a white man +was waiting for a passage, and was coming to see him. He +immediately sent over one of his chief men, who informed me that +the king could not possibly see me till he knew what had brought me +to his country, and that I must not presume to cross the river +without the king's permission.</p> + +<p>He therefore advised me to lodge at a distant village, to which +he pointed, for the night, and said that in the morning he would +give me further instructions how to conduct myself. This was very +discouraging. However, as there was no remedy, I set off for the +village, where I found, to my great mortification, that no person +would admit me into his house. I was regarded with astonishment and +fear, and was obliged to sit all day without victuals in the shade +of a tree.</p> + +<p>The next day a messenger arrived from Mansong, with a bag in his +hand. He told me it was the king's pleasure that I should depart +forthwith from the district, but that Mansong, wishing to relieve a +white man in distress, had sent me 5,000 cowries, to enable me to +purchase provisions in the course of my journey. The messenger +added that, if my intentions were really to proceed to +Jenné, he had orders to accompany me as a guide to +Sansanding. I was at first puzzled to account for this behaviour of +the king, but from the conversation I had with the guide, I had +afterwards reason to believe that Mansong would willingly have +admitted me to his presence at Sego, but was apprehensive he would +not be able to protect me against the blind and inveterate malice +of the Moorish inhabitants.</p> + +<p>His conduct was, therefore, at once prudent and liberal. The +circumstances under which I made my appearance were undoubtedly +such as might create in the mind of the king a well-warranted +suspicion that I wished to conceal the true object of my +journey.</p> + +<p>In the countries that I visited the population is not<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"> +228</a></span> very great, considering the extent and fertility of +the soil and the ease with which the lands are obtained. I found +many extensive and beautiful districts entirely destitute of +inhabitants. Many places are unfavourable to population, from being +unhealthful. The swampy banks of the Gambia, the Senegal, and other +rivers towards the coast, are of this description. The negro +nations possess a wonderful similarity of disposition. The +Mandingoes, in particular, are a very gentle race; cheerful in +their disposition, inquisitive, incredulous, simple, and fond of +flattery. Perhaps the most prominent defect in their character is +the propensity to theft, which in their estimation is no crime. On +the other hand, it is impossible for me to forget the disinterested +charity and tender solicitude with which many of these poor +heathens, from the sovereign of Sego to the poor women who received +me at different times into their cottages when I was perishing of +hunger sympathised with me in my distresses, and contributed to my +safety.</p> + +<p>On my return to Pisania, Dr. Laidley received me with great joy +and satisfaction, as one risen from the dead. No European vessel +had arrived at Gambia for many months previous to my return from +the interior. But on June 15 the ship Charlestown, an American +vessel, commanded by Mr. Charles Harris, entered the river. She +came for slaves, intending to touch at Goree to fill up, and to +proceed from thence to South Carolina. This afforded me an +opportunity of returning, though by a circuitous route, to my +native country. I therefore immediately engaged my passage in his +vessel for America. I disembarked at St. John's, and there took +passage to Antigua, where, catching the mail-packet for Falmouth, I +reached that port on December 22, having been absent from England +two years and seven months.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"> +229</a></span></p> + +<h4>MARCO POLO</h4> + +<h4>Travels</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The Beginnings of a Romantic +Career</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Marco Polo stands out in history and literature as the most +famous traveller belonging to the early mediæval period. He +was born at Venice in 1254. In 1271, his father and uncle, Venetian +merchants, set out on a long and romantic Oriental journey, taking +with them young Marco, who now began the amazing career chronicled +in his book. Everywhere he made copious notes of his observations, +and his curious records, so astonishing as to meet with little +credence during the Middle Ages, have been so far confirmed as to +demonstrate his absolute fidelity to facts as he saw them, and to +such traditions as were communicated to him, however fantastic. +Returning to Venice in 1295, three years later he fought in his own +galley at Curzola, but on the defeat of the Venetians by the +Genoese he was taken captive and flung into a fortress at Genoa. +This captivity, which lasted a year, is memorable as being the +cause of bringing about the record of his extraordinary experiences +in the East. "The Travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian," consists +essentially of two parts—first, the author's personal +narrative; second, his description of the provinces and states and +the peoples of Asia during the latter half of the thirteenth +century.</p> +</div> + +<p>In the middle of the thirteenth century, two merchants of +Venice, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo, voyaged with a rich cargo of +merchandise, in their own ship, to Constantinople, and thence to +the Black Sea. From the Crimea they travelled on horseback into +Western Tartary, where they resided in business for a year, gaining +by their politic behaviour the cordial friendship of the paramount +chief of the tribes, named Barka.</p> + +<p>Prevented from returning to Europe through the outbreak of a +tribal war in Tartary, the travellers proceeded to Bokhara, where +they stayed three years. Here they made the acquaintance of the +ambassador of the famous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" +id="Page_230">230</a></span> Kublai Khan. This potentate is +called the "grand khan," or supreme prince of all the Tartar +tribes. The ambassador invited the merchants to visit his master. +Acceding to his request, they set out on the difficult journey, and +on reaching their destination were cordially received by Kublai, +for they were the first persons from Italy who had ever arrived in +his dominions. He begged them to take with them to their country a +commissioner from himself to the Pope of Rome. The result was +unfortunate, for the commissioner fell ill on the way through +Tartary in a few days, and was left behind. At Acre, the travellers +heard that Pope Clement IV. was dead. Arrived at Venice, Nicolo +Polo found that his wife had died soon after his departure in +giving birth to a son, the Marco of this history, who was now +fifteen years of age.</p> + +<p>Waiting for two years in Venice, the election of a new pope +being delayed by successive obstacles, and fearing that the grand +khan would be disappointed or might despair of their return, they +set out again for the East, taking with them young Marco Polo. But +at Jerusalem they heard of the accession to the pontifical throne +of Gregory X., and hastened back to Italy. The new pope welcomed +them with great honour, furnished them with credentials, and +commissioned to accompany them to the East two friars of great +learning and talent, Fra Guglielmo da Tripoli and Fra Nicolo da +Vicenza. The party, entrusted with handsome presents from the +pontiff to the grand khan, voyaged forth, and reached Armenia to +find that region embroiled in war. The two friars, in terror, +returned to the coast under the care of certain knight templars; +but the three Venetians, accustomed to danger, continued their +journey, which, on account of slow winter progress, lasted +altogether three and a half years.</p> + +<p>Kublai had removed to a splendid city named Cle Men Fu [near +where Peking now stands], and,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> on arriving, a +gracious reception awaited the three merchants, who narrated events +and delivered the messages from Rome with the papal presents. +Taking special notice of young Marco, the grand khan enrolled him +among his attendants of honour. Marco soon became proficient in +four languages, and displayed such extraordinary talents that he +was sent on a mission to Karazan, a city six months' journey +distant. On this mission he distinguished himself by his tact and +success, and during the seventeen years spent in the service of the +khan executed many similar tasks in every part of the empire.</p> + +<p>The Venetians remained many years at the Tartar court, and at +length, after amassing much wealth, felt constrained to return +home. They were permitted to depart, taking with them, at the +khan's request, a maiden named Kogatin, of seventeen, a relative of +the khan, whom they were to conduct to the court of Arghun, a +sovereign in India, to become his wife.</p> + +<p>The travellers were not fortunate, for they were compelled, +through fresh wars among the Tartar princes, to return. But about +this time Marco Polo happened to arrive after a long voyage in the +East Indies, giving a most favourable report of the safety of the +seas he had navigated. Accordingly, it was arranged that the party +should go by sea; and fourteen ships were prepared, each having +four masts and nine sails, and some crews of over 200 men. On these +embarked the three Venetians, the Indian ambassadors, and the +queen. In three months Java was reached, and India in eighteen +more.</p> + +<p>On landing, the travellers learned that the King of Arghun had +died some time before, and his son Kiakato was reigning in his +stead, and that the lady was to be presented to Kiasan, another +son, then on the borders of Persia guarding the frontier with an +army of 60,000. This was done, and then the party returned to the +residence,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"> +232</a></span> and there rested nine months before taking +their leave. While on their way they heard of the death of Kublai, +this intelligence putting an end to their plan of revisiting those +regions. Pursuing, therefore, their intended route, they at length +reached Trebizonde, whence they proceeded to Negropont, and finally +to Venice, at which place, in the enjoyment of health and abundant +riches, they safely arrived in the year 1295, and offered thanks to +God, Who had preserved them from innumerable perils.</p> + +<p>The foregoing record enables the reader to judge of the +opportunities Marco Polo had of acquiring a knowledge of the things +he describes during a residence of many years in the eastern parts +of the world.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Legends of Ancient +Persia</i></div> + +<p>Persia was anciently a great province, but it is now in great +part destroyed by the Tartars. From the city called Saba came the +three magi who adored Christ at Bethlehem. They are buried in Saba, +and are all three entire with their beards and hair. They were +Baldasar, Gaspar, and Melchior. After three days' journey you come +to Palasata, the castle of the fire-worshippers. The people say +that the three magi, when they adored Christ, were by Him presented +with a closed box, which they carried with them for several days, +and then, being curious to see what it contained, were constrained +to open. In it was a stone signifying that they should remain firm +to the faith they had received.</p> + +<p>Thinking themselves deluded, they threw the stone into a pit, +whence instantly fire flamed forth. Bitterly repenting, they took +home with them some of the fire, and placed it in a church, where +it is adored as a god, the sacrifices all being performed before +it. Therefore, the people of Persia worship fire.</p> + +<p>In the north of Persia the people tell of the Old Man<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"> +233</a></span> of the Mountain. He was named Alo-eddin, and was a +Moslem. In a lovely valley he had planted a magnificent garden and +built a cluster of gorgeous palaces, supplied by means of conduits +with streams of wine, milk, honey, and pure water. Beautiful girls, +skilled in music and dancing, and richly dressed, were among the +inhabitants of this retreat.</p> + +<p>The chief object of Alo-eddin in forming this fascinating garden +was to persuade his followers that, as Mahomet had promised to the +Moslems the enjoyments of Paradise, with every species of sensual +gratification, so he was also a prophet and the compeer of Mahomet, +and had the power of admitting to Paradise whom he pleased. An +impregnable castle guarded the entrance to the enchanting valley, +the entrance to this being through a secret passage.</p> + +<p>At his court this chief entertained many youths, selected from +the people of the mountains for their apparent courage and martial +disposition. To these he daily preached on Paradise and his +prerogative of granting admission; and at certain times he caused +opium to be administered to a dozen of the youths, who, when half +dead with sleep, were conveyed to apartments in the palaces in the +gardens. On awakening, each person found himself surrounded by +lovely damsels, who sang, played, served delicate viands and +exquisite wines, till the youth, intoxicated with excess of +enjoyment, believed himself assuredly in Paradise, and felt +unwilling to quit it.</p> + +<p>After four or five days the youths were again thrown into +somnolency and carried out of the garden; and when asked by +Alo-eddin where they had been, declared that by his favour they had +been in Paradise, the whole court listening with amazement to their +recital. The consequence was that his followers were so devoted to +his service that if any neighbouring chiefs or princes gave him +umbrage they were put to death by these disciplined<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"> +234</a></span> assassins, and his tyranny made him dreaded +through all the surrounding provinces. He employed people to rob +travellers in their passage through his country. At length the +grand khan grew weary of hearing of his atrocious practices, and an +army was sent in the year 1262 to besiege him in his castle. It was +so strong that it held out for three years, until Alo-eddin was +forced through lack of provisions to surrender, and was put to +death. Thus perished the Old Man of the Mountain.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Of the Tartars and their Grand +Khan</i></div> + +<p>Now that I have begun speaking of the Tartars, I will tell you +more about them. They never remain long anywhere, but when winter +approaches remove to the plains of a warmer region, in order to +find sufficient pasture for their cattle. Their flocks and herds +are multitudinous. Their tents are formed of rods covered with +felt, and being exactly round, and nicely put together, they can +gather them together into one bundle, and make them up as packages +to carry about. When they set them up again, they always make the +entrance front the south.</p> + +<p>Their travelling-cars are drawn by oxen and camels. The women do +all the business of trading, buying, and selling, and provide +everything necessary for their husbands and families, the time of +the men being entirely devoted to hunting, hawking, and matters +that relate to military life. They have the best falcons and also +the best dogs in the world. They subsist entirely on flesh and +milk, consuming horses, camels, dogs, and animals of every +description. They drink mares' milk, preparing it so that it has +the qualities and flavour of white wine, and this beverage they +call kemurs.</p> + +<p>The Tartars believe in a supreme deity, to whom they offer +incense and prayers; while they also worship<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> +another, called Natigay, whose image, covered with felt, is kept in +every house. This god, who has a wife and children, and who, they +consider, presides over their terrestrial concerns, protects their +children, and guards their cattle and grain. They show him great +respect, and at their meals they never omit to take a fat morsel of +the flesh, and with it to grease the mouth of the idol.</p> + +<p>Rich Tartars dress in cloth of gold and silks, with skins of the +sable, the ermine, and other animals. All their accoutrements are +of the most expensive kind. They are specially skilful in the use +of the bow, and they are very brave in battle, but are cruel in +disposition. Their martial qualities and their wonderful powers of +endurance make them fitted to subdue the world, as, in fact, they +have done with regard to a considerable portion of it.</p> + +<p>When these Tartars engage in battle they never mingle with the +enemy, but keep hovering about him, discharging their arrows first +from one side, and then from the other, occasionally pretending to +fly, and during their flight shooting arrows backwards at their +pursuers, killing men and horses as if they were combating face to +face. In this sort of warfare the adversary imagines he has gained +a victory, when in fact he has lost the battle. For the Tartars, +observing the mischief they have done him, wheel about, and +renewing the fight, overpower his remaining troops, and make them +prisoners in spite of their utmost exertions.</p> + +<p>Kublai is the sixth grand khan, and began his reign as grand +khan in the year 1246, and commenced his reign as Emperor of China +in 1280. It is forty-two years since he began his reign in Tartary +to the present year, 1288, and he is fully eighty-five years of +age. It was his ancestor, Jengiz, who assumed the title of khan. +Kublai is considered the most able and successful commander that +ever led the Tartars to battle. He it was who completed the +conquest of China by subduing the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> southern provinces and +destroying the ancient dynasty. After this period he ceased to take +the field in person. His last campaign was against rebels, of whom +there were many both in Cathay and Manji [North and South +China].</p> + +<p>The Tartars date the beginning of their year from the beginning +of February, and it is their custom on that occasion to dress in +white. Great numbers of beautiful white horses are presented to the +grand khan. On the day of the White Feast all his elephants, +amounting to five thousand, are exhibited in procession, covered +with rich housings. It is a time of splendid ceremonials, and of +most sumptuous feasting. During the amusements a lion is conducted +into the presence of his majesty, so tame that it is taught to lay +itself down at his feet.</p> + +<p>The grand khan has many leopards and lynxes kept for the purpose +of chasing deer, and also many lions, which are larger than the +Babylonian lions, and are active in seizing boars, wild oxen, and +asses, stags, roebucks, and of other animals that are objects of +sport. It is an admirable sight, when the lion is let loose in +pursuit of the animal, to observe the savage eagerness and speed +with which he overtakes it. His majesty has them conveyed for this +purpose in cages placed on cars, and along with them is confined a +little dog, with which they become familiarised. The grand khan has +eagles also, which are trained to stoop at wolves, and such is +their size and strength that none, however large, can escape from +their talons.</p> + +<p>Before we proceed further we shall speak of a memorable battle +that was fought in the kingdom of Yun-chang. When the king of Mien +[Burma] heard that an army of Tartars had arrived at Yun-chang, he +resolved to attack it, in order that by its destruction the grand +khan might be deterred from again attempting to station a force on +the borders of his dominions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span>For this purpose he assembled a very large army, including a +multitude of elephants (an animal with which the country abounds), +on whose backs were placed battlements, or castles of wood, capable +of containing to the number of twelve or sixteen in each. With +these, and a numerous army of horse and foot, he took the road to +Yun-chang, where the grand khan's army lay, and encamping at no +great distance from it, intended to give his troops a few days of +rest.</p> + +<p>The Tartars, chiefly by their wonderful skill in archery, +inflicted a terrible defeat on their foes; and the King of Mien, +though he fought with the most undaunted courage, was compelled to +flee, leaving the greater part of his troops killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>In the northern parts of the world there dwell many Tartars, +under a chief of the name of Kaidu, nearly related to Kublai, the +grand khan. These Tartars are idolaters. They possess vast herds of +horses, cows, sheep, and other domestic animals. In these northern +districts are found prodigious white bears, black foxes, wild asses +in great numbers, and swarms of sables and martens. During the long +and severe winters the Tartars travel in sledges drawn by great +dogs.</p> + +<p>Beyond the country of these northern Tartars is another region, +which extends to the utmost bounds of the north, and is called the +Region of Darkness, because during most part of the winter months +the sun is invisible, and the atmosphere is obscured to the same +degree as that in which we find it just about the dawn of day, when +we may be said to see and not to see. The intellects of the people +are dull, and they have an air of stupidity. The Tartars often +proceed on plundering expeditions against them, to rob them of +their cattle and goods, availing themselves for this purpose of +those months in which the darkness prevails.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span><i>IV.—Of Ceylon and Malabar</i></div> + +<p>The island of Zeilan [Ceylon] is better circumstanced than any +other in the world. It is governed by a king named Sendernaz. The +people worship idols, and are independent of every other state. +Both men and women go nearly nude. Their food is milk, rice, and +flesh, and they drink wine drawn from trees. Here is the best +sappan-wood that can anywhere be met with.</p> + +<p>The island produces more beautiful and valuable rubies than can +be found in any other part of the world, and also many other +precious stones. The king is reported to possess the grandest ruby +that ever was seen, being a span in length, and the thickness of a +man's arm, brilliant beyond description, and without a single flaw. +The grand khan, Kublai, sent ambassadors to this monarch, with a +request that he would yield to him possession of this ruby; in +return for which he should receive the value of a city. The answer +was that he would not sell it for all the treasure of the universe. +The grand khan, therefore, failed to acquire it.</p> + +<p>Leaving the island of Zeilan, you reach the great province of +Malabar, which is part of the continent of the greater India, the +noblest and richest country in the world. It is governed by four +kings, of whom the principal is named Sender-bandi. Within his +district is a fishery for pearls. The pearl oysters are brought up +in bags by divers. The king wears many jewels of immense value, and +among them is a fine silken string containing one hundred and four +splendid pearls and rubies. He has at least a thousand wives and +concubines, and when he sees a woman whose beauty pleases him, he +immediately signifies his desire to possess her. The heat of the +country is excessive, and on that account the people go naked.</p> + +<p>In this kingdom, and also throughout India, all the<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> +beasts and birds are unlike those of our own country. There are +bats as large as vultures, and vultures as black as crows, and much +larger than ours.</p> + +<p>In the province of Malabar is the body of St. Thomas the +Apostle, who there suffered martyrdom. It rests in a small city to +which vast numbers of Christians and Saracens resort. The latter +regard him as a great prophet, and name him Ananias, signifying a +holy personage.</p> + +<p>In the year 1288 a powerful prince of the country, who at the +time of harvest had accumulated as his portion an enormous quantity +of rice, and whose granaries could not hold the vast store, used +for that purpose a religious house belonging to the church of St. +Thomas, although the guardians of the shrine begged him not thus to +occupy the place. He persisted, and on the next night the holy +apostle appeared to him, holding a small lance in his hand, which +he held at his throat, threatening him with a miserable death if he +should not immediately evacuate the house. The prince awoke in +terror, and obeyed.</p> + +<p>Various miracles are daily wrought here through the +interposition of the blessed saint. The Christians who have the +care of the church possess groves of cocoanut-trees, and from these +derive the means of subsistence. The death of this most holy +apostle took place thus. Having retired to a hermitage, where he +was engaged in prayer, and being surrounded by a number of +peafowls, with which bird the country abounds, an idolater who +happened to be passing, and did not perceive the holy man, shot an +arrow at a peacock, which struck St. Thomas in the side. He only +had time to thank the Lord for all His mercies, and into His hands +resigned his spirit.</p> + +<p>In the kingdom of Musphili [Solconda], which you enter upon +leaving Malabar after proceeding five hundred miles northward, are +the best and most honourable<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> merchants that can be +found. No consideration whatever can induce them to speak an +untruth. They have also an abhorrence of robbery, and are likewise +remarkable for the virtue of continence, being satisfied with the +possession of one wife. The Brahmins are distinguished by a certain +badge, consisting of a thick cotton thread passed over the shoulder +and tied under the arm.</p> + +<p>The people are gross idolaters, and much addicted to sorcery and +divination. When they are about to make a purchase of goods, they +observe the shadow cast by their own bodies in the sunshine, and if +the shadow be as large as it should be, they make the purchase that +day. Moreover, when they are in a shop for the purchase of +anything, if they see a tarantula, of which there are many there, +they take notice from which side it comes, and regulate their +business accordingly. Again, if they are going out of their houses +and they hear anyone sneeze they return to the house and stay at +home.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"> +241</a></span></p> + +<h4>BERNARDIN DE SAINT PIERRE</h4> + +<h4>Voyage to the Isle of France</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Miseries of Slavery</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>In 1768 Bernardin de Saint Pierre (see <span class= +"smcap">Fiction</span>) was sent out to Mauritius, which was then a +French colony called the Isle of France, to fortify it against the +English. He found it was not worth fortifying, and, after an +absence of three years, he returned to France, and in 1773 +published his famous "Voyage to the Isle of France," and thereby +made his name. It gave him a position similar to that which Defoe +occupies in England, for by means of it he introduced into French +literature the exotic element which he afterwards expanded in "Paul +and Virginia." He was the first French writer of genius to apply +the art of description in depicting the life and scenery of +far-distant lands. Finally, it is interesting to remark on the +general change which has taken place in the treatment of subject +native races since the time when Saint Pierre wrote, even though +such atrocities as came to light in the recent Congo scandal may be +still burning themselves out in isolated instances.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Port Louis</span>, <i>August 6, 1768</i>. +The Isle of France was discovered by a Portuguese, and taken over +by the Dutch; but they abandoned it in 1712, and settled at the +Cape of Good Hope, and the French then took possession of it.</p> + +<p>The island was a desert when we took it over, and the first +settlers were a few honest, simple farmers from our colony of +Bourbon, who lived together very happily until 1760, when the +English drove us out of India. Then, like a flood, all the +scoundrels, rogues and broken men hunted from our Indian +possessions, invaded the island and threw everything into disorder +and ruin. Everybody is envious and discontented; everybody wishes +to make a fortune at once and depart. And this is an island with no +commerce and scarcely any agriculture, where the only money found +is paper money! Yet they all say they will<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> be rich enough to +return to France in a year's time. They have been saying this for +many years. Everything is in a state of squalid neglect. The +streets are neither paved nor planted with trees; the houses are +merely tents of wood, moved from place to place on rollers; the +windows have no glass and no curtains, and it is rare that one +finds within even a few poor pieces of furniture.</p> + +<p>There are only four hundred farmers. The rest of the white +population are mainly idlers, who gather together in the square +from noon till evening and pass away the time in gambling and +scandalmongering. The work of agriculture is carried on by black +slaves imported from Madagascar. They can be got in exchange for a +gun or a roll of cloth, and the dearest does not cost more than +seven pounds. They are compelled to work from sunrise to sunset, +and they are given nothing to eat but mashed maize boiled in water, +and tapioca bread. At the least negligence the skin is scourged +from their body. The women are punished in the same manner. +Sometimes when they are old they are left to starve to death. Every +day during my sojourn in the Isle of France I have seen black men +and black women lashed hands and feet to a ladder and flogged for +having forgot to shut a door or for breaking a bit of pottery. I +have seen them bleeding all over, and having their wounded bodies +rubbed with vinegar and salt. I have seen them speechless with +excess of pain; I have seen some of them bite the iron cannon on +which they have been bound.</p> + +<p>I do not know if coffee and sugar are necessary to the happiness +of Europe, but I know well that these two vegetables are a source +of misery to the inhabitants of two continents of the world. We are +dispeopling America in order to have a land to grow them; we are +dispeopling Africa in order to have a nation to cultivate them. +There are 20,000 black slaves on the Isle of France, but they die +so fast that, in order to keep up<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> their number, 1,200 +more have to be imported every year.</p> + +<p>I am very sorry that our philosophers who attack abuses with so +much courage have hardly spoken of the slavery of the black races, +except to make a jest of it. They have eyes only for things very +remote. They speak of St. Bartholomew, of the massacre of the +Mexicans by the Spaniards, as if this crime was not one committed +now by the half of Europe. Oh, ye men who dream of republics, see +how your own people misuse the authority entrusted to them! See +your colonies streaming with human blood! The men who shed it are +men of your stamp; they talk like you, they talk of humanity, they +read the books of our philosophers, and they exclaim against +despotism; but when they get any power they show that they are +really brutes. In a country of so corrupt a morality an absolute +government is necessary. The excesses of a single tyrant are +preferable to the crimes and the injustices of a whole people.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—A Land of Beauty and +Abominations</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Port Louis</span>, <i>September 13, +1769</i>. An officer proposed to make a walking tour round the +island with me, but when the time came to set out he excused +himself, so I resolved to go alone. But knowing that I should often +have to camp out in the woods alone, I took two negroes with me to +carry provisions, and I armed myself with a double-barrel gun and a +couple of pistols, for fear I should encounter one of the bands of +runaway slaves that hide in the deserted part of the island.</p> + +<p>Striking out through the plains of Saint Pierre, we walked for +four days along the seashore, with the dense and silent forest on +our left hand. On crossing the black river I came to the last farm +on this part of the coast. It was a long hut, formed of stakes and +covered with palm leaves. There was only one room. In the +middle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"> +244</a></span> of it was the kitchen; at one extremity were the +stores and the sleeping places of the eight black slaves; the other +end was the farmer's bed; a hen was setting on some eggs on the +counterpane, and some ducks were living beneath the bed, and around +the leafy wall pigeons had made their nests. In this miserable hut +I was surprised to find a very beautiful woman. She was a young +Frenchwoman, born, like her husband, of a good family. They had +come to the island some years ago in the hope of making a fortune; +they had left their parents, their friends, and their native land, +to pass their lives in this wild and lonely place, from which one +could see only the empty sea and the grim precipices of a desolate +mountain. But the air of contentment and goodness of this young and +lovely mother of a growing family seemed to make everybody around +her happy. When evening came she invited me to share a simple, but +neatly-served supper. The meal appeared to me an exceedingly +pleasant one. I was given as a bed-room a little tent built of +wood, about a hundred steps away from the log cabin. As the door +had not been put up, I closed the opening with planks, and loaded +my gun and pistols; for the forest all around is full of runaway +slaves. A few years ago forty of them began to make a plantation on +the mountain close by; the white settlers surrounded them and +called on them to surrender, but rather than return to captivity +all the slaves threw themselves into the sea.</p> + +<p>I stayed with the farmer and his wife until three o'clock the +next morning. The farmer walked with me as far as Coral Point. He +was a remarkably robust man, and his face and arms and legs were +burnt by the sun. Unlike the ordinary settler, he worked himself in +tilling the land and felling and carting trees. The only thing that +worried him, he said to me, was the unnecessary trouble that his +wife took in bringing up her family. Not content with looking after +her own five children, she had recently burdened herself with the +care<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"> +245</a></span> of a little orphan girl. The honest farmer merely +told me of his little worries, for he saw clearly that I was aware +of all his happiness. When we took farewell of each other, we did +so with a cordial embrace.</p> + +<p>The country beyond his farm was charming in its verdure and +freshness; it is a rich prairie stretching between the splendid sea +and the magnificent forest. The murmur of the fountains, the +beautiful colour of the waves, the soft movement of the scented air +filled me with joy and peace. I was sorry that I was alone; I +formed all kinds of plans. From all the outside world I only wanted +a few loved objects to enable me to pass my life in this paradise. +And great was my regret when I turned away from this beautiful yet +deserted place. I had scarcely gone 200 feet when a band of blacks, +armed with guns, came towards me. Advancing to them, I saw that +they were a detachment of the black police. One of them carried two +little dogs; another pulled a negress along by means of a cord +around her neck—she was part of the loot they had got in +attacking and dispersing a camp of runaway slaves. The negress was +broken with grief. I questioned her; she did not reply. On her back +she carried a large gaping bag. I look in it. Alas! it contained a +man's head. The natural beauty of the country disappeared. I saw it +as it really was—a land of abominations.</p> + +<p>The Isle of France is regarded as a fortress which protects our +Indian possessions. It is as though Bordeaux were regarded as the +citadel of our American colonies. There are 1,500 leagues between +the Isle of France and Pondichery. Had we but spent on a fortress +on the Malabar coast or the mouth of the Ganges half of the money +which has been wasted on the Isle of France the English would not +now be masters of Bengal. What, then, is the use of the Isle of +France? To grow coffee and serve as a port of call.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span><i>III.—Bourbon, the Pirates' +Island</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Port Louis</span>, <i>December 21, 1770</i>. +Having obtained permission to return to France, I embarked on +November 9, 1770, on the Indien. It took us twelve days to cover +the forty leagues between the Isle of France and Bourbon. This was +due to the calm weather; but on landing at Bourbon, we encountered +a hurricane.</p> + +<p>Out of the calm sea there suddenly came a monstrous wave which +broke so violently on the shore that everybody fled. The foam rose +fifty feet into the air. Behind it came three waves the same height +and force, like three long rolling hills. The air was heavy, the +sky dark with motionless clouds, and the vast flocks of whimbrels +and drivers came in from the open sea and scattered along the +coast. The land birds and animals seemed perturbed. Even men felt a +secret terror at the sight of a frightful tempest in the midst of +calm weather.</p> + +<p>On the second day the wind completely dropped, and the sea grew +wilder. The billows were more numerous, and swept in from the ocean +with great force. All the small boats were drawn far up on the +land, and the people strengthened their house with joists and +ropes. Seven ships besides the Indien were riding at anchor, and +the islanders gathered in a crowd along the shore to see if they +would weather the storm. At noon the sky began to lower, and a +strong wind arose suddenly from the south-east. Everyone was afraid +that the vessels would be flung ashore, and a signal was made from +the battery for them to depart. As the cannon went off, the vessels +cut their cables and got under sail, and at the end of two hours +they disappeared in the north-east in the midst of a black sky.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock the hurricane came. The sound was frightful. +All the winds of heaven were loose. The stricken sea came over the +land in clouds of spindrift,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span> sand, and pebbles, and +buried everything within fifty feet of the shore in shingle. The +church was unroofed, and part of the Government House destroyed. +The hurricane lasted till three o'clock in the morning. The Indien +did not return, but sailed away with all my effects on it. There +was nothing for me to do but to wait at Bourbon for another, +homeward-bound ship; so I resolved to profit by my misfortune, and +make an excursion into the island.</p> + +<p>This enabled me to gather something of the history of Bourbon. +It was first inhabited by a band of pirates, who brought with them +some negresses from Madagascar. This happened in 1657. Some time +afterwards our Indian company set up a factory in the island, and +the governor managed to keep on good terms with his dangerous +neighbours. One day the Portuguese viceroy of Goa anchored off the +island and came to dine with the governor. He had scarcely landed +when a pirate ship of fifty guns entered the harbour and captured +the Portuguese vessel. The captain of the pirates then landed, and +was also invited to dinner by the governor. The buccaneer sat down +at table by the side of the viceroy, and told the Portuguese that +he was now a prisoner. When the wine and the good cheer had put the +man in a good humour, M. Desforges (that was the name of our +governor) asked him at how much he fixed the ransom of the +viceroy.</p> + +<p>"I want a thousand piastres," said the pirate.</p> + +<p>"That's too little," replied M. Desforges, "for a brave man like +you and a great lord like him. Ask more than that, or ask +nothing."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the generous corsair, "he can go free."</p> + +<p>The viceroy at once re-embarked and got under sail, Vastly +content at having escaped so cheaply.</p> + +<p>The pirate afterwards settled in the island with all his +followers, and was hanged after an amnesty had been<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> +published in favour of himself and his men. He had forgotten to +have his name included in it, and a counsellor who wished to +appropriate his spoils profited by the mistake, and had him put to +death. The second rogue, however, quickly came to almost as unhappy +an end. One of the pirates, who lived to the age of one hundred and +four years, died only a little time ago. His companions soon grew +more peaceful in their manners on adopting more peaceful +occupations, and, though their descendants are still distinguished +by a certain spirit of independence and liberty, this is now being +softened by the society of a multitude of worthy farmers who have +settled at Bourbon.</p> + +<p>There are five thousand Europeans on the island and sixty +thousand blacks. The land is three times more peopled than that of +the Isle of France, and it is very much better cultivated.</p> + +<p>The manners of the old settlers of Bourbon were very simple. +Most of the houses were never shut, and a lock was an object of +curiosity. The people kept their savings in a shell above their +door. They went barefooted, and fed on rice and coffee; they +imported scarcely anything from Europe, being content to live +without luxury provided they lived without trouble. When a stranger +landed on the island, they came without knowing him and offered him +their houses to live in.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Visit to the Cape Colony</i></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Port Louis</span>, <i>January 20, 1771</i>. +I have landed among the Dutch at the extremity of Africa without +money, without linen, and without friends. Learning of my position, +M. De Tolback, the governor of Cape Colony, has invited me to +dinner; and, happily, the secretary of the council has provided me +with money, having allowed me to use his credit in buying whatever +I need. The streets of the Cape are well set out; some are watered +by canals,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id= +"Page_249">249</a></span> and most of them are planted with +oak trees. The fronts of the houses are shadowed by their foliage; +every door has seats on both sides in brick or turf, on which sit +fresh and rosy-faced women. There is no gambling at the Cape, no +play-acting or novel reading. The people are content with the +domestic happiness that virtue brings in its train. Every day +brings the same duties and pleasures. There are no spectacles at +the Cape and no one wants any; every man there has in his own home +all that he desires. Happy servants, well-bred children, good +wives: these are pleasures that fiction does not give.</p> + +<p>A quiet life of this sort furnishes little matter for +conversation, so the Dutchmen of the Cape do not talk very much. +They are a rather melancholic people, and they prefer to feel +rather than to argue. So little happens, perhaps, that they have +nothing to talk about; but what does it matter if the mind is empty +when the heart is full, and when the tender emotions of nature can +move it without being excited by artifice or constrained by a false +decorum? When the girls of the Cape fall in love, they artlessly +avow their feelings, but they insist on choosing their own +husbands. The lads show the same frankness. The good faith which +the young persons of each sex keep towards each other generally +results in a happy marriage. Love with them is combined with +esteem, and this nourishes all during life in their constant souls +that desire to please which married persons in some other countries +only show outside their own home.</p> + +<p>It was with much regret that I left these worthy people, but I +am not sorry to return to France. I prefer my own country to all +others, not because it is more beautiful, but because I was born +and bred there. Happy is the man who sees again the field in which +he learnt to walk and the orchard which he used to play in! Happier +still is he who has never quitted the paternal roof! How many +voyagers return and yet find no place of retreat. Of their friends, +some are dead, others are gone away;<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> but life is only a +brief voyage, and the age of man a rapid day. I wish to forget the +storms of it, and remember only in these letters the goodness, the +virtue, and the constancy that I have met with. Perhaps this humble +work may make your names, O virtuous settlers at the Cape, survive +when I am in the grave! For thee, O ill-fated negro! that weepest +on the rocks of the Isle of France, if my hand, which cannot wipe +away thy tears, can but bring the tyrants to weep in sorrow and +repentance, I shall want nothing more from the Indies; I shall have +gained there the only fortune I require.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"> +251</a></span></p> + +<h4>JOHN HANNING SPEKE</h4> + +<h4>Discovery of the Source of the Nile</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Beginnings in the Black Man's +Land</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>John Hanning Speke was born on May 14, 1827, near Ilchester, +Suffolk, England. He entered the army in 1844, serving in India, +but his love of exploration and sport led him to visit the +Himalayas and Thibet; leaving India in 1854, he joined Sir Richard +Burton on his Somali expedition, where he was wounded and invalided +home. After the Crimean War he rejoined Burton in African +exploration, pushing forward alone to discover the Victoria +N'yanza, which he believed to be the source of the Nile. Speke's +work was so much appreciated by the Royal Geographical Society that +they sent him out again to verify this, his friend, Captain Grant, +accompanying him, and the exciting incidents of this journey are +set forth in his "Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the +Nile," which he published on his return in 1863. Honours were +bestowed on him for having "solved the problem of the ages," though +Burton sharply contested his conclusions. An accident while +partridge shooting on September 18, 1864, suddenly ended the career +of one who had proved himself to be a brave explorer, a good +sportsman, and an able botanist and geologist. His "Journal" is an +entrancing record of one of the greatest expeditions of modern +times, and is told with no small amount of literary skill. The work +was followed a year later by "What Led to the Discovery of the +Source of the Nile," these two forming, with the exception of a +number of magazine articles, Speke's entire literary output.</p> +</div> + +<p>I started on my third expedition in Africa to prove that the +Victoria N'yanza was the source of the Nile, on May 9, 1859, under +the direction of the Royal Geographical Society, and Captain Grant, +an old friend and brother sportsman in India, asked to accompany +me. After touching at the Cape and East London we made our first +acquaintance with the Zulu Kaffirs at Delagoa Bay, and on August 15 +we reached our destination, Zanzibar. Here I engaged my men, paying +a year's wages in advance, and anyone who saw the grateful avidity +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"> +252</a></span> which they took the money and pledged themselves to +serve me faithfully would think I had a first rate set of +followers.</p> + +<p>At last we made a start, and reaching Uzaramo, my first +occupation was to map the country by timing the rate of march with +a watch, taking compass bearings, and ascertaining by boiling a +thermometer the altitude above the sea level, and the latitude by +the meridian of a star, taken with a sextant, comparing the lunar +distances with the nautical almanac. After long marching I made a +halt to send back some specimens, my camera, and a few of the +sickliest of my men, and then entered Usagara, which includes all +the country between Kingani and Mgéta rivers east and Ugogo +the first plateau west—a distance of one hundred miles. Here +water is obtainable throughout the year, and where slave hunts do +not disturb the industry of the people, cultivation thrives, but +these troubles constantly occur, and the meagre looking wretches, +spiritless and shy, retreat to the hill tops at the sight of a +stranger.</p> + +<p>At this point Baraka, the head of my Wanguana (emancipated +slaves) became discontented; ambition was fast making a fiend of +him, and I promoted Frij in his place. Shortly afterwards my +Hottentots suffered much from sickness, and Captain Grant was +seized with fever. In addition to these difficulties we found that +avarice, that fatal enemy to the negro chiefs, made them overreach +themselves by exhorbitant demands for taxes, for experience will +not teach the negro who thinks only for the moment. The curse of +Noah sticks to these his grandchildren by Ham, they require a +government like ours in India, and without it the slave trade will +wipe them off the face of the earth. We travelled slowly with our +sick Hottentot lashed to a donkey; the man died when we halted, and +we buried him with Christian honours. As his comrades said, he died +because he had determined to die—an instance of that +obstinate fatalism<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id= +"Page_253">253</a></span> in their mulish temperament which no +kind words or threats can cure.</p> + +<p>After crossing the hilly Usagara range, leaving the great famine +lands behind, we camped, on November 24, in the Ugogo country, +which has a wild aspect well in keeping with the natives who occupy +it, and who carry arms intended for use rather than show. They live +in flat-topped square villages, are fond of ornaments, impulsive by +nature, and avaricious. They pester travellers, jeering, quizzing, +and pointing at them on the road and in camp intrusively forcing +their way into the tents.</p> + +<p>In January, after many very trying experiences, we arrived at +Unyamuézi—the Country of the Moon—with which the +Hindus, before the Christian era, had commercial dealings in ivory +and slaves. The natives are wanting in pluck and gallantry, the +whole tribe are desperate smokers and greatly given to drink. Here +some Arabs came to pay their respects, they told me what I had said +about the N'yanza being the source of the Nile would turn out all +right, as all the people in the north knew that when the N'yanza +rose, the stream rushed with such violence it tore up islands and +floated them away. By the end of March we had crossed the forests, +forded the Quandé nullah and entered the rich flat district +of Mininga, where the gingerbread palm grows abundantly.</p> + +<p>During my stay with Musa, the king at Kazé, who had shown +himself friendly on a previous expedition, I underwent some trying +experiences in trying to mediate between two rival rulers, Snay and +Manua Séra, between whom there was continual wrangle and +conflict. On one occasion Musa, who was suffering from a sharp +illness, to prove to me that he was bent on leaving Kazé the +same time as myself, began eating what he called his training +pills—small dried buds of roses with alternate bits of sugar +candy. Ten of these buds, he said, eaten dry, were sufficient, +especially after having been boiled in rice water or milk.</p> + +<p><span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"> +254</a></span>Struggling on, faced by the thievish sultans and followed by my +train of quarrelling servants, I at last reached Uzinza, which is +ruled by a Wahuma chief of Abyssinian stock, and here I found the +petty chiefs quite as extortionate in extorting hongo (tax) as +others. To add to my troubles a new leader I had previously +engaged, called "the Pig," gave me great annoyance, causing a +mutiny amongst my men. Some were saying, "They were the flesh and I +was the knife; I cut and did with them just what I liked, and they +couldn't stand it any longer." However, they had to stand it, and I +brought them to reason.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Travel Difficulties and a King's +Hospitality</i></div> + +<p>A bad cough began to trouble me so much that whilst mounting a +hill I blew and grunted like a broken-winded horse, and during an +enforced halt at Lumérési's village I was in constant +pain, so much that lying down became impossible. This chief tried +to plunder and detain me, and Baraka, my principal man, began to +grow discontented, because in my intention to push on to +Karagué I was acting against impossibilities. +"Impossibilities!" I said. "What is impossible? Could I not go on +as a servant with the first caravan, or buy up a whole caravan if I +liked? What is impossible? For God's sake don't try any more to +frighten my men, for you have nearly killed me already in doing +so." My troubles did not end here. A letter came in from Grant, +whom I had left behind through sickness, that his caravan had been +attacked and wrecked and he was, as Baraka had heard, in sore +straits. However, to my inexpressible joy, a short time afterwards +Grant appeared and we had a good laugh over our misfortunes.</p> + +<p>On our arrival at Usui I was told that Suwarora, its great king, +desired to give me an audience, and after days of more impudent +thieving on the part of his officers,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span> my man Bombay +came with exciting news. I questioned him.</p> + +<p>"Will the big king see us?"</p> + +<p>"Oh no. By the very best good fortune in the world, on going +into the palace, I saw Suwarora, and spoke to him at once, but he +was so tremendously drunk he could not understand."</p> + +<p>"Well, what was Suwarora like?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is a very fine man, just as tall and in the face very +like Grant, in fact, if Grant were black you would not know the +difference."</p> + +<p>"Were his officers drunk too? And did you get drunk?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bombay, grinning and showing his whole row of sharp, +pointed teeth.</p> + +<p>November 16 found us rattling on again, as merry as larks, over +the red sandstone formation, leaving the intemperate Suwarora +behind. We entered a fine forest at a stiff pace until we arrived +at the head of a deep valley called Lohugati which was so beautiful +we instinctively pulled up to admire it. Deep down its well-wooded +side was a stream of most inviting aspect for a trout-fisher, +flowing towards the N'yanza. Just beyond it, the valley was clothed +with fine trees and luxuriant vegetation of all description, +amongst which was conspicuous the pretty pandana palm and rich +gardens of plantains, whilst thistles of extraordinary size and +wild indigo were the common weeds.</p> + +<p>Nothing could be more agreeable than our stay at Karagué, +our next stopping place, where we found Rumanika, its intelligent +king, sitting in a wrapper made of antelope's skin, smiling blandly +as we approached him. He talked of the geography of the lake, and +by his invitation we crossed the Spur to the Ingézi +Kagéra side, showing by actual navigation the connection of +these highland lakes with the rivers which drain the various spurs +of the Mountains of the Moon. Rumanika also<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> told me that in +Ründa there existed pigmies who lived in trees, but +occasionally came down at night, and listening at the hut doors of +the men, would wait till they heard the name of one of its inmates, +when they would call him out, and firing an arrow into his heart, +disappear again in the same way as they came. After a long and +amusing conversation, I was introduced to his sister-in-law, a +wonder of obesity, unable to stand, except on all fours. Meanwhile, +the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat before us sucking at a +milk-pot, on which her father kept her at work by holding a rod in +his hand, as fattening is the first duty of fashionable female +life.</p> + +<p>During my stay I had traced Rumanika's descent from King David, +whose hair was as straight as my own, and he found in these +theological disclosures the greatest delight. He wished to know +what difference existed between the Arabs and ourselves, to which +Baraka replied, as the best means of making him understand, that +whilst the Arabs had only one book, we had two, to which I added, +"Yes, that is true in a sense, but the real merits lie in the fact +that we have got the better book, as may be inferred by the obvious +fact that we are more prosperous and superior in all things."</p> + +<p>One day, we heard the familiar sound of the Uganda drum. Maula, +a royal officer, with an escort of smartly-dressed men and women +and boys, had brought a welcome from the king. One thing only now +embarrassed me—Grant was worse, without hope of recovery for +some months. This large body of Waganda could not be kept waiting. +To get on as fast as possible was the only chance of ever bringing +the journey to a successful issue. So, unable to help myself, with +great remorse at another separation, on the following day I +consigned my companion, with several Wanguana, to the care of my +friend Rumanika. When all was completed, I set out on the march, +perfectly sure in my mind that before very long I should settle the +great Nile problem for ever, and with<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span> this consciousness, +only hoping that Grant would be able to join me before I should +have to return again, for it was never supposed for a moment that +it was possible I ever could get north from Uganda.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—A Distinguished Guest at the +Court of Uganda</i></div> + +<p>As it was my lot to spend a considerable time in Uganda, I +formed a theory of its ethnology, founded on the traditions of the +several nations and my own observation. In my judgment, they are of +the semi-Shem-Hamitic race of Ethiopia, at some early date having, +from Abyssinia, invaded the rich pasture lands of Unyoro, and +founded the great kingdom of Kittara. Here they lost their +religion, forgot their language, and changed their national name to +Wahuma, their traditional idea being still of a foreign extraction. +We note one very distinguishing mark, the physical appearance of +this remarkable race partaking more of the phlegmatic nature of the +Shemitic father, than the nervous boisterous temperament of the +Hamitic mother, as a certain clue to their Shem-Hamitic origin.</p> + +<p>Before, however, I had advanced much farther over the frontiers +of this new country, I had a rather spirited scene with my new +commander-in-chief (Baraka being left with Grant) on a point of +discipline. I ordered him one morning to strike the tent; he made +some excuses. "Never mind, obey my orders, and strike the +tent."</p> + +<p>Bombay refused, and I began to pull it down myself, at which he +flew into a passion, and said he would pitch into the men who +helped me, as there was gunpowder which might blow us all up. I +promptly remonstrated:</p> + +<p>"That's no reason why you should abuse my men, who are better +than you by obeying my orders. If I choose to blow up my property, +that is my look-out; and if you don't do your duty, I will blow you +up also."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"> +258</a></span>As Bombay foamed with rage at this, I gave him a dig on the head +with my fist, and when he squared up to me, I gave him another, +till at last as the claret was flowing, he sulked off. Crowds of +Waganda witnessed this comedy, and were all digging at one +another's heads, showing off in pantomime the strange ways of the +white man.</p> + +<p>It was the first and last time I had ever occasion to lose my +dignity by striking a blow with my own hands, but I could not help +it on this occasion without losing command and respect.</p> + +<p>On February 19, Mtésa, the King of Uganda, sent his pages +to announce a levée at the palace in my honour. I prepared +for my presentation at court in my best, but cut a sorry figure in +comparison with the dressy Waganda. The preliminary ceremonies were +so dilatory, that I allowed five minutes to the court to give me a +proper reception, saying if it were not conceded, I would then walk +away. My men feared for me, as they did not know what a "savage" +king would do in case I carried out my threat; whilst the Waganda, +lost in amazement at what seemed little less than blasphemy, saw me +walk away homeward, leaving Bombay to leave the present on the +ground and follow.</p> + +<p>Mtésa thought of leaving his toilet room to catch me up, +but sent Wakungu running after me. Poor creatures! They caught me +up, fell upon their knees and implored I would return at once, for +the king had not tasted food, and would not till he saw me. I felt +grieved, but simply replied by patting my heart and shaking my +head, walking, if anything, all the faster. My point gained I +cooled myself with coffee and a pipe, and returned, advancing into +the hut where sat the king, a good-looking, well-figured young man +of twenty-five, with hair cut short, and wearing neat ornaments on +his neck, arms, fingers and toes. A white dog, spear, shield, and +woman—the Uganda cognizance—were by his side. Not +knowing the language, we sat staring at each other for an<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"> +259</a></span> hour, but in the second interview Maula translated. +On that occasion I took a ring from my finger and presented it to +the king with the words:</p> + +<p>"This is a small token of friendship; please inspect it, it is +made after the fashion of a dog collar, and being the king of +metals, gold, is in every respect appropriate to your illustrious +race."</p> + +<p>To which compliment he replied: "If friendship is your desire, +what would you say if I showed you a road by which you might reach +your home in a month?"</p> + +<p>I knew he referred to the direct line to Zanzibar across the +Masai. He afterwards sent a page with this message:</p> + +<p>"The king hopes you will not be offended if required to sit on +it—a bundle of grass—before him, for no person in +Uganda, however high in office, is ever allowed to sit upon +anything raised above the ground but the king."</p> + +<p>To this I agreed, and afterwards had many interviews with his +queen, fair, fat and forty-five, to whom I administered medicine +and found her the key to any influence with the king. She often sat +chattering, laughing and smoking her pipe in concert with me.</p> + +<p>I found that Mtésa was always on the look-out for +presents, and set his heart upon having my compass. I told him he +might as well put my eyes out and ask me to walk home as take away +that little instrument, which could be of no use to him as he could +not read or understand it. But this only excited his cupidity. He +watched it twirling round and pointing to the north and looked and +begged again until tired of his importunities, I told him I must +wait until the Usoga Road was open before I could part with it, and +then the compass would be nothing to what I would give him. Hearing +this, he reared his head proudly, and patting his heart, said:</p> + +<p>"That is all on my shoulders, as sure as I live it shall be +done. For that country has no king and I have long been desirous of +taking it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id= +"Page_260">260</a></span>I declined, however, to give him the instrument on the security +of this promise, and he went to breakfast.</p> + +<p>I had a brilliant instance of the capricious restlessness and +self-willedness of this despotic monarch Mtésa. He sent word +that he had started for N'yanza and wished me to follow. But +N'yanza merely means a piece of water, and no one knew where he +meant or what project was on foot. I walked rapidly through +gardens, over hills and across rushy swamps down the west flank of +the Murchison creek, and found the king with his Wakungu in front +and women behind like a confused pack of hounds. He had first, it +seems, mingled a little business with pleasure, for, finding a +woman tied for some offence, he took the executioner's duty, and by +firing killed her outright.</p> + +<p>It will be kept in view that the hanging about at this court and +all the perplexing and irritating negotiations had always one end +in view—that of reaching the Nile, where it pours out of the +N'yanza as I was long certain that it did.</p> + +<p>Without the consent, and even the aid, of this capricious +barbarian I was now talking to, such a project was hopeless. I +thought that whilst I could be employed in inspecting the river and +in feeling the route by water to Gani, Grant could return to +Karagué by water, bring up our rear traps, and in navigating +the lake obtain the information he had been frustrated in getting +before.</p> + +<p>We resolved to try a new political influence at court. Grant had +taken to the court of Karagué a jumping-jack to amuse the +young princess, but it gave offence here as a breach of +etiquette.</p> + +<p>Finally we bade Mtésa good-bye. I flattered him with +admiration of his shooting, his country, and the possibilities of +trade in the future, to which he replied in good taste. We then +rose with an English bow, placing the hand on the heart while +saying adieu, and there was a complete uniformity in the +ceremonial, for whatever I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" +id="Page_261">261</a></span> did, Mtésa in an instant +mimicked with the instinct of a monkey.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Source Confirmed At +Last</i></div> + +<p>The final stage of our toilsome travelling was now reached, and +we started northward, but as it appeared all-important to +communicate quickly with Petherick, who had promised to await us +with boats at Gondokoro, and Grant's leg being so weak, I arranged +for him to go direct with my property, letters, etc., for dispatch +to Petherick. I should meanwhile go up the river to its source or +exit from the lake and come down again navigating as far as +practicable. Crossing the Luajerri, a huge rush drain three miles +broad, which is said to rise in the lake and fall into the Nile, I +reached Urondogani.</p> + +<p>Here, at last I stood on the brink of the Nile; most beautiful +was the scene, nothing could surpass it! It was the very perfection +of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly-kept park, with a +magnificent stream from 600 to 700 yards wide, dotted with islets +and rocks, the former occupied by fishermen's huts, the latter by +sterns and crocodiles basking in the sun—flowing between fine +high, grassy banks, with rich trees and plaintains in the +background, where herds of the nsunnu and hartebeest could be seen +grazing, while the hippopotami were snorting in the water and +florikan and guinea-fowl rising at our feet.</p> + +<p>The expedition had now performed its functions. I saw that old +Father Nile, without any doubt, rises in the Victoria N'yanza! I +told my men they ought to shave their heads and bathe in the holy +river, the cradle of Moses, the waters of which, sweetened with +sugar, men carried all the way from Egypt to Mecca and sell to the +pilgrims. But Bombay, who is a philosopher of the Epicurean school, +said:</p> + +<p>"We don't look on those things in the same fanciful manner that +you do, we are contented with all the common-places<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span> of life +and look for nothing beyond the present. If things don't go well, +it is God's will; and if they do go well, that is His will +also."</p> + +<p>I mourned, however, when I thought how much I had lost by the +delays in the journey having deprived me of the pleasure of going +to look at the north-east corner of the N'yanza to see what +connection there was with it and the other lake where the Waganda +went to get their salt, and from which another river flowed to the +north making "Usoga an island." But I felt I ought to be content +with what I had been spared to accomplish.</p> + +<p>The most remote waters or <i>tophead of the Nile</i> is the +southern end of the lake, situated close on the third degree of +south latitude, which gives to the Nile the surprising length in +direct measurement, rolling over thirty-four degrees of latitude, +of above 2,300 miles or more than one-eleventh the circumference of +our globe. I now christened what the natives term "the stones" as +Ripon Falls after the nobleman who presided over the Royal +Geographical Society when my expedition was got up, and the arm of +water from which the Nile issued Napoleon Channel, in token of +respect to the French Geographical Society who gave me their gold +medal for discovering the Victoria N'yanza.</p> + +<p>After a long journey to Gani we reached the habitation of men, +knots of native fellows perched like monkeys on the granite blocks +awaited us, and finally at Gondokoro we got first news of home and +came down by boat to Khartum. Of course, in disbanding my +followers, my faithful children, I duly rewarded them, franked them +home to Zanzibar, and they all promptly volunteered to go with me +again.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"> +263</a></span></p> + +<h4>LAURENCE STERNE</h4> + +<h4>A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Setting Out</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>No literary career has ever been more singular than that of +Laurence Sterne. Born in Clonmel Barracks, Ireland, on November 24, +1713, he was forty-six years of age before he discovered his +genius. By calling he was a country parson in Yorkshire, yet more +unconventional books than "Tristram Shandy" (see <span class= +"smcap">Fiction</span>) and "A Sentimental Journey" never appeared. +The fame of the former brought Sterne to London, where he became, +says Walpole, "topsy-turvey with success." In the intervals of +supplying an ever increasing demand with more "Tristrams" he +composed and published volumes of sermons. Their popularity proved +that he was as eloquent in his pulpit gown as he was diverting +without it. The turmoil of eighteenth century social and literary +life soon shattered his already failing health, and he died on +March 18, 1768, the first two volumes of "A Sentimental Journey" +appearing on February 27th. The "Journey" proved equally as +fascinating and as popular as "Shandy." Walpole, who described the +latter as tiresome, declared the new book to be "very pleasing +though too much dilated, and marked by great good nature and +strokes of delicacy." Like its predecessor, the "Journey" is +intentionally formless—narrative and digression, pathos and +wit, sentiment and coarse indelicacy, all commingled freely +together.</p> +</div> + +<p>"They order," said I, "this matter better in France." "You have +been in France?" said my gentleman, turning quick upon me with the +most civil triumph in the world. Strange! quoth I, debating the +matter with myself, that one and twenty miles' sailing, for 'tis +absolutely no further from Dover to Calais, should give a man these +rights: I'll look into them; so giving up the argument, I went +straight to my lodgings, put up half-a-dozen shirts and a black +pair of silk breeches,—"the coat I have on," said I, looking +at the sleeve, "will do,"—took place in the Dover stage; and, +the packet sailing at nine the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span> next morning, by three +I had got sat down to my dinner upon a fricasseed +chicken—incontestably in France.</p> + +<p>When I had finished my dinner, and drank the King of France's +health—to satisfy my mind that I bore him no spleen, but, on +the contrary, high honour to the humanity of his temper—I +rose up an inch taller for the accommodation. "Just God!" said I, +kicking my portmanteau aside, "what is there in this world's goods +which should sharpen our spirits, and make so many kind-hearted +brethren of us fall out so cruelly as we do, by the way?"</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Monk—Calais</i></div> + +<p>I had scarce uttered the words when a poor monk of the order of +St. Francis came into the room to beg something for his convent. No +man cares to have his virtues the sport of contingencies. The +moment I cast my eyes upon him, I was determined not to give him a +single sou; and accordingly I put my purse into my +pocket—button'd it up—set myself a little more upon my +centre, and advanced up gravely to him; there was something, I +fear, forbidding in my look: I have his figure this moment before +my eyes, and think there was that in it which deserved better.</p> + +<p>The monk, as I judged from the break in his tonsure, a few +scatter'd white hairs upon his temples being all that remained of +it, might be about seventy—he was certainly sixty-five.</p> + +<p>It was one of those heads which Guido has often +painted—mild, pale, penetrating, free from all commonplace +ideas of fat contented ignorance looking downwards upon the +earth—it look'd forwards; but look'd as if it look'd at +something beyond this world.</p> + +<p>When he had entered the room three paces, he stood still; and +laying his left hand upon his breast, when I had got close up to +him, he introduced himself with the<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> little story of the +wants of his convent, and the poverty of his order—and he did +it with so simple a grace—I was bewitch'd not to have been +struck with it.</p> + +<p>A better reason was, I had predetermined not to give him a +single sou.</p> + +<p>"'Tis very true," said I, "'tis very true—and Heaven be +their resource who have no other but the charity of the world, the +stock of which, I fear, is no way sufficient for the many <i>great +claims</i> which are hourly made upon it."</p> + +<p>As I pronounced the words <i>great claims</i>, he gave a single +glance with his eye downwards upon the sleeve of his tunic—I +felt the full force of the appeal. "I acknowledge it," said I, "a +coarse habit, and that but once in three years, with meagre +diet—are no great matters; and the true point of pity is, as +they can be earn'd in the world with so little industry, that your +order should wish to procure them by pressing upon a fund which is +the property of the lame, the blind, the aged, and the infirm; and +had you been of the <i>order of mercy</i>, instead of the order of +St. Francis, poor as I am," continued I, pointing at my +portmanteau, "full cheerfully should it have been open'd to you, +for the ransom of the unfortunate"—the monk made me a +bow—"but of all others," resumed I, "the unfortunate of our +own country, surely, have the first rights; and I have left +thousands in distress upon our own shore." The monk gave a cordial +wave with his head, as much as to say, "No doubt, there is misery +enough in every corner of the world, as well as within our +convent." "But we distinguish," said I, laying my hand upon the +sleeve of his tunic, "we distinguish, my good father! betwixt those +who wish only to eat the bread of their own labour—and those +who eat the bread of other people's, and have no other plan in +life, but to get through it in sloth and ignorance, <i>for the love +of God</i>."</p> + +<p>The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> +moment pass'd across his cheeks, but could not tarry. Nature seemed +to have done with her resentments in him; he showed none, but +press'd both his hands with resignation upon his breast and +retired.</p> + +<p>My heart smote me the moment he shut the door. "Psha!" said I, +with an air of carelessness, but it would not do: every ungracious +syllable I had utter'd crowded back into my imagination. I +reflected, I had no right over the poor Franciscan, but to deny +him; I consider'd his grey hairs—his courteous figure seem'd +to re-enter and gently ask me what injury he had done me? And why I +could use him thus? I would have given twenty livres for an +advocate—I have behaved very ill, said I, within myself; but +I have only just set out upon my travels, and shall learn better +manners as I get along.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—The Remise +Door—Calais</i></div> + +<p>Now, there being no travelling through France and Italy without +a chaise—and Nature generally prompting us to the thing we +are fittest for, I walk'd out into the coach yard to buy or hire +something of that kind to my purpose. Mons. Dessein, the master of +the hotel, having just returned from vespers, we walk'd together +towards his remise, to take a view of his magazine of chaises. +Suddenly I had turned upon a lady who had just arrived at the inn +and had followed us unperceived, and whom I had already seen in +conference with the Franciscan.</p> + +<p>Monsieur Dessein had <i>diabled</i> the key above fifty times +before he found out that he had come with a wrong one in his hand: +we were as impatient as himself to have it open'd, when he left us +together, with our faces towards the door, and said he would be +back in five minutes. "This, certainly, fair lady!" said I, "must +be one of Fortune's whimsical doings; to take two utter<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> +strangers by their hands, and in one moment place them together in +such a cordial situation as Friendship herself could scarce have +achieved for them." Then I set myself to consider how I should undo +the ill impressions which the poor monk's story, in case he had +told it to her, must have planted in her breast against me.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The +Snuff-box—Calais</i></div> + +<p>The good old monk was within six paces from us, as the idea of +him cross'd my mind; and was advancing towards us a little out of +the line, as if uncertain whether he should break in upon us or no. +He stopp'd, however, as soon as he came up to us, with a world of +frankness: and having a horn snuff-box in his hand, he presented it +open to me. "You shall taste mine," said I, pulling out my box +(which was a small tortoise one), and putting it into his hand. +"'Tis most excellent," said the monk. "Then do me the favour," I +replied, "to accept of the box and all, and, when you take a pinch +out of it, sometimes recollect it was the peace-offering of a man +who once used you unkindly, but not from his heart."</p> + +<p>The poor monk blush'd as red as scarlet. "<i>Mon Dieu</i>," said +he, pressing his hands together, "You never used me unkindly." "I +should think," said the lady, "he is not likely." I blush'd in my +turn. "Excuse me, Madam," replied I, "I treated him most unkindly; +and from no provocations." "'Tis impossible," said the lady. "My +God!" cried the monk, with a warmth of asseveration which seem'd +not to belong to him, "The fault was in me, and in the indiscretion +of my zeal." The lady opposed it, and I joined with her in +maintaining it was impossible, that a spirit so regulated as his +could give offence to any.</p> + +<p>Whilst this contention lasted the monk rubb'd his horn box upon +the sleeve of his tunic; and as soon as it had acquired a little +air of brightness by the friction, he<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span> made a low bow, and +said 'twas too late to say whether it was the weakness or goodness +of our tempers which had involved us in this contest. But be it as +it would, he begg'd we might exchange boxes. In saying this, he +presented his to me with one hand, as he took mine from me in the +other; and having kissed it, he put it into his bosom and took his +leave.</p> + +<p>I guard this box, as I would the instrumental parts of my +religion, to help mind on to something better; truth, I seldom go +abroad without it: and oft and many a time have I called up by it +the courteous spirit of its owner to regulate my own, in the +justlings of the world; they had full employment for his, as I +learnt from his story, till about the forty-fifth year of his age, +when upon some military services ill requited, and meeting at the +same time with a disappointment in the tenderness of passions, he +abandoned the sword and the sex together, and took sanctuary, not +so much in his convent as in himself.</p> + +<p>I felt a damp upon my spirits, that in my last return through +Calais, upon inquiring after Father Lorengo, I heard he had been +dead near three months, and was buried not in his convent, but, +according to his desire, in a little cemetery belonging to it, +about two leagues off; I had a strong desire to see where they had +laid him—when upon pulling out his little horn box, as I sat +by his grave, and plucking up a nettle or two at the head of it, +which had no business to grow there, they all struck together so +forcibly upon my affections, that I burst into a flood of +tears—but I am as weak as a woman; and I beg the world not to +smile but to pity me.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—Montreuil</i></div> + +<p>I had once lost my portmanteau from behind my chaise, and twice +got out in the rain, and one of the times up to the knees in dirt, +to help the postillion to tie it<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span> on, without being able +to find out what was wanting. Nor was it till I got to Montreuil, +upon the landlord's asking me if I wanted not a servant, that it +occurred to me, that that was the very thing.</p> + +<p>"A servant! That I do most sadly!" quoth I. "Because, Monsieur," +said the landlord, "there is a clever young fellow, who would be +very proud of the honour to serve an Englishman." "But, why an +English one more than any other?" "They are so generous," said the +landlord. I'll be shot if this is not a livre out of my pocket, +quoth I to myself, this very night. "But they have wherewithal to +be so, Monsieur," added he. Set down one livre more for that, quoth +I.</p> + +<p>The landlord then called in La Fleur, which was the name of the +young man he had spoke of—saying only first, that as for his +talents, he would presume to say nothing—Monsieur was the +best judge what would suit him; but for the fidelity of La Fleur, +he would stand responsible in all he was worth.</p> + +<p>The landlord deliver'd this in a manner which instantly set my +mind to the business I was upon—and La Fleur, who stood +waiting without, in that breathless expectation which every son of +nature of us has felt in our turns, came in.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VI.—Montreuil—La Fleur</i></div> + +<p>I am apt to be taken with all kinds of people at first sight; +but never more so, than when a poor devil comes to offer his +services to so poor a devil as myself.</p> + +<p>When La Fleur entered the room, the genuine look and air of the +fellow determined the matter at once in his favour; so I hired him +first—and then began to enquire what he could do. But I shall +find out his talents, quoth I, as I want them. Besides, a Frenchman +can do everything.</p> + +<p>Now poor La Fleur could do nothing in the world but<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span> beat +a drum, and play a march or two upon the pipe. I was determined to +make his talents do: and can't say my weakness was ever so insulted +by my wisdom, as in the attempt.</p> + +<p>La Fleur had set out early in life, as gallantly as most +Frenchmen do, with <i>serving</i> for a few years: at the end of +which, having satisfied the sentiment, and found moreover, that the +honour of beating a drum was likely to be its own reward, as it +open'd no further track of glory to him—he retired +<i>à ses terres</i>, and lived <i>comme il plaisait à +Dieu</i>—that is to say, upon nothing.</p> + +<p>"But you can do something else, La Fleur?" said I. O yes, he +could make spatterdashes (leather riding gaiters), and play a +little upon the fiddle. "Why, I play bass myself," said I; "we +shall do very well. You can shave and dress a wig a little, La +Fleur?" He had all the disposition in the world. "It is enough for +Heaven!" said I, interrupting him, "and ought to be enough for me!" +So supper coming in, and having a frisky English spaniel on one +side of my chair, and a French valet with as much hilarity in his +countenance as ever Nature painted in one, on the other, I was +satisfied to my heart's content with my empire; and if monarchs +knew what they would be at, they might be satisfied as I was.</p> + +<p>As La Fleur went the whole tour of France and Italy with me, I +must interest the reader in his behalf, by saying that I had never +less reason to repent of the impulses which generally do determine +me, than in regard to this fellow. He was a faithful, affectionate, +simple soul as ever trudged after the heels of a philosopher; and +notwithstanding his talents of drum-beating and spatterdash making, +which, though very good in themselves, happened to be of no great +service to me, yet was I hourly recompensed by the festivity of his +temper—it supplied all defects. I had a constant resource in +his looks, in all difficulties and distresses of my own—I was +going to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id= +"Page_271">271</a></span> added, of his too; but La Fleur was +out of the reach of everything; for whether it was hunger or +thirst, or cold or nakedness, or watchings, or whatever stripes of +ill luck La Fleur met with in our journeyings, there was no index +in his physiognomy to point them out by—he was eternally the +same; so that if I am a piece of a philosopher, which Satan now and +then puts it into my head I am—it always mortifies the pride +of the conceit, by reflecting how much I owe to the complexional +philosophy of this poor fellow for shaming me into one of a better +kind.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—The +Passport—Paris</i></div> + +<p>When I got home to my hotel, La Fleur told me I had been +enquired after by the lieutenant of police. "The deuce take it," +said I, "I know the reason."</p> + +<p>I had left London with so much precipitation that it never +enter'd my mind that we were at war with France; and had reached +Dover, and looked through my glass at the hills beyond Boulogne, +before the idea presented itself; and with this in its train, that +there was no getting there without a passport. Go but to the end of +a street, I have a mortal aversion for returning back no wiser than +I set out; and as this was one of the greatest efforts I had ever +made for knowledge, I could less bear the thoughts of it; so +hearing the Count de —— had buried the packet, I begged +he would take me in his <i>suite</i>. The count had some little +knowledge of me, so made little or no difficulty—only said +his inclination to serve me could reach no further than Calais, as +he was to return by way of Brussels to Paris; however, when I had +once passed there I might get to Paris without interruption; but +that in Paris I must make friends and shift for myself. "Let me get +to Paris, Monsieur le Comte," said I, "and I shall do very well." +So I embark'd, and never thought more of the matter.</p> + +<p><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span>When La Fleur told me the lieutenant of police had been +enquiring after me—the thing instantly recurred—and by +the time La Fleur had well told me, the master of the hotel came +into my room to tell me the same thing with this addition to it, +that my passport had been particularly asked after. The master of +the hotel concluded with saying he hoped I had one. "Not I, faith!" +said I.</p> + +<p>The master of the hotel retired three steps from me, as from an +infected person, as I declared this, and poor La Fleur advanced +three steps towards me, and with that sort of movement which a good +soul makes to succour a distress'd one—the fellow won my +heart by it; and from that single <i>trait</i> I knew his character +as perfectly, and could rely upon it as firmly, as if he had served +me with fidelity for seven years.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mon Seigneur!</i>" cried the master of the hotel—but +recollecting himself as he made the exclamation, he instantly +changed the tone of it—"If Monsieur," said he, "has not a +passport, in all likelihood he has friends in Paris who can procure +him one."</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of," quoth I, with an air of indifference.</p> + +<p>"Then, <i>certes</i>," replied he, "you'll be sent to the +Bastille or the Chatelet, <i>au moins</i>."</p> + +<p>"Pooh!" said I, "the King of France is a good-natur'd +soul—he'll hurt nobody."</p> + +<p>"<i>Cela n'empèche pas</i>," said he—"You will +certainly be sent to the Bastille to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"But I've taken your lodgings for a month," answered I, "and +I'll not quit them a day before the time for all the kings of +France in the world." La Fleur whispered in my ear, that nobody +could oppose the King of France.</p> + +<p>"<i>Pardi!</i>" said my host, "<i>ces Messieurs Anglais sont des +gens très extraordinaires</i>"—And having said and +sworn it he went out.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id= +"Page_273">273</a></span><i>VII.—Le +Pâtissier—Versailles</i></div> + +<p>As I am at Versailles, thought I, why should I not go to the +Count de B——, and tell him my story? So seeing a man +standing with a basket on the other side of the street, as if he +had something to sell, I bid La Fleur go up to him and enquire for +the count's hotel.</p> + +<p>La Fleur returned a little pale; and told me it was a Chevalier +de St. Louis selling pâtés. He had seen the croix set +in gold, with its red ribband, he said, tied to his +button-hole—and had looked into the basket and seen the +pâtés which the chevalier was selling.</p> + +<p>Such a reverse in man's life awakens a better principle than +curiosity—I got out of the carriage and went towards him. He +was begirt with a clean linen apron, which fell below his knees, +and with a sort of bib that went half way-up his breast; upon the +top of this hung his croix. His basket of little pâtés +was covered over with a white damask napkin; and there was a look +of <i>propreté</i> and neatness throughout, that one might +have bought his pâtés of him, as much from appetite as +sentiment.</p> + +<p>He was about 48—of a sedate look, something approaching to +gravity. I did not wonder—I went up rather to the basket than +him, and having lifted up the napkin, and taken one of his +pâtés into my hand I begged he would explain the +appearance which affected me.</p> + +<p>He told me in a few words, that the best part of his life had +pass'd in the service, in which he had obtained a company and the +croix with it; but that, at the conclusion of the last peace, his +regiment being re-formed and the whole corps left without any +provision, he found himself in a wide world without friends, +without a livre—"And indeed," said he, "without anything but +this" (pointing, as he said it, to his croix). The king<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span> +could neither relieve nor reward everyone, and it was only his +misfortune to be amongst the number. He had a little wife, he said, +whom he loved, who did the <i>pâtisserie</i>; and added, he +felt no dishonour in defending her and himself from want in this +way—unless Providence had offer'd him a better.</p> + +<p>It would be wicked to pass over what happen'd to this poor +Chevalier of St. Louis about nine months after.</p> + +<p>It seems his story reach'd at last the king's ear—who, +hearing the chevalier had been a gallant officer, broke up his +little trade by a pension of 1,500 livres a year.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"> +275</a></span></p> + +<h4>VOLTAIRE</h4> + +<h4>Letters on the English</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The Quakers</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Voltaire (see <span class="smcap">History</span>) reached +England in 1726. He had quarrelled with a great noble, and the +great noble's lackeys had roundly thrashed him. Voltaire +accordingly issued a challenge to a duel; his adversary's reply was +to get him sent to prison, from which he was released on condition +that he leave immediately for England. He remained there until +1729, and these three years may fairly be said to have been the +making of Voltaire. He went with a reputation as an elegant young +poet and dramatist—he was then thirty-two; and this +reputation brought him into the society of the most famous +political and literary personages of the day. He became a disciple +of Newton, and gained a broad, if not a deep, knowledge of +philosophy. He left in 1729 fully equipped for his later and +greater career as philosopher, historian, and satirist. The +"Philosophic Letters on the English" were definitely published, +after various difficulties, in 1734; an English translation, +however, appeared in 1733. The difficulties did not cease with +publication, for the French authorities were grievously displeased +with Voltaire's acid comparisons between the political and +intellectual liberty enjoyed by Englishmen with the bondage of his +own countrymen. The "Philosophic Letters" purported to be addressed +to the author's friend Theriot; but they would seem to be essays in +an epistolary form rather than actual correspondence. Of England +and its people, Voltaire was both an observant and an appreciative +critic; hosts and guest alike had reason to be pleased with his +long and profitable visit.</p> +</div> + +<p>My curiosity having been aroused regarding the doctrines and +history of these singular people, I sought to satisfy it by a visit +to one of the most celebrated of English Quakers. He was a +well-preserved old man, who had never known illness, because he had +never yielded to passion or intemperance; not in all my life have I +seen a man of an aspect at once so noble and so engaging. He +received me with his hat on his head,<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> and advanced +towards me without the slightest bow; but there was far more +courtesy in the open kindliness of his countenance than is to be +seen in the custom of dragging one leg behind the other, or of +holding in the hand that which was meant to cover the head.</p> + +<p>"Sir," I said, bowing low, and gliding one foot towards him, +after our manner, "I flatter myself that my honest curiosity will +not displease you, and that you will be willing to do me the honour +of instructing me as to your religion."</p> + +<p>"The folk of thy country," he replied, "are too prone to paying +compliments and making reverences; but I have never seen one of +them who had the same curiosity as thou. Enter, and let us dine +together."</p> + +<p>After a healthy and frugal meal, I set myself to questioning +him. I opened with the old enquiry of good Catholics to Huguenots. +"My dear sir," I said to him, "have you been baptised?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered the Quaker, "neither I nor my brethren."</p> + +<p>"<i>Morbleu!</i>" I replied, "then you are not Christians?"</p> + +<p>"Swear not, my son," he said gently; "we try to be good +Christians; but we believe not that Christianity consists in +throwing cold water on the head, with a little salt."</p> + +<p>"<i>Ventrebleu!</i>" I retorted, "have you forgotten that Jesus +Christ was baptised by John?"</p> + +<p>"Once more, my friend, no swearing," replied the mild Quaker. +"Christ was baptised by John, but himself baptised no one. We are +disciples of Christ, not of John."</p> + +<p>He proceeded to give me briefly the reasons for some +peculiarities which expose this sect to the sneers of others. +"Confess," he said, "that thou hast had much ado not to smile at my +accepting thy courtesies with my hat on my head, and at my calling +thee 'thou.' Yet thou must surely know that at the time of Christ +no nation was so foolish as to substitute the plural for the +singular.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"> +277</a></span> It was not until long afterwards that men began to +call each other 'you' instead of 'thou,' as if they were double, +and to usurp the impudent titles of Majesty, Eminence, Holiness, +that some worms of the earth bestow on other worms. It is the +better to guard ourselves against this unworthy interchange of lies +and flatteries that we address kings and cobblers in the same +terms, and offer salutations to nobody; since for men we have +nothing but charity, and respect only for the laws.</p> + +<p>"We don a costume differing a little from that of other men as a +constant reminder that we are unlike them. Others wear the tokens +of their dignities; we wear those of Christian humility. We never +take an oath, not even in a court of justice; for we think that the +name of the Almighty should not be prostituted in the miserable +wranglings of men. We never go to war—not because we fear +death; on the contrary, we bless the moment that unites us with the +Being of Beings; but because we are not wolves, nor tigers, nor +bulldogs, but Christian men, whom God has commanded to love our +enemies and suffer without murmuring. When London is illuminated +after a victory, when the air is filled with the pealing of bells +and the roar of cannon, we mourn in silence over the murders that +have stirred the people to rejoice."</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Anglicans and +Presbyterians</i></div> + +<p>This is the land of sects. An Englishman is a free man, and goes +to Heaven by any road he pleases.</p> + +<p>But although anybody may serve God after his own fashion, their +true religion, the one in which fortunes are made, is the Episcopal +sect, called the Anglican Church, or, simply and pre-eminently, the +Church. No office can be held in England or Ireland except by +faithful Anglicans; a circumstance which has led to the conversion +of many Noncomformists.</p> + +<p>The Anglican clergy have retained many Catholic ceremonies,<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"> +278</a></span> above all that of receiving tithes with a +most scrupulous attention. They have also a pious ambition for +religious ascendancy, and do what they can to foment a holy zeal +against Nonconformists. But a Whig ministry is just now in power, +and the Whigs are hostile to Episcopacy. They have prohibited the +lower clergy from meeting in convocation, a sort of clerical house +of commons; and the clergy are limited to the obscurity of their +parishes, and to the melancholy task of praying God for a +government that they would be only too happy to disturb. The +bishops, however, sit in the House of Lords in spite of the Whigs, +because the old abuse continues of counting them as barons.</p> + +<p>As regards morals, the Anglican clergy are better regulated than +those of France, for these reasons:—they are all educated at +Oxford or Cambridge, far from the corruption of the capital; and +they are only called to high church office late in life, at an age +when men have lost every passion but avarice. They do not make +bishops or colonels here of young men fresh from college. Moreover, +the clergy are nearly all married, and the ill manners contracted +at the universities, and the slightness of the intercourse between +men and women, oblige a bishop as a rule to be content with his own +wife. Priests sometimes frequent inns, for custom permits it; and +if they get drunk, they do so discreetly and without scandal.</p> + +<p>When English clergymen hear that in France young men, famous for +their dissipations, and elevated to bishoprics by the intrigues of +women, make love publicly, amuse themselves by writing amorous +ballads, give elaborate suppers every day, and, in addition, pray +for the light of the Holy Spirit, and boldly call themselves the +successors of the Apostles; the Englishmen thank God that they are +Protestants. But they are vile heretics, to be burnt by all the +devils, as Rabelais puts it; which is the reason why I have nothing +to do with them.</p> + +<p>The Anglican religion only embraces England and Ireland.<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span> +Presbyterianism, which is Calvanism pure and simple, is the +dominant religion in Scotland. Its ministers affect a sober gait +and an air of displeasure, wear enormous hats, and long cloaks over +short coats, preach through their noses, and give the name of +"Scarlet Woman" to all churches who have ecclesiastics fortunate +enough to draw fifty thousand livres of income, and laymen +good-natured enough to stand it.</p> + +<p>Although the Episcopal and Presbyterian sects are the two +prevailing ones in Great Britain, all others are welcome, and all +live fairly well together; although most of their preachers detest +each other with all the heartiness of a Jansenist damning a +Jesuit.</p> + +<p>Were there but one religion in England, there would be a danger +of despotism; were there but two, they would cut each other's +throats. But there are thirty, and accordingly they dwell together +in peace and happiness.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—The Government</i></div> + +<p>The members of the English Parliament are fond of comparing +themselves with the ancient Romans; but except that there are some +senators in London who are suspected, wrongly, no doubt, of selling +their votes, I can see nothing in common between Rome and England. +The two nations, for good or ill, are entirely different.</p> + +<p>The horrible folly of religious wars was unknown among the +Romans; this abomination has been reserved for the devotees of a +faith of humility and patience. But a more essential difference +between Rome and England, and one in which the latter has all the +advantage, is that the fruit of the Roman civil wars was slavery, +while that of the English civil wars has been liberty. The English +nation is the only one on earth that has succeeded in tempering the +power of kings by resisting them. By effort upon effort it has +succeeded in establishing a wise government in which the Prince, +all-powerful for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id= +"Page_280">280</a></span> doing of good, has his hands tied +for the doing of evil; where the nobles are great without insolence +and without vassals; and where the people, without confusion, take +their due share in the control of national affairs.</p> + +<p>The Houses of Lords and Commons are the arbiters of the nation, +the King is the over-arbiter. This balance was lacking among the +Romans; nobles and people were always at issue, and there was no +intermediary power to reconcile them.</p> + +<p>It has cost a great deal, no doubt, to establish liberty in +England; the idol of despotic power has been drowned in seas of +blood. But the English do not think they have bought their freedom +at too high a price. Other nations have not had fewer troubles, +have not shed less blood; but the blood they have shed in the cause +of their liberty has but cemented their servitude.</p> + +<p>This happy concert of King, Lords, and Commons in the government +of England has not always existed. England was for ages a country +sorely oppressed. But in the clashes of kings and nobles, it +fortunately happens that the bonds of the peoples are more or less +relaxed. English liberty was born of the quarrels of tyrants. The +chief object of the famous Magna Charta, let it be admitted, was to +place the kings in dependence upon the barons; but the rest of the +nation was favoured also in some degree in order that it might +range itself on the side of its professed protectors. The power of +the nobility was undermined by Henry VII., and the later kings have +been wont to create new peers from time to time with the idea of +preserving the order of the peerage which they formerly feared so +profoundly, and counterbalancing the steadily-growing strength of +the Commons.</p> + +<p>A man is not, in this country, exempt from certain taxes because +he is a noble or a priest; all taxation is controlled by the House +of Commons, which, although second in rank, is first in power.</p> + +<p>The House of Lords may reject the bill of the Commons<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> +for taxation; but it may not amend it; the Lords must either reject +it or accept it entire. When the bill is confirmed by the Lords and +approved by the King, then everybody pays—not according to +his quality (which is absurd), but according to his revenue. There +are no poll-taxes or other arbitrary levies, but a land tax, which +remains the same, even although the revenues from lands increase, +so that nobody suffers extortion, and nobody complains. The +peasant's feet are not tortured by sabots; he eats white bread; he +dresses well; he need not hesitate to increase his stock or tile +his roof, for fear that next year he will have to submit to new +exactions by the tax-gatherer.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Commerce</i></div> + +<p>Commerce, which has enriched the citizens in England, has +contributed to make them free, and freedom has in its turn extended +commerce. Thereby has been erected the greatness of the State. It +is commerce which has gradually established the naval forces +through which the English are masters of the sea.</p> + +<p>An English merchant is quite justly proud of himself and his +occupation; he likes to compare himself, not without some warrant, +with a Roman citizen. The younger sons of noblemen do not despise a +business career. Lord Townsend, a Minister of State, has a brother +who is content to be a city merchant. When Lord Oxford governed +England, his younger son was a commercial agent at Aleppo, whence +he refused to return, and where some years ago he died.</p> + +<p>This custom, which is unfortunately dying out, would seem +monstrous to German grandees with quarterings on the brain. In +Germany they are all princes; they cannot conceive that the son of +a Peer of England would lower himself to be a rich and powerful +citizen. There have been in Germany nearly thirty highnesses of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"> +282</a></span> same name, not one of them with a scrap of property +beyond his coat of arms and his pride.</p> + +<p>In France, anybody who likes may be a marquis, and whosoever +arrives from the corner of some province, with money to spend and a +name ending with Ac or Ille, may say, "a man such as I, a man of my +quality," and may show sovereign contempt for a mere merchant. The +merchant so often hears his occupation spoken of with disdain that +he is fool enough to blush for it. Yet I cannot tell which is the +more valuable to the State—a well-powdered lordling, who +knows precisely at what hour the king rises, and at what hour he +goes to bed, and who assumes airs of loftiness when playing the +slave in a minister's ante-chamber; or a merchant who enriches his +country, issues from his office orders to Surat and Cairo, and +contributes to the happiness of the world.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—Tragedy and Comedy</i></div> + +<p>The drama of England, like that of Spain, was fully grown when +the French drama was in a state of childishness. Shakespeare, who +is accounted to be the English Corneille, flourished at about the +same time as Lope de Vega; and it was Shakespeare who created the +English drama. He possessed a fertile and powerful genius, that had +within its scope both the normal and the sublime; but he ignored +rules entirely, and had not the smallest spark of good taste. It is +a risky thing to say, but true nevertheless—this author has +ruined the English drama. In these monstrous farces of his, called +tragedies, there are scenes so beautiful, fragments so impressive +and terrible, that the pieces have always been played with immense +success. Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ultimately +condones their defects. Most of the fantastic and colossal +creations of this author have with the lapse of two centuries +established a claim to be considered sublime; most of the +modern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"> +283</a></span> authors have copied him; but where Shakespeare is +applauded, they are hissed, and you can believe that the veneration +in which the old author is held increases proportionately to the +contempt for the new ones. It is not considered that he should not +be copied; the failure of his imitators only leads to his being +thought inimitable. You are aware that in the tragedy of the Moor +of Venice, a very touching piece, a husband smothers his wife on +the stage, and that when the poor woman is being smothered, she +cries out that she is unjustly slain. You know that in "Hamlet" the +grave-diggers drink, and sing catches while digging a grave, and +joke about the skulls they come across in a manner suited to the +class of men who do such work. But it will surprise you to learn +that these vulgarities were imitated during the reign of Charles +II.—the heyday of polite manners, the golden age of the fine +arts.</p> + +<p>The first Englishman to write a really sane tragic piece, +elegant from beginning to end, was the illustrious Mr. Addison. His +"Cato in Utica" is a masterpiece in diction and in beauty of verse. +Cato himself seems to me the finest character in any drama; but the +others are far inferior to him, and the piece is disfigured by a +most unconvincing love-intrigue which inflicts a weariness that +kills the play. The custom of dragging in a superfluous love-affair +came from Paris to London, along with our ribbons and our wigs, +about 1660. The ladies who adorn the theatres with their presence +insist upon hearing of nothing but love. The wise Addison was weak +enough to bend the severity of his nature in compliance with the +manners of his time; he spoilt a masterpiece through simple desire +to please.</p> + +<p>Since "Cato," dramas have become more regular, audiences more +exacting, authors more correct and less daring. I have seen some +new plays that are judicious, but uninspiring. It would seem that +the English, so far, have only been meant to produce irregular +beauties. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id= +"Page_284">284</a></span> brilliant monstrosities of +Shakespeare please a thousand times more than discreet modern +productions. The poetic genius of the English, up to now, resembles +a gnarled tree planted by nature, casting out branches right and +left, growing unequally and forcefully; seek to shape it into the +trim likeness of the trees of the garden at Marly, and it +perishes.</p> + +<p>The man who has carried farthest the glory of the English comic +stage is Mr. Congreve. He has written few pieces, but all excellent +of their kind. The rules are carefully observed, and the plays are +full of characters shaded with extreme delicacy. Mr. Congreve was +infirm and almost dying when I met him. He had one fault—that +of looking down upon the profession which had brought him fame and +fortune. He spoke of his works to me as trifles beneath his notice, +and asked me to regard him simply as a private gentleman who lived +very plainly. I replied that if he had had the misfortune to be +merely a private gentleman like anybody else, I should never have +gone to see him. His ill-placed vanity disgusted me.</p> + +<p>His comedies, however, are the neatest and choicest on the +English stage; Vanbrugh's are the liveliest, and Wycherley's the +most vigorous.</p> + +<p>Do not ask me to give details of these English comedies that I +admire so keenly; laughter cannot be communicated in a translation. +If you wish to know English comedy, there is nothing for it but to +go to London for three years, learn English thoroughly, and see a +comedy every day.</p> + +<p>It is otherwise with tragedy; tragedy is concerned with great +passions and heroic follies consecrated by ancient errors in fable +and history. Electra belongs to the Spaniards, to the English, and +to ourselves as much as to the Greeks; but comedy is the living +portraiture of a nation's absurdities, and unless you know the +nation through and through, it is not for you to judge the +portraits.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"> +285</a></span></p> + +<h4>ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE</h4> + +<h4>Travels on the Amazon</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—First View</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Alfred Russel Wallace, eminent as traveller, author, and +naturalist, was born January 8, 1822, at Usk, in Wales. Till 1845 +he followed as an architect and land-surveyor the profession for +which he had been trained, but after that time he engaged +assiduously in natural history researches. With Mr. Bates, the +noted traveller and explorer and writer, he spent four years in the +romantic regions of the Amazon basin, and next went to the Malay +Islands, where he remained for eight years, making collections of +geological specimens. It is one of the most remarkable coincidences +in human experience that Wallace and Darwin simultaneously and +without mutual understanding of any kind achieved the discovery of +the law of natural selection and the evolution hypothesis by which +biological science has been completely revolutionized. This +absolutely independent accomplishment by two scientists amazed them +as well as the whole scientific world. The voluminous works of this +author, besides the record of his Amazon expedition, include his +"Malay Archipelago," "Contributions to the Theory of Natural +Selection," "Miracles and Spiritualism," "The Geographical +Distribution of Animals," "Tropical Nature," "Australasia," "Island +Life," "Land Nationalisation," "Darwinism," and "Man's Place in the +Universe."</p> +</div> + +<p>It was on the morning of the 26th of May, 1848, that after a +short passage of twenty-nine days from Liverpool, we came to anchor +opposite the southern entrance to the River Amazon, and obtained a +first view of South America. In the afternoon the pilot came on +board, and the next morning we sailed with a fair wind up the +river, which for fifty miles could only be distinguished from the +ocean by its calmness and discoloured water, the northern shore +being invisible, and the southern at a distance of ten or twelve +miles.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"> +286</a></span> Early on the morning of the 28th we again anchored; +and when the sun arose in a cloudless sky, the city of Pará, +surrounded by a dense forest, and overtopped by palms and +plantains, greeted our sight, appearing doubly beautiful from the +presence of those luxuriant tropical productions in a state of +nature, which we had so often admired in the conservatories of Kew +and Chatsworth.</p> + +<p>The canoes passing with their motley crews of Negroes and +Indians, the vultures soaring overhead or walking lazily on the +beach, and the crowds of swallows on the churches and housetops, +all served to occupy our attention till the custom-house officers +visited us, and we were allowed to go on shore. Pará +contains about 15,000 inhabitants and does not occupy a great +extent of ground; yet it is the largest city on the greatest river +in the world, the Amazon, and is the capital of a province equal in +extent to all western Europe. We proceeded to the house of the +consignee of our vessel, Mr. Miller, by whom we were most kindly +received and accommodated in his "rosinha," or suburban villa.</p> + +<p>We hired an old Negro man named Isidora for a cook, and +regularly commenced housekeeping, learning Portuguese, and +investigating the natural productions of the country. Having +arrived at Pará at the end of the wet season, we did not at +first see all the glories of the vegetation. The beauty of the +palm-trees can scarcely be too highly drawn. In the forest a few +miles out of the town trees of enormous height, of various species, +rise on every side. Climbing and parasitic plants, with large +shining leaves, run up the trunks, while others, with fantastic +stems, hang like ropes and cables from their summits.</p> + +<p>Most striking of all are the passion-flowers, purple, scarlet, +or pale pink; the purple ones have an exquisite perfume, and they +all produce an agreeable fruit, the grenadilla of the West Indies. +The immense number of orange-trees about the city is an interesting +feature, and renders that delicious fruit always abundant and +cheap.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"> +287</a></span> The mango is also abundant, and on every roadside +the coffee-tree is seen growing, generally with flower or fruit, +often with both.</p> + +<p>Turning our attention to the world of animal life, the lizards +first attract notice, for they abound everywhere, running along +walls and palings, sunning themselves on logs of wood, or creeping +up the eaves of the lower houses. The ants cannot fail to be +noticed. At meals they make themselves at home on the tablecloth, +in your plate, and in the sugar-basin.</p> + +<p>At first we employed ourselves principally in collecting +insects, and in about three weeks I and Mr. B. had captured upwards +of 150 species of butterflies. The species seemed inexhaustible, +and the exquisite colouring and variety of marking is +wonderful.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Wonderful Forest</i></div> + +<p>On the morning of June 23rd we started early to walk to the +rice-mills and wood-yard at Magoary, which we had been invited to +visit by the proprietor, Mr. Upton, and the manager, Mr. Leavens, +both American gentlemen. At about two miles from the city we +entered the virgin forest, where we saw giant trees covered to the +summit with parasites upon parasites. The herbage consisted for the +most part of ferns. At the wood-mills we saw the different kinds of +timber used, both in logs and boards.</p> + +<p>What most interested us were large logs of the Masseranduba, or +milk-tree. On our way through the forest we had seen some trunks +much notched by persons who had been extracting the milk. It is one +of the noblest trees of the forest, rising with a straight stem to +an enormous height. The timber is very hard, durable, and valuable; +the fruit is very good and full of rich pulp; but strangest of all +is the vegetable milk which exudes in abundance when the bark is +cut. It is like thick cream, scarcely to be distinguished in +flavour from the product<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" +id="Page_288">288</a></span> of the cow. Next morning some of +it was given to us in our tea at breakfast by Mr. Leavens. The milk +is also used for making excellent glue.</p> + +<p>During our stay at the mills for several days to me the greatest +treat was making my first acquaintance with the monkeys. One +morning, when walking alone in the forest, I heard a rustling of +the leaves and branches. Looking up, I saw a large monkey staring +down at me, and seeming as much astonished as I was myself. He +speedily retreated. The next day, being out with Mr. Leavens, near +the same place, we heard a similar sound, and it soon became +evident that a whole troop of monkeys was approaching.</p> + +<p>We hid ourselves under some trees and with guns cocked awaited +their coming. Presently we caught sight of them skipping from tree +to tree with the greatest ease, and at last one approached too near +for its safety, for Mr. Leavens fired and it fell. Having often +heard how good monkey was, I took it home and had it cut up and +fried for breakfast. There was about as much of it as a fowl, and +the meat something resembled rabbit, without any peculiar or +unpleasant flavour.</p> + +<p>On August 3rd we received a fresh inmate into our veranda in the +person of a fine young boa constrictor. A man who had caught it in +the forest left it for our inspection. It was about ten feet long, +and very large, being as thick as a man's thigh. Here it lay +writhing about for two or three days, dragging its clog along with +it, sometimes stretching its mouth open with a most suspicious +yawn, and twisting up the end of its tail into a very tight curl. +We purchased it of its captor for 4s. 6d. and got him to put it +into a cage which we constructed. It immediately began to make up +for lost time by breathing most violently, the expirations sounding +like high-pressure steam escaping from a Great Western locomotive. +This it continued for some hours and then settled down into silence +which it maintained unless when disturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span> or irritated. +Though it was without food for more than a week, the birds we gave +it were refused, even when alive. Rats are said to be their +favourite food, but these we could not procure.</p> + +<p>Another interesting little animal was a young sloth, which +Antonio, an Indian boy, brought alive from the forest. It could +scarcely crawl along the ground, but appeared quite at home on a +chair, hanging on the back, legs, or rail.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—On the Pará +Tributary</i></div> + +<p>On the afternoon of August 26th we left Pará for the +Tocantins. Mr. Leavens had undertaken to arrange all the details of +the voyage. He had hired one of the roughly made but convenient +country canoes, having a tolda, or palm-thatched roof, like a +gipsy's tent, over the stern, which formed our cabin. The canoe had +two masts and fore and aft sails, and was about 24 feet long and +eight wide.</p> + +<p>Besides our guns, ammunition and boxes for our collections, we +had a stock of provisions for three months. Our crew consisted of +old Isidora, as cook; Alexander, an Indian from the mills, who was +named Captain; Domingo, who had been up the river, and was +therefore to be our pilot; and Antonio, the boy before +mentioned.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving the city night came on, and the tide running +against us, we had to anchor. We were up at five the next morning, +and found that we were in the Mojú, up which our way lay, +and which enters the Pará river from the south. We +breakfasted on board, and about two in the afternoon reached +Jighery, a very pretty spot, with steep grassy banks, cocoa and +other palms, and oranges in profusion. Here we stayed for the tide, +and I and Mr. B. went in search of insects, which we found to be +rather abundant, and immediately took two species of butterflies we +had never seen at Pará.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span>Our men had caught a sloth in the morning, as it was swimming +across the river, which was about half a mile wide. It was +different from the species we had alive at Pará, having a +patch of short yellow and black fur on the back. The Indians stewed +it for their dinner, and as they consider the meat a great +delicacy, I tasted it, and found it tender and very palatable. In +the evening the scene was lovely. The groups of elegant palms, the +large cotton-trees, relieved against the golden sky, the Negro +houses surrounded with orange and mango trees, the grassy bank, the +noble river, and the background of eternal forest, all softened by +the mellowed light of the magical half-hour after sunset formed a +picture indescribably beautiful.</p> + +<p>Returning to Pará we remained there till November 3rd, +when we left for the island of Mexiana, situated in the main stream +of the Amazon, between the great island of Marajó, and the +northern shore. We had to go down the Pará river, and round +the eastern point of Marajó, where we were quite exposed to +the ocean; and, though most of the time in fresh water, I was very +seasick all the voyage, which lasted four days.</p> + +<p>The island of Mexiana is about 25 miles long by 12 broad, of a +regular oval shape, and is situated exactly on the equator. It is +celebrated for its birds, alligators, and oncas, and is used as a +cattle estate by the proprietor. The alligators abound in a lake in +the centre of the island, where they are killed in great numbers +for their fat, which is made into oil.</p> + +<p>On inquiring about the best localities for insects, birds, and +plants, we were rather alarmed by being told that oncas were very +numerous, even near the house, and that it was dangerous to walk +out alone or unarmed. We soon found, however, that no one had been +actually attacked by them; though they, poor animals, are by no +means unmolested, as numerous handsome skins drying in the sun, and +teeth and skulls lying about, sufficiently proved.</p> + +<p><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span>Light-coloured, long-tailed cuckoos were continually flying +about. Equally abundant are the hornbill cuckoos, and on almost +every tree may be seen sitting a hawk or a buzzard. Pretty +parroquets, with white and orange bands on their wings, were very +plentiful. Then among the bushes there were flocks of the +red-breasted oriole. The common black vulture is generally to be +seen sailing overhead, the great Muscovy ducks fly past with a +rushing sound, offering a striking contrast to the great wood-ibis, +which sails along with noiseless wings in flocks of ten or a +dozen.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—Continuing Upstream</i></div> + +<p>We now prepared for our voyage up the Amazon; and, from +information we obtained of the country, determined first to go as +far as Santarem, a town about 500 miles up the river, and the seat +of considerable trade. We sailed up a fine stream till we entered +among islands, and soon got into the narrow channel which forms the +communication between the Pará and Amazon rivers.</p> + +<p>We proceeded for several days in those narrow channels, which +form a network of water, a labyrinth quite unknown, except to the +inhabitants of the district. It was about ten days after we left +Pará that the stream began to widen out and the tide to flow +into the Amazon instead of into the Pará river, giving us +the longer ebb to make way with. In about two days more we were in +the Amazon itself, and it was with emotions of admiration and awe +that we gazed upon the stream of this mighty and far-famed river. +What a grand idea it was to think that we now saw the accumulated +waters of a course of 3,000 miles. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, +Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, six mighty states, spreading over a +country far larger than Europe, had each contributed to form the +flood which bore us so peacefully on its bosom.</p> + +<p>The most striking features of the Amazon are its vast<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"> +292</a></span> expanse of smooth water, generally from three to +six miles wide; its pale, yellowish-olive colour; the great beds of +aquatic grass which line its shores, large masses of which are +often detached and form floating islands; the quantity of fruits +and leaves and great trunks of trees which it carries down, and its +level banks clad with lofty unbroken forest.</p> + +<p>There is much animation, too, on this giant stream. Numerous +flocks of parrots, and the great red and yellow macaws, fly across +every morning and evening, uttering their hoarse cries. Many kinds +of herons and rails frequent the marshes on its banks; but perhaps +the most characteristic birds of the Amazon are the gulls and +terns, which are in great abundance. Besides these there are divers +and darters in immense numbers. Porpoises are constantly blowing in +every direction, and alligators are often seen slowly swimming +across the river.</p> + +<p>At length, after a prolonged voyage of 28 days, we reached +Santarem, at the mouth of the river Tapajoz, whose blue, +transparent waters formed a most pleasing contrast to the turbid +stream of the Amazon. We stayed at Santarem during September, +October, and November, working hard till three in the afternoon +each day, generally collecting some new and interesting insects in +the forest. Here was the haunt of the beautiful "Callithea +sapphirs," one of the most lovely of butterflies, and of numerous +brilliant little "Erycinidæ."</p> + +<p>The constant exercise, pure air, and good living, +notwithstanding the intense heat, kept us in the most perfect +health, and I have never altogether enjoyed myself so much.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—The City of Barra</i></div> + +<p>On December 31, 1849, we arrived at the city of Barra on the Rio +Negro. It is situated on the east bank of that tributary, about +twelve miles above its junction with the<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> Amazon. The trade +is chiefly in Brazil nuts, sarsaparilla, and fish. The distance up +the Amazon from Pará to Barra is about 1,000 miles. The +voyage often occupies from two to three months. The more civilized +inhabitants of the city are all engaged in trade, and have +literally no amusements whatever, unless drinking and gambling on a +small scale can be so considered: most of them never open a book, +or have any mental occupation.</p> + +<p>The Rio Negro well deserves its name—"inky black." For its +waters, where deep, are of dense blackness. There are striking +differences between this river and the Amazon. Here are no islands +of floating grass, no logs and uprooted trees, with their cargoes +of gulls, scarcely any stream, and few signs of life in the black +and sluggish waters. Yet when there is a storm, there are greater +and more dangerous waves than on the Amazon. At Barra the Rio Negro +is a mile and a half wide. A few miles up it widens considerably, +in many places forming deep bays eight or ten miles across.</p> + +<p>In this region are found the umbrella birds. One evening a +specimen was brought me by a hunter. This singular bird is about +the size of a raven. On its head it bears a crest, different from +that of any other bird. It can be laid back so as to be hardly +visible, or can be erected and spread out on every side, forming a +hemispherical dome, completely covering the head. In a month I +obtained 25 specimens of the umbrella bird.</p> + +<p>The river Uaupés is a tributary of the Upper Rio Negro, +and a voyage up this stream brought us into singular regions. Our +canoe was worked by Indians. In one of the Indian villages we +witnessed a grand snake dance. The dancers were entirely unclad, +but were painted in all kinds of curious designs, and the male +performers wear on the top of the head a fine broad plume of the +tail-coverts of the white egret. The Indians keep these noble birds +in great open houses or cages; but as the birds are rare, and the +young with difficulty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id= +"Page_294">294</a></span> secured, the ornament is one that +few possess. Cords of monkeys' hair, decorated with small feathers, +hang down the back, and in the ears are the little downy plumes, +forming altogether a most imposing and elegant headdress.</p> + +<p>The paint with which both men and women decorate their bodies +has a very neat effect, and gives them almost the aspect of being +dressed, and as such they seem to regard it. The dancers had made +two huge artificial snakes of twigs and branches bound together, +from thirty to forty feet long and a foot in diameter, painted a +bright red colour. This made altogether a very formidable looking +animal. They divided themselves into two parties of about a dozen +each and, lifting the snake on their shoulders, began dancing.</p> + +<p>In the dance they imitated the undulations of the serpent, +raising the head and twisting the tail. In the manœuvres which +followed, the two great snakes seemed to fight, till the dance, +which had greatly pleased all the spectators, was concluded.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VI.—Devil-Music</i></div> + +<p>In another village I first saw and heard the "Juripari", or +devil-music of the Indians. One evening there was a drinking-feast; +and a little before dusk a sound as of trombones and bassoons was +heard coming on the river towards the village, and presently +appeared eight Indians, each playing on a great bassoon-looking +instrument, made of bark spirally twisted, and with a mouthpiece of +leaves. The sound produced is wild and pleasing.</p> + +<p>The players waved their instruments about in a singular manner, +accompanied by corresponding contortions of the body. From the +moment the music was first heard, not a female, old or young, was +to be seen; for it is one of the strangest superstitions of the +Uaupés Indians, that they consider it so dangerous for a +woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"> +295</a></span> ever to see one of these instruments, that, having +done so, she is punished with death, generally by poison.</p> + +<p>Even should the view be perfectly accidental, or should there be +only a suspicion that the proscribed articles have been seen, no +mercy is shown; and it is said that fathers have been the +executioners of their own daughters, and husbands of their wives, +when such has been the case.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VII.—The World's Greatest River +Basin</i></div> + +<p>The basin of the Amazon surpasses in dimensions that of any +other river in the world. It is entirely situated in the tropics, +on both sides of the equator, and receives over its whole extent +the most abundant rains. The body of fresh water emptied by it into +the ocean is, therefore, far greater than that of any other river. +For richness of vegetable productions and universal fertility of +soil it is unequalled on the globe.</p> + +<p>The whole area of this wonderful region is 2,330,000 square +miles. This is more than a third of all South America, and equal to +two-thirds of all Europe. All western Europe could be placed within +its basin, without touching its boundaries, and it would even +contain our whole Indian empire.</p> + +<p>Perhaps no country in the world contains such an amount of +vegetable matter on its surface as the valley of the Amazon. Its +entire extent, with the exception of some very small portions, is +covered with one dense and lofty primeval forest, the most +extensive and unbroken which exists on the earth. It is the great +feature of the country—that which at once stamps it as a +unique and peculiar region. Here we may travel for weeks and months +in any direction, and scarcely find an acre of ground unoccupied by +trees. The forests of the Amazon are distinguished from those of +most other countries by the great variety of species of trees +composing them. Instead of extensive tracts covered with pines, or +oaks,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"> +296</a></span> or beeches, we scarcely ever see two individuals of +the same species together.</p> + +<p>The Brazil nuts are brought chiefly from the interior; the +greater part from the country around the junction of the Rio Negro +and Madeira with the Amazon. The tree takes more than a year to +produce and ripen its fruits, which, as large and as heavy as +cannon balls, fall with tremendous force from the height of a +hundred feet, crashing through the branches and undergrowth, and +snapping off large boughs. Persons are sometimes killed by +them.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VIII.—Splendid Native Races</i></div> + +<p>Comparing the accounts given by other travellers with my own +observations, the Indians of the Amazon valley appear to be much +superior, both physically and intellectually, to those of South +Brazil and of most other parts of South America. They more closely +resemble the intelligent and noble races inhabiting the western +prairies of North America.</p> + +<p>I do not remember a single circumstance in my travels so +striking and so new, or that so well fulfilled all previous +expectations, as my first view of the real uncivilised inhabitants +of the Uaupés. I felt that I was in the midst of something +new and startling, as if I had been instantaneously transported to +a distant and unknown country.</p> + +<p>The Indians of the Amazon and its tributaries are of a countless +variety of tribes and nations; all of whom have peculiar languages +and customs, and many of them some distinct characteristics. In +many individuals of both sexes the most perfect regularity of +features exists, and there are numbers who in colour alone differ +from a good-looking European.</p> + +<p>Their figures are generally superb; and I have never felt so +much pleasure in gazing at the finest statue, as at these living +illustrations of the beauty of the human<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span> form. The +development of the chest is such as I believe never exists in the +best-formed European, exhibiting a splendid series of convex +undulations, without a hollow in any part of it.</p> + +<p>Among the tribes of the Uaupés the men have the hair +carefully parted and combed on each side, and tied in a queue +behind. In the young men, it hangs in long locks down their necks, +and, with the comb, which is invariably carried stuck in the top of +the head, gives to them a most feminine appearance. This is +increased by the large necklaces and bracelets of beads, and the +careful extirpation of every symptom of beard.</p> + +<p>Taking these circumstances into consideration, I am strongly of +opinion that the story of the Amazons has arisen from these +feminine-looking warriors encountered by the early voyagers. I am +inclined to this opinion, from the effect they first produced on +myself, when it was only by close examination I saw that they were +men.</p> + +<p>I cannot make out that these Indians of the Amazon have any +belief that can be called a religion. They appear to have no +definite idea of a God. If asked who made the rivers and the +forests and the sky, they will reply that they do not know, or +sometimes that they suppose it was "Tupanau," a word that appears +to answer to God, but of which they understand nothing. They have +much more definite ideas of a bad spirit, "Jurupari," or Devil, +whom they fear, and endeavour through their "pagés," or +sorcerers, to propitiate.</p> + +<p>When it thunders, they say that the "Jurupari" is angry, and +their idea of natural death is that the "Jurupari" kills them. At +an eclipse they believe that this bad spirit is killing the moon, +and they make all the noise they can to drive him away. One of the +singular facts connected with these Indians of the Amazon valley is +the resemblance between some of their customs and those of the +nations most remote from them. The gravatana, or blowpipe, +reappears in the sumpitan of Borneo;<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> the great houses of +the Uaupés closely resemble those of the Dyaks of the same +country; while many small baskets and bamboo-boxes from Borneo and +New Guinea are so similar in their form and construction to those +of the Amazon, that they would be supposed to belong to adjoining +tribes.</p> + +<p>The main feature in the personal character of the Indians of +this part of South America is a degree of diffidence, bashfulness, +or coldness, which affects all their actions. It is this that +produces their quiet deliberation, their circuitous way of +introducing a subject they have come to speak about, talking half +an hour on different topics before mentioning it. Owing to this +feeling, they will run away if displeased rather than complain, and +will never refuse to undertake what is asked them, even when they +are unable or do not intend to perform it. They scarcely ever +quarrel among themselves, work hard, and submit willingly to +authority. They are ingenious and skilful workmen and readily adopt +any customs of civilised life introduced among them.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"> +299</a></span></p> + +<h4>ELIOT WARBURTON</h4> + +<h4>The Crescent and the Cross</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—Alexandria</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Bartholomew Eliot George Warburton, who wrote as Eliot +Warburton, was born in 1810 in Tullamore, Ireland, and died in +1852. He graduated at Cambridge, where he was the fellow student +and intimate friend of Hallam, Monckton Milnes, and Kinglake (of +"Eothen" fame). He studied law and was called to the bar, but +instead of practising in the legal profession took to a most +adventurous career of travel, and wrote of his experiences in a +spirited and romantic style which soon secured him a wide +reputation. His eight works include "The Crescent and the Cross," +which appeared in 1845, after his wanderings in Egypt, Syria, +Turkey, and Greece; "Memoirs of Prince Rupert," and "Darien, or the +Merchant Prince." He was sailing for Panama, as an agent of the +Atlantic and Pacific Company, when he was lost in the steamship +Amazon, which was burnt off Land's End on January 4, 1852. +Warburton was beloved for his generous, amiable, and chivalrous +disposition. His peculiar gift for embodying in graphic terms his +appreciation of striking scenery and his picturesque delineation of +foreign manners and customs give his works a permanent place in the +classics of travel.</p> +</div> + +<p>We took leave of Old England and the Old Year together. On the +first of January we left Southampton; on the evening of the 2nd we +took leave of England at Falmouth. Towards evening, on the 18th day +since leaving England, the low land of Egypt was visible from the +mast-head. The only object visible from the decks was a faint speck +on the horizon, but that speck was Pompey's Pillar. This is the +site Alexander selected from his wide dominions, and which Napoleon +pronounced to be unrivalled in importance. Here stood the great +library of antiquity, and here the Hebrew Scriptures expanded into +Greek under the hands of the Septuagint. Here Cleopatra revelled +with her Roman conquerors. Here St. Mark preached the truth on +which Origen attempted to refine, and here Athanasius held warlike +controversy.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"> +300</a></span> The bay is crowded with merchant vessels of every +nation. Men-of-war barges shoot past you with crews dressed in what +look like red nightcaps and white petticoats. Here, an "ocean +patriarch" (as the Arabs call Noah), with white turban and flowing +beard, is steering a little ark filled with unclean-looking animals +of every description; and there, a crew of swarthy Egyptians, naked +from the waist upwards, are pulling some pale-faced strangers to a +vessel with loosed top.</p> + +<p>The crumbling quays are piled with bales of eastern merchandise, +islanded in a sea of white turbans wreathed over dark, melancholy +faces. High above the variegated crowds peer the long necks of +hopeless-looking camels. Passing through the Arab city, you emerge +into the Frank quarter, a handsome square of tall white houses, +over which the flags of every nation in Europe denote the +residences of the various consuls. In this square is an endless +variety of races and costumes most picturesquely grouped together, +and lighted brilliantly by a glowing sun in a cloudless sky. In one +place, a procession of women waddles along, wrapped in large +shroud-like veils from head to foot. In another, a group of Turks +in long flowing drapery are seated in a circle smoking their +chiboukes in silence.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—The Nile</i></div> + +<p>"Egypt is the gift of the Nile," said one who was bewildered by +its antiquity before our history was born (at least he, Herodotus, +was called the father of it). This is an exotic land. That river, +winding like a serpent through its paradise, has brought it from +far regions. Those quiet plains have tumbled down the cataracts; +those demure gardens have flirted with the<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span> Isle of Flowers +(Elephantina), five hundred miles away; and those very pyramids +have floated down the waves of Nile. In short, to speak chemically, +that river is a solution of Ethiopia's richest regions, and that +vast country is merely a precipitate.</p> + +<p>Arrived at Alexandria, the traveller is yet far distant from the +Nile. The Canopic mouth is long since closed up by the mud of +Ethiopia, and the Arab conquerors of Egypt were obliged to form a +canal to connect this seaport with the river. Under the Mamelukes, +this canal had also become choked up. When Mehemet Ali rose to +power his clear intellect at once comprehended the importance of +the ancient emporium. Alexandria was then become a mere harbour for +pirates. The desert and the sea were gradually encroaching on its +boundaries, but the Pasha ordered the desert to bring forth corn +and the sea to retire. Up rose a stately city of 60,000 +inhabitants, and as suddenly yawned the canal which was to connect +the new city with the Nile.</p> + +<p>In the greatness and cruelty of its accomplishment, this +Mahmoudie canal may vie with the gigantic labours of the Pharaohs. +From the villages of the delta were swept 250,000 men, women, and +children, and heaped like a ridge along the banks of the fatal +canal. They had only provisions for a month, and famine soon made +its appearance. It was a fearful sight to see the multitude +convulsively working against time. As a dying horse bites the +ground in his agony, they tore up that great grave—25,000 +people perished, but the grim contract was completed, and in six +weeks the waters of the Nile were led to Alexandria.</p> + +<p>It was midnight when we arrived at Atfeh, the point of junction +with the Nile. We are now on the sacred river. In some hours we +emerged from the Rosetta branch and the prospect began to improve. +Villages sheltered by graceful groups of palm-trees, mosques, green +plains, and at length the desert—the most imposing<span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"> +302</a></span> sight in the world, except the sea. We felt we were +actually in Egypt and our spirits rose. By the time the evening and +the mist had rendered the country invisible, we had persuaded +ourselves that Egypt was indeed the lovely land that Moore has so +delightfully imagined in the pages of the "Epicurean."</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III—Cairo and Heliopolis</i></div> + +<p>Morning found us anchored off Boulak, the port of Cairo. Toward +the river it is faced by factories and storehouses; within, you +find yourself in a labyrinth of brown, narrow streets, that +resemble rather rifts in some mud mountain, than anything with +which architecture has had to do. Yet here and there the blankness +of the walls is relieved and broken by richly worked lattices, and +specimens of arabesque masonry.</p> + +<p>Gaudy bazaars strike the eye, and the picturesque population +that swarms everywhere keeps the interest awake. On emerging from +the lanes of Boulak, Cairo, Grand Cairo! opens on the view; and +never did fancy flash upon the poet's eye a more superb illusion of +power and beauty than the "city of Victory" presents from a +distance. ("El Kahira," the Arabic epithet of this city, means "the +Victorious.") The bold range of the Mokattam mountains is purpled +by the rising sun, its craggy summits are clearly cut against the +glowing sky, it runs like a promontory into a sea of verdure, here +wavy with a breezy plantation of olives, there darkened with +accacia groves.</p> + +<p>Just where the mountain sinks upon the plain, the citadel stands +upon its last eminence, and widely spread beneath it lies the city, +a forest of minarets with palm-trees intermingled, and the domes of +innumerable mosques rising, like enormous bubbles, over the sea of +houses. Here and there, richly green gardens are islanded within +that sea, and the whole is girt round with<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> picturesque +towers and ramparts, occasionally revealed through vistas of the +wood of sycamores and fig-trees that surround it. It has been said +that "God the first garden made, and the first city Cain," but here +they seem commingled with the happiest effect.</p> + +<p>The objects of interest in the neighbourhood of Cairo are very +numerous. Let us first canter off to Heliopolis, the On of +Scripture. It is only five miles of a pathway, shaded by sycamore +and plane-trees, from which we emerge occasionally into green +savannahs or luxuriant cornfields, over which the beautiful white +ibis are hovering in flocks.</p> + +<p>In Heliopolis, the Oxford of Old Egypt, stood the great Temple +of the Sun. Here the beautiful and the wise studied love and logic +4,000 years ago. Here Joseph was married to the fair Asenath. Here +Plato and Herodotus studied and here the darkness which veiled the +Great Sacrifice was observed by a heathen astronomer, Dionysius the +Areopagite. We found nothing, however, on the site of this ancient +city, except a small garden of orange-trees, with a magnificent +obelisk in the centre.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>IV.—The Market of Sorrow</i></div> + +<p>One day while in Cairo I went to visit the slave-markets, one of +which is held without the city, in the courtyard of a deserted +mosque. I was received by a mild-looking Nubian, who led me in +silence to inspect his stock. I found about thirty girls scattered +in groups about an inner court. The gate was open, but there seemed +no thought of escape. Where could they go, poor things? Some were +grinding millet between two stones; some were kneading flour into +bread; some were chatting in the sunshine; some sleeping in the +shade.</p> + +<p>One or two looked sad and lonely enough, until their gloomy +countenances were lit up with hope—the hope of being bought! +Their faces for the most part were<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> woefully blank, and +many wore an awfully animal expression. Yet there were several +figures of exquisite symmetry among them, which, had they been +indeed the bronze statues they resembled, would have attracted the +admiration of thousands, and would have been valued at twenty times +the price that was set on these immortal beings. Their proprietor +showed them off as a horse-dealer does his cattle, examining their +teeth, removing their body-clothes, and exhibiting their paces.</p> + +<p>It is like the change from night to morning, to pass from these +dingy crowds to the white slaves from Georgia and Circassia. The +commodities of this department of the human bazaars are only +purchased by wealthy and powerful Moslems; and, when purchased, are +destined to form part of the female aristocracy of Cairo. These +fetch from one, two, three, or even five hundred pounds, and being +so much more valuable than the Africans, are much more carefully +tended. Some were smoking; some chatting merrily together; some +sitting in dreamy languor. All their attitudes were very +graceful.</p> + +<p>They were for the most part exquisitely fair; but I was +disappointed in their beauty. The sunny hair and heaven-blue eyes, +that in England produce such an angel-like and intellectual effect, +seemed to me here mere flax and beads; and I left them to the +"turbaned Turk" without a sigh.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>V.—The Harem</i></div> + +<p>Difficult a study as woman presents in all countries, that +difficulty deepens almost into impossibility in a land where even +to look upon her is a matter of danger or of death. The seclusion +of the hareem is preserved in the very streets by means of an +impenetrable veil; the well-bred Egyptian averts his eyes as she +passes by; she is ever to remain an object of mystery; and the most +intimate acquaintance never inquires after the wife of his friend, +or affects to know of her existence.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span>An English lady, visiting an Odalisque, inquired what pleasure +her profusion of rich ornaments could afford, as no person except +her husband was ever to behold them. "And for whom do <i>you</i> +adorn yourself? Is it for other men?" replied the fair +barbarian.</p> + +<p>I have conversed with several European ladies who had visited +hareems, and they have all confessed their inability to convince +the Eastern wives of the unhappiness or hardship of their state. It +is true that the inmate of the hareem knows nothing of the wild +liberty (as it seems to her) that the European woman enjoys. She +has never witnessed the domestic happiness that crowns a +fashionable life, or the peace of mind and purity of heart that +reward the labours of a London season. And what can <i>she</i> know +of the disinterested affection and changeless constancy of +ball-room belles, in the land where woman is all free?</p> + +<p>Let them laugh on in their happy ignorance of a better lot, +while round them is gathered all that their lord can command of +luxury and pleasantness. His wealth is hoarded for them alone; he +permits himself no ostentation, except the respectable one of arms +and horses; and the time is weary that he passes apart from his +home and hareem. The sternest tyrants are gentle there; Mehemet Ali +never refused a woman's prayer; and even Ali Pasha was partly +humanized by his love for Emineh. In the time of the Mamelukes, +criminals were always led to execution blindfolded, as, if they had +met a woman and could touch her garment, they were saved, whatever +was their crime.</p> + +<p>Thus idolized, watched, and guarded, the Egyptian woman's life +is, nevertheless, entirely in the power of her lord, and her death +is the inevitable penalty of his dishonour. Poor Fatima! shrined as +she was in the palace of a tyrant, the fame of her beauty stole +abroad through Cairo. She was one among a hundred in the hareem of +Abbas Pasha, a man stained with every foul<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span> and loathsome +vice; and who can wonder, though many may condemn, if she listened +to a daring young Albanian, who risked his life to obtain but a +sight of her. Whether she <i>did</i> listen or not, none can ever +know, but the eunuchs saw the glitter of the Arnaut's arms, as he +leaped from her terrace into the Nile and vanished into the +darkness.</p> + +<p>The following night a merry English party dined together on +board Lord E——'s boat, as it lay moored off the Isle +of Rhoda; conversation had sunk into silence as the calm night came +on; a faint breeze floated perfumes from the gardens over the +star-lit Nile; a dreamy languor seemed to pervade all nature, and +even the city lay hushed in deep repose, when suddenly a boat, +crowded with dark figures, among which arms gleamed, shot out from +one of the arches of the palace.</p> + +<p>It paused under the opposite bank, where the water rushed deep +and gloomily along, and for a moment a white figure glimmered among +that boat's dark crew; there was a slight movement and a faint +splash, and then the river flowed on as merrily as if poor Fatima +still sang her Georgian song to the murmur of its waters.</p> + +<p>I was riding one evening along the water-side. There was no +sound except the ripple of the waves and the heavy flapping of a +pelican's wing. As I paused to contemplate the scene an Egyptian +passed me hurriedly, with a bloody knife in his hand. His dress was +mean and ragged, but his countenance was one that the father of Don +Carlos might have worn. He never raised his eyes as he passed by; +and my groom, who just then came up, told me he had slain his wife, +and was going to her father's village to denounce her.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VI.—Djouni and Lady Hester +Stanhope</i></div> + +<p>One morning we were already in motion as the sun rose over +Lebanon. We passed for some miles through mulberry gardens, and +over a dangerous rocky pass,<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> where Antiochus the +Great defeated the Egyptians, in 218 B.C. This pass would have +required the best exertions and courage of a European horse, yet a +file of camels was ascending it with the same patient look that +they wear in their native deserts. Though forced frequently to +traverse mountains in a country whose commerce is conducted by +their means, these animals are only at their ease upon the sandy +plain. The Arabs say, that if you were to ask a camel which he +preferred—travelling up or down hill, his answer would be, +"May the curse of Allah light on both!"</p> + +<p>The road was only a steep and rocky path, which, in England, a +goat would be considered active if he could traverse. Our horses, +nevertheless, went along it at a canter, though the precipice +sometimes yawned beneath our outside stirrup, while the inner one +knocked fire out of the rocky cliff. Rocks, tumbled from the +mountain, lay strewn about and nearly choked up the narrow river +bed; over these we scrambled, climbed, and leaped in a manner that +only Arab horses would attempt or could accomplish.</p> + +<p>It was late when we came in sight of two conical hills, on one +of which stands the village of Djouni, on the other a circular wall +over which dark trees were waving, and this was the place in which +Lady Hester Stanhope had finished her strange and eventful career. +It had been formerly a convent, but the Pasha of Acre had given it +to the "Prophet Lady," and she had converted its naked walls into +palaces, its wilderness into gardens. The sun was setting as we +entered the enclosure. The buildings that constituted the palace +were of a very scattered and complicated description, covering a +wide space, but only one storey in height; courts and gardens, +stables and sleeping-rooms, halls of audience and ladies' bowers, +were strangely intermingled.</p> + +<p>Here fountains once played in marble basins, and choice flowers +bloomed; but now it presented a scene of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span> melancholy +desolation. Our dinner was spread on the floor in Lady Hester's +favourite apartment; her deathbed was our sideboard, her furniture +our fuel; her name our conversation. Lady Hester Stanhope was niece +to Mr. Pitt, and seems to have possessed or acquired something of +his indomitable energy and proud self-reliance during the time that +she presided over his household. Soon after his death she left +England. For some time she was at Constantinople, where her +magnificence and near alliance to the great minister gained her +considerable influence. Afterwards she passed into Syria.</p> + +<p>Many of the people of that country, excited by the achievements +of Sir Sidney Smith, looked on her as a princess who had come to +prepare the way for the expected conquest of their land by the +English. Her influence increased through the prestige created by +her wealth and magnificence, as well as by her imperious character +and dauntless bravery. She believed in magic, astrology, and, +incredible as it may appear, in her own divine mission.</p> + +<p>She had two mares which were held sacred by herself and her +attendants. One was singularly marked by a natural saddle. The +animal was never mounted, but reserved for some divinity whom she +was to accompany on his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The other +was retained for her own "mount" on the same remarkable +occasion.</p> + +<p>It is said that she was crowned Queen of the East by 50,000 +Arabs, at Palmyra. Lady Hester certainly exercised despotic power +in her neighbourhood on the mountain. Mehemet Ali could make +nothing of her. She annihilated a village for disobedience, and +burned a mountain chalet, with all its inhabitants, on account of +the murder of two Frenchmen who were travelling under the +protection of her firman.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" +id="Page_309">309</a></span><i>VII.—Mount Hermon</i></div> + +<p>One morning, before daylight, I set out for the summit of +Hermon, called in Arabic, Djebel Sheikh, the "Chief of the +Mountains." This is the highest point of Syria, the last of the +Anti-Lebanon range. We rode through some rugged valleys and tracts +of vineyards, and, leaving our horses at one of the sheds in the +latter, began the steep and laborious ascent. I have climbed +Snowdon, Vesuvius, Epomeo, and many others, but this was the +heaviest work of all. After six hours of toil we stood on the +summit, and perhaps the world does not afford a more magnificent +view than we then beheld.</p> + +<p>We looked down from the ancient Hill of Hermon over the land of +Israel. There gleamed the bright blue Sea of Galilee, and nearer +was Lake Hooly, with Banias, the ancient Dan, on its banks. The +vast and varied plain, on which lay mapped a thousand places +familiar to the memory, was bounded on the right by the +Mediterranean, whose purple waters whitened round Sidon, Tyre, and +the distant Promontorium Album, over which just appeared the summit +of Mount Carmel. On the left of the plain a range of hills divided +the Hauran from Samaria. Further on, towards the Eastern horizon, +spread the plain of Damascus, and the desert towards Palmyra.</p> + +<p>To the north, the wide and fertile valley of Bekaa lay between +the two great chains of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon; the latter of +whose varied hills and glens, speckled with forests and villages, +lay beneath my feet. Nothing but lakes were wanting to the valleys, +nothing but heather to the mountains. We caught some goats after a +hard chase, and, milking them on the snow, drank eagerly from this +novel dairy.</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards we discovered a little fountain gushing from a +snowy hill, and only those who have climbed<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> a mountain 9,000 +feet high, under a Syrian sun, can appreciate the luxury of such a +draught as that cool, bubbling rill afforded.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>VIII.—Damascus: The World's Oldest +City</i></div> + +<p>Emerging from the savage gorges of Anti-Lebanon, we entered a +wide, disheartening plain, bounded by an amphitheatre of dreary +mountains. Our horses had had no water for twenty-four hours, and +we had had no refreshment of any kind for twenty. After two hours +of more hard riding I came to another range of mountains, from +beyond which opened the view of Damascus, from which the Prophet +abstained as too delicious for a believer's gaze. It is said that +after many days of toilsome travel, when he beheld this city thus +lying at his feet, he exclaimed, "But one paradise is allowed to +man; I will not take mine in this world;" and so he turned his +horse's head from Damascus and pitched his tent in the desert.</p> + +<p>For miles around us lay the dead desert, whose sands seemed to +quiver under the shower of sunbeams; far away to the south and east +it spread like a boundless ocean; but there, beneath our feet, lay +such an island of verdure as nowhere else perhaps exists. Mass upon +mass of dark, delicious foliage rolled like waves among garden +tracts of brilliant emerald green. Here and there the clustering +blossoms of the orange or the nectarine lay like foam upon that +verdant sea. Minarets, white as ivory, shot up their fairy towers +among the groves; and purple mosque-domes, tipped with the golden +crescent, gave the only sign that a city lay bowered beneath those +rich plantations.</p> + +<p>One hour's gallop brought me to the suburban gates of +Mezzé, and thenceforth I rode on through streets, or rather +lanes, of pleasant shadow. For many an hour we had seen no water; +now it gushed and gleamed and<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> sparkled all around +us; from aqueduct above, and rivulet below, and marble fountain in +the walls—everywhere it poured forth its rich abundance; and +my horse and I soon quenched our burning thirst in Abana and +Pharphar.</p> + +<p>On we went, among gardens, fountains, odours, and cool shade, +absorbed in sensations of delight. Fruits of every delicate shape +and hue bent the boughs hospitably over our heads; flowers hung in +canopy upon the trees and lay in variegated carpet on the ground; +the lanes through which we went were long arcades of arching +boughs; the walls were composed of large square blocks of dried +mud, which, in that bright, dazzling light somewhat resembled +Cyclopean architecture, and gave, I know not what, of simplicity +and primitiveness to the scene.</p> + +<p>At length I entered the city, and thenceforth lost the sun while +I remained there. The luxurious people of Damascus exclude all +sunshine from their bazaars by awnings of thick mat, whenever +vine-trellises or vaulted roofs do not render this precaution +unnecessary. The effects of this pleasant gloom, the cool currents +of air created by the narrow streets, the vividness of the bazaars, +the variety and beauty of the Oriental dress, the fragrant smell of +the spice-shops, the tinkle of the brass cups of the sherbet +seller—all this affords a pleasant but bewildering change +from the silent desert and the glare of sunshine.</p> + +<p>And then the glimpse of places strange to your eye, yet familiar +to your imagination, that you catch as you pass along. Here is the +portal of a large khan, with a fountain and cistern in the midst. +Camels and bales of merchandise and turbaned negroes are scattered +over its wide quadrangle, and an arcade of shops or offices +surrounds it, above and below, like the streets of Chester. Another +portal opens into a public bath, with its fountains, its +reservoirs, its gay carpets, and its luxurious<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> +inmates clad in white linen and reclining on cushions as they smoke +their chibouques.</p> + +<p>I lodged at the Franciscan Convent, of which the terrace +commands the best view, perhaps, of the city. The young Christian +women of Damascus come hither in numbers to confess, which, if +their tongues be as candid as their eloquent eyes, must be rather a +protracted business. They are passing fair; but the Jewess, with +her aristocratic mien, her proud, yet airy step, and her eagle eye, +throws all others into the shade, and vindicates her lineal descent +from Eve, in this, Eve's native land.</p> + +<p>I thought Damascus was a great improvement on Cairo in every +respect. It is much more thoroughly Oriental in appearance, in its +mysteries, in the look and character of its inhabitants. The spirit +of the Arabian Nights is quite alive in these, its native streets; +and not only do you hear their fantastic tales repeated to rapt +audiences in the coffee-houses, but you see them hourly exemplified +in living scenes. This is probably the most ancient city in the +world. Eleazar, the trusty steward of Abraham, was a citizen of it +nearly 4,000 years ago, and the Arabs maintain that Adam was +created here out of the red clay that is now fashioned by the +potter into other forms.</p> + +<p>The Christians for the most part belong to the Latin Church. +There are some Greeks, and a few Armenians. The Christians are as +fanatical and grossly ignorant as the Moslems; at least, those few, +even of the wealthier class, with whom I had the opportunity of +conversing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"> +313</a></span></p> + +<h4>CHARLES WATERTON</h4> + +<h4>Wanderings in South America</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—First Journey</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Charles Waterton, who was born on June 3, 1782, and who died on +May 27, 1865, was a native of Yorkshire, England. Brought up in a +family loving country life and field sports, he early learned to +cultivate the study of natural history. Speaking of himself in +after life he said, "I cannot boast of any great strength of arm, +but my legs, probably by much walking, and by frequently ascending +trees, have acquired vast muscular power; so that, on taking a view +of me from top to toe, you would say that the 'upper part of +Tithonus has been placed on the lower part of Ajax.'" Educated at +Tudhoe Catholic School, Waterton became a sound Latin scholar. He +proceeded to the Jesuit College at Stonyhurst, where his tutors as +far as possible encouraged his love for natural history, at the +same time stimulating his taste for literature. Fox-hunting was his +delight and he became a famous rider. His parents wished him to see +the world, and his travels began with a tour in Spain, visiting +London on the way back to Yorkshire and there making the +acquaintance of Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society +and scientific Mæcenas of his age. In 1804 he sailed for +Demerara, there to administer the estates of his paternal uncle, +and, liking the country, managed that business till 1812, coming +home at intervals. Subsequently, Waterton undertook arduous and +adventurous journeys in Guiana, simply as a naturalist. His +accounts of his experiences made him famous. He also travelled in +the United States and the Antilles, then in Holland, Belgium, +Switzerland, Italy, and Sicily. Besides his "Wanderings in South +America" he wrote an attractive volume entitled "Natural History: +Essays."</p> +</div> + +<p>In the month of April, 1812, I left the town of Stabroek, to +travel through the wilds of Demerara and Essequibo, a part of +<i>ci-devant</i> Dutch Guiana, in South America. The chief objects +in view were to collect a quantity of the strongest Wourali poison, +and to reach the inland frontier fort of Portuguese Guiana.</p> + +<p>It would be a tedious journey for him who wishes to<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> +proceed through those wilds, to set out from Stabroek on foot. The +sun would exhaust him in his attempts to wade through the swamps, +and the mosquitoes at night would deprive him of every hour of +sleep. The road for horses runs parallel to the river, but it +extends a very little way, and even ends before the cultivation of +the plantation ceases.</p> + +<p>The only mode then that remains is to travel by water; and when +you come to the high lands, you make your way through the forest on +foot, or continue your route on the river. After passing the third +island in the river Demerara, there are few plantations to be seen, +and those are not joining on to one another, but separated by large +tracts of wood. The first rocks of any considerable size are at a +place called Saba, from the Indian word which means a stone. Near +the top of Saba stands the house of the postholder, appointed by +government to report to the protector of the Indians, of what is +going on among them; and to prevent suspicious people from passing +up the river.</p> + +<p>When the Indians assemble here, the stranger may have an +opportunity of seeing the aborigines, dancing to the sound of their +country music, and painted in their native style. They will shoot +their arrows for him with unerring aim and send the poisoned dart, +from the blowpipe, true to its destination.</p> + +<p>This is the native country of the sloth. His looks, his +gestures, his cries, all conspire to entreat you to take pity on +him. These are the only weapons of defence nature has given him. It +is said his piteous moans make the tiger cat relent and turn out of +his way. Do not then level your gun at him, or pierce him with a +poisoned arrow;—he has never hurt one living creature. A few +leaves, and those of the commonest and coarsest kind, are all he +asks for his support.</p> + +<p>Demerara yields to no country in the world in her wonderful and +beautiful productions of the feathered<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span> race. The scarlet +curlew breeds in innumerable quantities in the muddy islands on the +coasts of Pomauron; the egrets in the same place. They resort to +the mudflats in ebbing water, while thousands of sandpipers and +plovers, with here and there a spoonbill and flamingo, are seen +among them. The pelicans go farther out to sea, but return at +sundown to the courada-trees.</p> + +<p>You never fail to see the common vulture where there is carrion. +At the close of day the vampires leave the hollow trees, whither +they had fled at morning's dawn, and scour along the river's banks +in quest of prey. On waking from sleep, the astonished traveller +finds his hammock all stained with blood. It is the vampire that +has sucked him.</p> + +<p>What an immense range of forest is there from the rock Saba to +the great fall, and what an uninterrupted extent from it to the +banks of the Essequibo! It will be two days and a half from the +time of entering the path on the western bank of the Demerara till +all be ready, and the canoe fairly afloat on the Essequibo. The new +rigging in it, and putting everything to rights and in its proper +place, cannot well be done in less than a day.</p> + +<p>After being night and day in the forest impervious to the sun +and moon's rays, the sudden transition to light has a fine +heart-cheering effect. In coming out of the woods you see the +western bank of the Essequibo before you, low and flat. Proceeding +onwards past many islands which enliven the scene, you get to the +falls and rapids. When the river is swollen, as it was in May, +1812, it is a dangerous task to pass them.</p> + +<p>A little before you pass the last of the rapids two immense +rocks appear, which look like two ancient stately towers of some +Gothic potentate, rearing their heads above the surrounding trees. +From their situation and their shape, they strike the beholder with +an idea of antiquated grandeur, which he will never forget. He may +travel far and wide and see nothing like them. The<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> +Indians have it that they are the abode of an evil genius, and they +pass in the river below, with a reverential awe.</p> + +<p>In about seven hours, from these stupendous sons of the hill you +leave the Essequibo and enter the river Apoura-poura, which falls +into it from the south. Two days afterwards you are within the +borders of Macoushia, inhabited by the Macoushi Indians, who are +uncommonly dexterous in the use of the blowpipe and famous for +their skill in preparing the deadly vegetable poison called +Wourali, to which I alluded at the outset of this narration.</p> + +<p>From this country are procured those beautiful paroquets named +Kessikessi. Here too is found the india-rubber tree. The elegant +crested bird called Cock of the Rock is a native of the wooded +mountains of Macoushia. The Indians in this district seem to depend +more on the Wourali poison for killing their game than on anything +else. They had only one gun, and it appeared rusty and neglected; +but their poisoned weapons were in fine order. Their blowpipes hung +from the roof of the hut, carefully suspended by a silk grass cord. +The quivers were close by them, with the jawbone of the fish Pirai +tied by a string to their brim, and a small wicker-basket of wild +cotton, which hung down the centre; they were nearly full of +poisoned arrows.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day our canoe reached the fort on the Portuguese +inland frontier. I had by this time contracted a feverish attack. +The Portuguese commandant, who came to greet us, discovered that I +was sick. "I am sorry, sir," said he, "to see that the fever has +taken such hold of you. You shall go with me to the fort; and +though we have no doctor there, I trust we shall soon bring you +about again. The orders I have received, forbidding the admission +of strangers, were never intended to be put in force against a sick +English gentleman."</p> + +<p>Good nourishment and rest, and the unwearied attention and +kindness of the Portuguese commander, stopped<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> the +progress of the fever, and enabled me to walk about in six days. +Having reached this frontier, and collected a sufficient quantity +of the Wourali poison, nothing remains but to give a brief account +of its composition, its effects, its uses, and its supposed +antidotes.</p> + +<p>Much has been said concerning this fatal and extraordinary +poison. Wishful to obtain the best information, I determined to +penetrate into the country where the poisonous ingredients grow. +Success attended the adventure, and this made amends for the 120 +days passed in the solitudes of Guiana. It is certain that if a +sufficient quantity of the poison enters the blood, death is the +result; but there is no alteration in the colour of the blood, and +both the blood and the flesh may be eaten with safety.</p> + +<p>This poison destroys life so gently that the victim seems to be +in no pain whatever. The Indian finds in the wilds a vine called +Wourali, which furnishes the chief ingredient. He also adds the +juices of a bitter root and of two bulbous plants. Next he hunts +till he finds two species of ants, one very large, black, and +venomous; the other small and red, which stings like a nettle. He +adds the pounded fangs of the Labarri and the Counacouchi snakes; +and the last ingredient is red pepper.</p> + +<p>The mixture is boiled and looks like coffee. It is poured into a +calabash. Let us now note how it is used. When the Indian goes in +quest of game, he seldom carries his bow and arrows. It is the +blowpipe he then uses. This is a most extraordinary instrument of +death. The reed must grow to an amazing length, as the part used is +ten feet long. This is placed inside a larger tube. The arrow is +from nine to ten inches long. It is made out of leaf of a species +of palm-tree, and about an inch of the pointed end is poisoned. The +other end is fixed into a lump of wild cotton made skilfully to fit +the tube.</p> + +<p>Chiefly birds are shot with this weapon. The flesh<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span> of +the game is not in the least injured by the poison. For larger game +bows are used with poisoned arrows.</p> + +<p>An Arowack Indian said it was but four years ago that he and his +companions were ranging in the forest for game. His companion took +a poisoned arrow and sent it at a red monkey in a tree above him. +It was nearly a perpendicular shot. The arrow missed the monkey, +and, in the descent, struck him in the arm. He was convinced it was +all over with him. "I shall never bend this bow again," said he. +And having said that, he took off his little bamboo poison box, +which hung across his shoulder, and putting it with his bow and +arrow on the ground, he laid himself close by them, bid his +companion farewell, and never spoke more.</p> + +<p>Sugar-cane and salt are supposed to be antidotes, but in reality +they are of no avail. He who is unfortunate enough to be wounded by +a poisoned arrow from Macoushia will find them of no avail. He has +got a deadly foe within him which will allow him but very little +time. In a few moments he will be numbered with the dead.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>II.—Second Journey</i></div> + +<p>In the year 1816, two days before the vernal equinox, I sailed +from Liverpool for Pernambuco, in the southern hemisphere, on the +coast of Brazil. Arrived there, I embarked on board of a Portuguese +brig for Cayenne in Guiana. On the 14th day after leaving +Pernambuco, the brig cast anchor off the island of Cayenne. The +entrance is beautiful. To windward, not far off, are two bold +wooded islands, called Father and Mother; and near them are others, +their children, smaller, though beautiful as their parents.</p> + +<p>All along the coast are seen innumerable quantities of +snow-white egrets, scarlet curlews, spoonbills, and flamingoes. +About a day's journey in the interior is the<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span> +celebrated national plantation called La Gabrielle, with which no +other plantation in the western world can vie. In it are 22,000 +clove-trees in full bearing. The black pepper, the cinnamon, and +the nutmeg are also in great abundance here.</p> + +<p>Not far from the banks of the river Oyapoc, to windward of +Cayenne, is a mountain which contains an immense cavern. Here the +Cock of the Rock is plentiful. He is about the size of a fantail +pigeon, his colour a bright orange and his wings and tail appear as +though fringed; his head is adorned with a superb double-feathery +crest, edged with purple.</p> + +<p>Finding that a beat to the Amazons would be long and tedious, +and aware that the season for procuring birds in fine plumage had +already set in, I left Cayenne for Paramaribo, went through the +interior to Coryntin, stopped a few days in New Amsterdam, and +proceeded to Demerara.</p> + +<p>Though least in size, the glittering mantle of the humming-bird +entitles it to the first place in the list of the birds of the New +World. See it darting through the air almost as quick as thought. +Now it is within a yard of your face, and then is in an instant +gone. Now it flutters from flower to flower. Now it is a ruby, now +a topaz, now an emerald, now all burnished gold.</p> + +<p>Cayenne and Demerara produce the same humming-birds. On entering +the forests the blue and green, the smallest brown, no bigger than +the humble bee, with two long feathers in the tail, and the little +forked-tail purple-throated humming-birds glitter before you in +ever-changing attitudes.</p> + +<p>There are three species of toucans in Dememara, and three +diminutives, which may be called toucanets. The singular form of +these birds makes a lasting impression on the memory. Every species +of this family of enormous bill lays its eggs in the hollow trees. +You will be at a loss to know for what ends nature has +overloaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id= +"Page_320">320</a></span> the head of this bird with such an +enormous bill. It is impossible to conjecture.</p> + +<p>You would not be long in the forests of Demerara without +noticing the woodpeckers. The sound which the largest kind makes in +hammering against the bark of the tree is so loud that you would +never suppose it to proceed from the efforts of a bird. You would +take it to be the woodman, with his axe, striking a sturdy blow, +oft repeated. There are fourteen species here, all beautiful, and +the greater part of them have their heads ornamented with a fine +crest, movable at pleasure.</p> + +<p>In the rivers, and different creeks, you number six species of +the kingfisher. They make their nest in a hole in the sand on the +side of the bank. Wherever there is a wild fig-tree ripe, a +numerous species of birds, called Tangara, is sure to be on it. +There are 18 beautiful species here. Their plumage is very rich and +diversified; some of them boast six different colours.</p> + +<p>Parrots and paroquets are very numerous here, and of many +different kinds. The hia-hia parrot, called in England the parrot +of the sun, is very remarkable. He can erect at pleasure a fine +radiated circle of tartan feathers quite around the back of his +head from jaw to jaw. Superior in size and beauty to every parrot +of South America, the ara will force you to take your eyes from the +rest of animated nature and gaze at him. His commanding strength, +the flaming scarlet of his body, the lovely variety of red, yellow, +blue, and green in his wings, the extraordinary length of his blue +and scarlet tail, seem all to join and demand for him the title of +emperor of all the parrots.</p> + +<p>There are nine species of the goatsucker in Demerara, a bird +with prettily mottled plumage like that of the owl. Its cry is so +remarkable that, once heard it can never be forgotten. When night +reigns over these wilds you will hear this goatsucker lamenting +like one in deep distress. A stranger would never conceive the cry +to be that of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id= +"Page_321">321</a></span> bird. He would say it was the +departing voice of a midnight murdered victim, or the last wailing +of Niobe for her poor children, before she was turned into +stone.</p> + +<p>Suppose yourself in hopeless sorrow, begin with a high loud +note, and pronounce "ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," each note lower +and lower, till the last is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two +betwixt every note, and you will have some idea of the moaning of +the goatsucker of Demerara. You will never persuade the native to +let fly his arrow at these birds. They are creatures of omen and of +reverential dread. They are the receptacles of departed souls come +back to earth, unable to rest for crimes done in their days of +nature.</p> + +<div class="center"><i>III.—Third Journey</i></div> + +<p>Gentle reader, after staying a few months in England, I strayed +across the Alps and the Apennines, and returned home, but could not +tarry. Guiana still whispered in my ear, and seemed to invite me +once more to wander through her distant forests. In February, 1820, +I sailed from the Clyde, on board the Glenbervie, a fine West +Indiaman.</p> + +<p>Sad and mournful was the story we heard on entering the river +Demerara. The yellow fever had swept off numbers of the old +inhabitants, and the mortal remains of many a new comer were daily +passing down the streets, in slow and mute procession.</p> + +<p>I myself was soon attacked severely by the fever, but was +fortunate enough to recover after much suffering. Next I was +wounded painfully in the foot by treading on a hard stump, while +pursuing a red woodpecker in the depths of the forest. The wound +healed in about three weeks, and I again joyfully sallied +forth.</p> + +<p>Let us now turn attention to the sloth, whose haunts have +hitherto been so little known. He is a scarce and solitary animal, +living in trees, and being good food, is<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> never allowed to +escape. He inhabits remote and gloomy forests, where snakes take up +their abode, and where cruelly stinging ants and scorpions, and +swamps, and innumerable thorny shrubs and bushes obstruct the steps +of civilized man. We are now in the sloth's own domain.</p> + +<p>Some years ago I kept a sloth in my room for several months. I +often took him out of the house and placed him on the ground. If +the ground were rough, he would pull himself forward, by means of +his forelegs, at a pretty good pace. He invariably shaped his +course at once towards the nearest tree. But if I put him on a +smooth and well-trodden part of the road, he appeared to be in +trouble and distress. His favourite abode was the back of a chair, +and after getting all his legs in a line on the topmost part of it, +he would hang there for hours together, and often with a low and +inward cry, would seem to invite me to take notice of him.</p> + +<p>We will now take a view of the vampire. As there was a free +entrance and exit to the vampire, in the loft where I slept, I had +many fine opportunities of paying attention to this nocturnal +surgeon. He does not always live on blood. When the moon shone +brightly, and the bananas were ripe, I could see him approach and +eat them. The vampire measures about 26 inches from wing to wing +extended. He frequents old abandoned houses and hollow trees, and +sometimes a cluster of them may be seen in the forest hanging head +downward from the branch of a tree.</p> + +<p>Some years ago I went to the river Paumaron with a Scotch +gentleman, by name Tarbet. Next morning I heard him muttering in +his hammock, and now and then letting fall an imprecation or two, +just about the time he ought to have been saying his morning +prayers. "What is the matter, sir," I said, softly; "is anything +amiss?" "What's the matter?" answered he surlily; "why, the +vampires have been sucking me to death."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span>As soon as there was light enough. I went to his hammock, and +saw it much stained with blood. "There, see how these infernal imps +have been drawing my life's blood," said he, thrusting a foot out +of the hammock. The vampire had tapped his great toe; there was a +wound somewhat less than that made by a leech; the blood was still +oozing from it. I conjectured he might have lost from ten to twelve +ounces of blood.</p> + +<p>I had often wished to have been once sucked by the vampire, in +order that I might have it in my power to say it had really +happened to me. There can be no pain in the operation, for the +patient is always asleep when the vampire is sucking him; and as +for the loss of a few ounces of blood, that would be a trifle in +the long run. Many a night have I slept with my foot out of the +hammock to tempt this winged surgeon, expecting that he would be +there; but it was all in vain; the vampire never sucked me, and I +could never account for his not doing so, for we were inhabitants +of the same loft for months together.</p> + +<p>Let us now forget for awhile the quadrupeds and other animals, +and take a glance at the native Indians of these forests. There are +five principal tribes in Demerara, commonly known by the name of +Warow, Arowack, Acoway, Carib, and Macoushi. They live in small +hamlets consisting never of more than twelve huts. These huts are +always in the forest near a river. They are open on all sides +(except those of the Macoushi) and covered with a species of +palm-leaf.</p> + +<p>Both men and women are unclothed. They are a very clean people, +and wash in the river at least twice a day. They have very few +diseases. I never saw an idiot among their number. Their women +never perish at childbirth, owing no doubt to their never wearing +stays. They are very jealous of their liberty, and much attached to +their own mode of living. Some Indians who have accompanied white +men to Europe, on returning to their<span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span> own land, have thrown +off their clothes, and gone back into the forests.</p> + +<p>Let us now return to natural history. One morning I killed a +Coulacanara, a snake 14 feet long, large enough to have crushed any +one of us to death. After skinning it I could easily get my head +into his mouth, as its jaws admit of wonderful extension. A Dutch +friend of mine killed a boa 22 feet long, with a pair of stag's +horns in his mouth. He had swallowed the stag but could not get the +horns down. In this plight the Dutchman found him as he was going +in his canoe up the river, and sent a ball through his head.</p> + +<p>One Sunday morning a negro informed me that he had discovered a +great snake in a large tree which had been upset by a whirlwind and +was lying decaying on the ground. I had been in search of a large +serpent for a long time. I told two negroes to follow me while I +led the way with a cutlass in my hand. Taking as an additional +weapon a long lance, I carried this perpendicularly before me, with +the point about a foot from the ground. The snake had not moved, +and on getting up to him, I struck him with the lance just behind +the neck, and pinned him to the ground. That moment the negro next +to me seized the lance and held it fast in its place, while I +dashed up to grapple with the serpent, and to get hold of his tail +before he could do any mischief.</p> + +<p>The snake on being pinned gave a tremendous hiss. We had a sharp +fray, rotten sticks flying on all sides, and each party struggling +for superiority. I called to the second negro to throw himself on +me, as I found I was not heavy enough. He did so and the additional +weight was of great service. I had now got firm hold of his tail, +and after a violent struggle or two, he gave in. So I contrived to +unloose my braces and with them tied up the snake's mouth.</p> + +<p>The serpent now tried to better himself and set resolutely to +work, but we overpowered him. We contrived<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span> to make him twist +himself round the shaft of the lance, and then prepared to convey +him out of the forest. I stood at his head and held it firm under +my arm, one negro supported the belly, and the other the tail. In +this order we slowly moved towards home, resting ten times. The +snake vainly fought hard for freedom. At my abode I cut his throat. +He bled like an ox. By next evening he was completely +dissected.</p> + +<p>When I had done with the carcase of the great snake it was +conveyed into the forest, as I expected it would attract the king +of the vultures, as soon as time should have rendered it +sufficiently savoury. In a few days it sent forth that odour which +a carcase should, and about twenty of the common vultures came and +perched on the neighbouring trees. The king of the vultures came +too; and I observed that none of the common ones inclined to begin +breakfast till his majesty had finished. When he had consumed as +much snake as nature informed him would do him good, he retired to +the top of a high mora-tree, and then all the common vultures fell +to and made a hearty meal.</p> + +<p>When canoeing down the noble river Essequibo I had an adventure +with a cayman, which we caught with a shark hook baited with the +flesh of the acouri. The cayman was ten and a half feet long. He +had swallowed the bait in the night and was thus fast to the end of +a rope. My people pulled him up from the depths and out he +came—"<i>monstrum horrendum, informe</i>." I saw that he was +in a state of fear and perturbation. I jumped on his back, +immediately seized his forelegs, and by main force twisted them on +his back; thus they served for a bridle.</p> + +<p>The cayman now seemed to have recovered from his surprise and +plunged furiously, and lashed the sand with his long tail. I was +out of reach of the strokes of it, by being near his head. He +continued to plunge and strike, and made my seat very +uncomfortable. It must have been a fine sight for an unoccupied +spectator. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id= +"Page_326">326</a></span> people roared in triumph and pulled +us above forty yards on the sand. It was the first time I was ever +on a cayman's back. Should it be asked how I managed to keep my +seat, I would answer that I hunted for some years with Lord +Darlington's foxhounds.</p> + +<p>After some further struggling the cayman gave in. I now managed +to tie up his jaws. He was finally conveyed to the canoe and then +to the place where we had suspended our hammocks. There I cut his +throat and after breakfast commenced the dissection.</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"> +327</a></span></p> + +<h4>ARTHUR YOUNG</h4> + +<h4>Travels in France</h4> + +<div class="center"><i>I.—The First Journey, 1787</i></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Arthur Young was born September 11, 1741, at Whitehall; died +April 20, 1820. Most of his life was spent on his patrimonial +estate at Bradfield Hall, near Bury St. Edmunds, England. He was +the son of the Rev. Dr. Arthur Young, rector of Bradfield, +Prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral, and Chaplain to Arthur Onslow, +Speaker of the House of Commons. On his father's death he took to +farming, but at the same time addicted himself to literature, +becoming a parliamentary reporter. Arthur Young was indeed much +more successful in literary pursuits than in the practice of +husbandry. His book entitled "A Tour Through the Southern Counties +of England" achieved great popularity. This he actively followed by +writing other works describing agricultural conditions in various +parts of England, and in Ireland. His vivid and interesting style +secured for his treatises a very wide circulation. In 1784 he +commenced the issue of an annual register entitled "The Annals of +Agriculture" of which 45 volumes were published. Three years later +an invitation from the Comte de la Rochefoucauld induced Young to +visit France. He went a second and a third time, and created a +sensation by the publication of an account of his experiences +during the three consecutive years that immediately preceded the +Revolution. Arthur Young travelled on horseback through many +districts of France in the midst of the disturbances. So realistic +is his account that it is regarded as the most reliable record ever +written of the French rural conditions of that period. The French +Directory ordered all Young's works to be translated into French, +and they are as popular as ever to-day across the Channel.</p> +</div> + +<p>There are two methods of writing travels; to register the +journey itself, or the result of it. In the former case it is a +diary; the latter usually falls into the shape of essays on +distinct subjects. A journal form has the advantage of carrying +with a greater degree of credibility; and, of course, more weight. +A traveller who thus registers his observations is detected the +moment he writes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id= +"Page_328">328</a></span> things he has not seen. If he sees +little, he must register little. The reader is saved from +imposition. On the other hand a diary necessarily leads to +repetitions on the same subjects and the same ideas.</p> + +<p>In favour of composing essays there is the counterbalancing +advantage that the matter comes with the full effect of force and +completeness from the author. Another admirable circumstance is +brevity, by the rejection of all useless details. After weighing +the <i>pour</i> and the <i>contre</i>, I think it not impracticable +to retain in my case the benefit of both plans.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Journal</span>. May 15. The strait that +separates England, fortunately for her, from the rest of the world, +must be crossed many times before the traveller ceases to be +surprised at the sudden and universal change that surrounds him on +landing at Calais. The scene, the people, the language, every +object is new. The noble improvement of a salt marsh by Mons. +Mourons of this town, occasioned my acquaintance some time ago with +that gentleman. I spent an agreeable and instructive evening at his +house.</p> + +<p>May 17. Nine hours rolling at anchor had so fatigued my mare, +that I thought it necessary to rest her one day; but this morning I +left Calais. For a few miles the country resembles parts of Norfolk +and Suffolk. The aspect is the same on to Boulogne. Towards that +town I was pleased to find many seats belonging to people who +reside there. How often are false ideas conceived from reading and +report. I imagined that nobody but farmers and labourers in France +lived in the country; and the first ride I take in that kingdom +shows me a score of country seats. The road is excellent.</p> + +<p>May 18. Boulogne is not an ugly town, and from the ramparts of +the upper part the view is beautiful. Many persons from England +reside here, their misfortunes in trade or extravagance in living +making their sojourn abroad more agreeable than at home.</p> + +<p><span +class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329"> +329</a></span>The country around improves. It is more inclosed. There are some +fine meadows about Bonbrie, and several chateaux. I am not +professedly on husbandry in this diary, but must just observe, that +it is to the full as bad as the country is good; corn miserable and +yellow with weeds, yet all summer fallowed with lost attention.</p> + +<p>May 22. Poverty and poor crops at Amiens. Women are now +ploughing with a pair of horses to sow barley. The difference of +the customs of the two nations is in nothing more striking than in +the labours of the sex; in England it is very little they will do +in the fields except to glean and make hay; the first is a party of +pilfering, and the second of pleasure; in France they plough and +fill the dung-cart.</p> + +<p>May 25. The environs of Clermont are picturesque. The hills +about Liancourt are pretty and spread with a kind of cultivation I +have never seen before, a mixture of vineyards (for here the vines +first appear), gardens and corn. A piece of wheat, a scrap of +lucorne, a patch of clover or vetches, a bit of vine with cherry +and other fruit trees scattered among all, and the whole cultivated +with the spade; it makes a pretty appearance, but must form a poor +system of trifling.</p> + +<p>The forest around Chantilly, belonging to the Prince of +Condé, is immense, spreading far and wide. They say the +capitainerie, or paramountship, is above 100 miles in +circumference. That is to say, all the inhabitants for that extent +are pestered with game, without permission to destroy it, for one +man's diversion. Ought not these capitaineries to be +extirpated?</p> + +<p>May 27. At Versailles. After breakfasting with Count de la +Rochefoucauld at his apartments in the palace, where he is grand +master of the wardrobe, was introduced by him to the Duke de la +Rochefoucauld. As the duke is going to Luchon in the Pyrenees, I am +to have the honour of being one of the party. The ceremony of the +day was the king's investing the Duke of<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span> Berri with the +<i>cordon bleu</i>. The queen's band was in the chapel during the +function, but the musical effect was thin and weak. During the +service the king was seated between his two brothers, and seemed by +his carriage and inattention to wish himself a hunting. The queen +is the most beautiful woman I saw to-day.</p> + +<p>May 30. At Orleans. The country around is one universal flat, +unenclosed, uninteresting, and even tedious, but the prospect from +the steeple of the fine cathedral is commanding, extending over an +unbounded plain, through which the magnificent Loire bends his +stately way, in sight for 14 leagues.</p> + +<p>May 31. On leaving Orleans, enter the miserable province of +Sologne. The poor people who cultivate the soil here are +métayers, that is, men who hire the land without ability to +stock it; the proprietor is forced to provide seed and cattle, and +he and his tenant divide the produce; a miserable system that +perpetuates poverty and prevents instruction. The same wretched +country continues to La Loge; the fields are scenes of pitiable +management, as the houses are full of misery. Heaven grant me +patience while I see a country thus neglected, and forgive me the +oaths I swear at the absence and ignorance of the possessors.</p> + +<p>June 11. See for the first time the Pyrenees, at the distance of +150 miles. Towards Cahors the country changes and has something of +a savage aspect, yet houses are seen everywhere, and one-third of +it under vines. The town is bad; its chief trade and resource are +wines and brandies.</p> + +<p>June 14. Reach Toulouse, which is a very large and very ancient +city, but not peopled in proportion to its size. It has had a +university since 1215 and has always prided itself on its taste for +literature and art. The noble quay is of great length.</p> + +<p>June 16. A ridge of hills on the other side of the Garonne, +which began at Toulouse, became more and<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span> more regular +yesterday; and is undoubtedly the most distant ramification of the +Pyrenees, reaching into this vast vale quite to Toulouse, but no +farther. Approach the mountains; the lower ones are all cultivated, +but the higher ones seem covered with wood. Meet many wagons, each +loaded with two casks of wine, quite backward in the carriage, and +as the hind wheels are much higher than the lower ones, it shows +that these mountaineers have more sense than John Bull.</p> + +<p>The wheels of these wagons are all shod with wood instead of +iron. Here for the first time, see rows of maples, with vines +trained in festoons from tree to tree; they are conducted by a rope +of bramble, vine cutting, or willow. They give many grapes, but bad +wine. Pass St. Martino, and then a large village of well built +houses, without a single glass window.</p> + +<p>June 17. St. Gaudens is an improving town, with many new houses, +something more than comfortable. An uncommon view of St. Bertrand. +You break at once upon a vale sunk deep enough beneath the point of +view to command every hedge and tree, with that town clustered +round its large cathedral, on a rising ground. The mountains rise +proudly around, and give their rough frame to this exquisite little +picture. Immense quantities of poultry in all this country; most of +it the people salt and keep in grease.</p> + +<p>Quit the Garonne some leagues before Serpe, where the river +Neste falls into it. The road to Bagnére is along this +river, in a narrow valley, at one end of which is built the town of +Luchon, the termination of our journey; which has to me been one of +the most agreeable I ever undertook. Having now crossed the +kingdom, and been in many French inns, I shall in general observe, +that they are on an average better in two respects, and worse in +all the rest, than those in England. We have lived better in point +of eating and drinking beyond a question, than we should have done +in going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"> +332</a></span> from London to the Highlands of Scotland, at double +the expense.</p> + +<p>The common cookery of the French gives great advantage. It is +true they roast everything to a chip if they are not cautioned, but +they give such a number and variety of dishes, that if you do not +like some, there are others to please your palate. The dessert at a +French inn has no rival at an English one. But you have no parlour +to eat in; only a room with two, three, or four beds. Apartments +badly fitted up; the walls whitewashed; or paper of different sorts +in the same room; or tapestry so old as to be a fit <i>nidus</i> +for moths and spiders; and the furniture such, that an English +innkeeper would light his fire with it.</p> + +<p>For a table you have everywhere a board laid on cross bars, +which are so conveniently contrived as to leave room for your legs +only at the end. Oak chairs with rush bottoms, and the back +universally perpendicular, defying all idea of rest after fatigue. +Doors give music as well as entrance; the wind whistles through +their chinks; and hinges grate discord. Windows admit rain as well +as light; when shut they are not easy to open; and when open not +easy to shut.</p> + +<p>Mops, brooms, and scrubbing brushes are not in the catalogue of +the necessaries of a French inn. Bells there are none; the +<i>fille</i> must always be bawled for; and when she appears, is +neither neat, well dressed, nor handsome. The kitchen is black with +smoke; the master commonly the cook, and the less you see of the +cooking the more likely you are to have a stomach to your dinner. +The mistress rarely classes civility or attention to her guests +among the requisites of her trade. We are so unaccustomed in +England to live in our bed-chambers that it is at first awkward in +France to find that people live nowhere else. Here I find that +everybody, let his rank be what it may, lives in his +bed-chamber.</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id= +"Page_333">333</a></span><i>II.—Second Journey, 1788</i></div> + +<p>August 27. Cherbourg. Not a place for a residence longer than is +necessary. I was here fleeced more infamously than at any other +town in France.</p> + +<p>Sept. 5. To Montauban. The poor people seem poor indeed; the +children terribly ragged, if possible worse clad than if with no +clothes at all; as to shoes and stockings, they are luxuries. A +beautiful girl of six or seven playing with a stick, and smiling +under such a bundle of rags as made my heart ache to see her. +One-third of this province seems uncultivated, and nearly all of it +in misery. What have kings, and ministers, and parliaments, and +states, to answer for their prejudices, seeing millions of hands +that would be industrious, idle and starving through the execrable +maxims of despotism, or the equally detestable prejudices of a +feudal nobility. Sleep at the "Lion d'Or," at Montauban, an +abominable hole.</p> + +<p>The 8th. Enter Bas Bretagne. One recognises at once another +people, meeting numbers who know no French. Enter Guingamp by +gateways, towers, and battlements, apparently the oldest military +architecture; every part denoting antiquity, and in the best +preservation. The habitations of the poor are miserable heaps of +dirt; no glass, and scarcely any light; but they have earth +chimneys.</p> + +<p>Sept. 21. Came to an improvement in the midst of sombre country. +Four good houses of stone and slate, and a few acres run to +wretched grass, which have been tilled, but all savage, and become +almost as rough as the rest. I was afterwards informed that this +improvement, as it is called, was wrought by Englishmen, at the +expense of a gentleman they ruined as well as themselves. I +demanded how it had been done? Pare and burn, and sow wheat, then +rye, and then oats. Thus it is for ever and ever! The same follies, +blundering, and ignorance;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" +id="Page_334">334</a></span> and then all the fools in the +country said as they do now, that these wastes are good for +nothing. To my amazement I find that they reach within three miles +of the great commercial city of Nantes.</p> + +<p>The 22nd. At Nantes, a town which has that sign of prosperity of +new buildings that never deceives. The quarter of the +Comédie is magnificent, all the streets at right angles and +of white stone. Messrs. Epivent had the goodness to attend me in a +water expedition, to view the establishment of Mr. Wilkinson, for +boring cannon, in an island on the Loire, below Nantes. Until that +well-known English manufacturer arrived, the French knew nothing of +the art of casting cannon solid, and then boring them.</p> + +<p>Nantes is as <i>enflammé</i> in the cause of liberty as +any town in France can be. The conversations I have witnessed here +prove how great a change is effected in the mind of the French, nor +do I believe it will be possible for the present government to last +half a century longer. The American revolution has laid the +foundation of another in France, if government does not take care +of itself. On the 23rd one of the twelve prisoners from the +Bastille arrived here—he was the most violent of them +all—and his imprisonment has not silenced him.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Author's Note.</span>[—It wanted no +great spirit of prophecy to foretell this revolution; but later +events have shown that I was very wide of the mark when I talked of +fifty years. The twelve gentlemen of Bretagne deputed to +Versailles, mentioned above, were sent with a denunciation of the +ministers for their suspension of provincial parliaments. They were +at once sent to the Bastille. It was this war of the king and the +parliaments that brought about the assembly of the States General, +the step being decided on by the assembly of Grenoble, July 21, +1788.]</p> + +<div class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"> +335</a></span><i>III.—Third Journey, 1789</i></div> + +<p>June 5. Passage to Calais; 14 hours for reflection in a vehicle +that does not allow one power to reflect.</p> + +<p>The 8th. At Paris, which is at present in such a ferment about +the States General, now holding at Versailles, that conversation is +absolutely absorbed by them. The nobility and clergy demand one +thing, the commons another. The king, court, nobility, clergy, +army, and parliament are nearly in the same situation. All these +consider, with equal dread, the ideas of liberty, now afloat; +except the king, who, for reasons obvious to those who know his +character, troubles himself little, even with circumstances that +concern his character the most intimately.</p> + +<p>The 9th. The business going forward at present in the pamphlet +shops of Paris is incredible. Every hour produces something new. +This spirit of reading political tracts spreads into the provinces, +so that all presses of France are equally employed. +Nineteen-twentieths of these productions are in favour of liberty, +and commonly violent against the clergy and nobility. Is it not +wonderful, that while the press teems with the most levelling and +seditious principles, that if put into execution would overturn the +monarchy, nothing in reply appears, and not the least step is taken +by the court to restrain this extreme licentiousness of +publication? It is easy to conceive the spirit that must thus be +raised among the people.</p> + +<p>The 10th. Everything conspires to render the present period in +France critical. The want of bread is terrible, and accounts arrive +every moment from the provinces of riots and disturbances, and +calling in the military, to preserve the peace of the markets. It +appears that there would have been no real scarcity if M. Necker +would have let the corn trade alone.</p> + +<p>The 15th. This has been a rich day, and such an one<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span> as +ten years ago none could believe would ever arrive in France. Went +to the Hall of States at Versailles, a very important debate being +expected on the condition of the nation. M. l'Abbé +Sieyès opened it. He is a violent republican, absolutely +opposed to the present government, which he thinks too bad to be +regulated, and wishes to see overturned. He speaks ungracefully and +uneloquently, but logically.</p> + +<p>M. le Comte de Mirabeau replied, speaking without notes for near +an hour in most eloquent style. He opposed with great force the +reasoning of the Abbé, and was loudly applauded.</p> + +<p>The 20th. News! News! Everyone stares at what everyone might +have expected. A message from the king to the presidents of the +three orders, that he should meet them on Monday; and, under +pretence of preparing the hall for the occasion, the French guards +were placed with bayonets to prevent any of the deputies entering +the room. The circumstances of doing this ill-judged act of +violence have been as ill-advised as the act itself.</p> + +<p>The 24th. The ferment at Paris is beyond conception. All this +day 10,000 people have been in the Palais Royal. M. Necker's plans +of finance are severely criticised, even by his friends.</p> + +<p>The 26th. Every hour that passes seems to give the people fresh +spirit. The meetings at the palais are more numerous and more +violent. Nothing less than a revolution in the government and a +free constitution is talked of by all ranks of people; but the +supine stupidity of the court is without example. The king's offers +of negotiation have been rejected. He changes his mind from day to +day.</p> + +<p>The 30th. At Nangis, having come from Paris. Entertained at the +château of the Marquis de Guerchy. The perruquier in the town +that dressed me this morning tells me that everybody is determined +to pay no taxes; that the soldiers will never fire on the people; +but if they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id= +"Page_337">337</a></span> should, it is better to be shot, +than starved. He gave me a frightful account of the misery of the +people. In the market I saw the wheat sold out under the regulation +of the magistrates, that no person should buy more than two bushels +of wheat at a market, to prevent monopolising. A party of dragoons +had been drawn up before the market-cross to prevent violence.</p> + +<p>The 15th. At Nancy. Letters from Paris announce that all is +confusion. The ministry has been removed and M. Necker ordered to +quit France quietly. All to whom I spoke agreed that it was fatal +news and that it would occasion great commotion. I am told on every +hand that everything is to be feared from the people, because bread +is so dear, they are half starved, and consequently ready for +commotion. But they are waiting on Paris, which shows the +importance of great cities in the life of a nation. Without Paris, +I question whether the present revolution, which is fast working in +France, could have had an origin.</p> + +<p>The 20th. To Strasburg, through one of the richest scenes of +cultivation in France, though Flanders exceeds it. I arrived there +at a critical moment, for a detachment of troops had brought +interesting news of the revolt in Paris—the Gardes +Françoises joining the people; the little dependence on the +rest of the troops; the storming of the Bastille; in a word, of the +absolute overthrow of the old government.</p> + +<p>The 21st. I have been witness to scenes curious to a foreigner, +but dreadful to Frenchmen who are considerate. Passing through the +square of the Hotel de Ville, the mob was breaking the windows with +stones, notwithstanding an officer and detachment of horse were +there. Perceiving that the troops would not attack them, except in +words and menaces, the rioters grew more violent, broke the windows +of the Hotel de Ville with stones, attempted to beat in the door +with iron bars, and placed ladders to the windows.</p> + +<p><span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span>In about a quarter of an hour, which gave time for the assembled +magistrates to escape by a back door, they burst all open, and +entered like a torrent with a universal shout of spectators. From +that minute a shower of casements, sashes, shutters, chairs, +tables, sofas, books, papers, pictures, etc., rained incessantly +from all the windows of the house, which is eighty feet long, and +next followed tiles, skirting boards, banisters, frame-work, and +everything that could be detached from the building. The troops, +both horse and foot, were quiet spectators.</p> + +<p>The 30th. At Dijon. At the inn here is a gentleman, +unfortunately a seigneur, with wife, three servants, and infant, +who escaped from their flaming château half naked in the +night; all their property lost except the land itself—and +this family, valued and esteemed by the neighbours, with many +virtues to command the love of the poor, and no oppressions to +provoke their enmity. Such abominable actions must bring the more +detestation to the cause from being unnecessary; the kingdom might +have been settled in a real system of liberty, without the +<i>regeneration</i> of fire and sword, plunder, and bloodshed.</p> + +<p>August 19. At Thuytz. At eleven at night, a full hour after I +had been asleep, the commander of a file of citizen militia, with +their muskets, swords, sabres, and pikes entered my chamber, +surrounded my bed, and demanded my passport; I was forced to give +it, and also my papers. They told me I was undoubtedly a +conspirator with the queen, the Comte d'Artois, and the Comte +d'Entragues (who has property here), who had employed me as a +surveyor to measure their fields, in order to double their taxes. +My papers being in English saved me. But I had a narrow escape. It +would have been a delicate situation to have been kept a prisoner +probably in some common gaol, while they sent a courier to Paris at +my expense.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS, VOLUME 19***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23998-h.txt or 23998-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23998">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/9/9/23998</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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