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diff --git a/23998.txt b/23998.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..865a19e --- /dev/null +++ b/23998.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11493 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19, by +Various, Edited by Arthur Mee and James Alexander Hammerton + + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The World's Greatest Books, Volume 19 + Travel and Adventure + + +Author: Various + +Editor: Arthur Mee and James Alexander Hammerton + +Release Date: December 27, 2007 [eBook #23998] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS, VOLUME +19*** + + +E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Turgut Dincer, Suzanne Lybarger, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 23998-h.htm or 23998-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23998/23998-h/23998-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23998/23998-h.zip) + + + +--------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's note: | + | | + | In this etext an accented letter with a macron is | + | represented by [=x] | + +--------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS, VOL. XIX + +TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE + +Joint Editors + +ARTHUR MEE +Editor and Founder of the Book of Knowledge + +J. A. HAMMERTON +Editor of Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia + + + + + + + +[Illustration: James Boswell] + + + +Wm. H. Wise & Co. + +Copyright, MCMX Mckinlay, Stone & Mackenzie + + + + +Table of Contents + + + PORTRAIT OF JAMES BOSWELL _Frontispiece_ + + BAKER, SIR SAMUEL Page + Albert N'yanza 1 + + BORROW, GEORGE + Wild Wales 13 + Bible in Spain 22 + + BOSWELL, JAMES + Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides 37 + + BRUCE, JAMES + Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile 47 + + BURCKHARDT, JOHN LEWIS + Travels in Nubia 57 + + BURTON, SIR RICHARD + Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah 67 + + BUTLER, SIR WILLIAM + Great Lone Land 79 + Wild North Land 89 + + COOK, JAMES + Voyages Round the World 100 + + DAMPIER, WILLIAM + New Voyage Round the World 112 + + DARWIN, CHARLES + Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle 124 + + DUBOIS, FELIX + Timbuctoo the Mysterious 136 + + HAKLUYT, RICHARD + Principal Navigations 148 + + KINGLAKE, A. W. + Eothen 159 + + LAYARD, AUSTEN HENRY + Nineveh and Its Remains 171 + + LINNAEUS, CAROLUS + Tour in Lapland 181 + + LIVINGSTONE, DAVID + Missionary Travels and Researches 191 + + LOTI, PIERRE + Desert 201 + + MANDEVILLE, SIR JOHN + Voyage and Travel 210 + + PARK, MUNGO + Travels in the Interior of Africa 219 + + POLO, MARCO + Travels 229 + + SAINT PIERRE, BERNADIN DE + Voyage to the Isle of France 241 + + SPEKE, JOHN HANNING + Discovery of the Source of the Nile 251 + + STERNE, LAURENCE + Sentimental Journey through France and Italy 263 + + VOLTAIRE + Letters on the English 275 + + WALLACE, ALFRED RUSSEL + Travels on the Amazon 285 + + WARBURTON, ELIOT + Crescent and the Cross 299 + + WATERTON, CHARLES + Wanderings in South America 313 + + YOUNG, ARTHUR + Travels in France 327 + +A Complete Index of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS will be found at the end +of Volume XX. + + + + +_Travel and Adventure_ + +SIR SAMUEL BAKER + +The Albert N'yanza + + +_I.--Explorations of the Nile Source_ + + 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, 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 deg. 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 deg. 17'). They did not see the Nile again until they arrived +in N. lat. 3 deg. 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. + +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 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. + + +_II.--Perils of Darkest Africa_ + +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, Tetel, 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, +to parley with Ibrahim, and came to terms with him by means of bribes of +a double-barrelled gun and some gold. + +Under his auspices our joint caravan cleared the palisaded villages of +Ellyria, after paying blackmail to the chief, Legge, whose villainous +countenance was stamped with ferocity, avarice and sensuality. Glad to +escape from this country, we crossed the Kan[=i][=e]ti 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 Tarrangolle, 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 Far[=a]joke, 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. + + +_III.--Discovery of the Nile's Sources_ + +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 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 _mise en scene_ 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. + +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! + +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. + + +_IV.--Exploring the Great Lake_ + +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 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. + +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! + +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 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. + + +_V.--Escape from Savage Enemies_ + +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. + +Of course, we could proceed no farther by canoe, and 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 +Patoo[=a]n, 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 Mor[=u], +practically deserted by everyone except our two personal attendants, and +all but starved. + +[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.] + + + + +GEORGE BORROW + +Wild Wales + + +_I.--Its People, Language and Scenery_ + + 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 FICTION) 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. + +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. + +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). + +"This is as it should be," said I to myself; "I now feel I am in Wales." +I repeated the question in Welsh. + +"Cefn bach," she replied--which signifies the little ridge. + +"Diolch iti," I replied, and proceeded on my way. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Before leaving Llangollen I went over the Berwyn again to the valley of +Ceiriog, to see the birthplace of 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Good-day," said I to her in Welsh. "Fine weather." + +"In truth, sir, it is fine weather for the harvest." + +"Are you alone in the house?" + +"I am, sir; my husband has gone to his labour." + +"Have you any children?" + +"Two, sir, but they are out in service." + +"What is the name of the river near here?" + +"It is called the Conway. You have heard of it, sir?" + +"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." + +"Is one river older than another, sir?" + +"That's a shrewd question. Can you read?" + +"I can, sir." + +"Have you any books?" + +"I have the Bible, sir." + +"Will you show it me?" + +"Willingly, sir." + +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.) + +"I may say these words," said I--"let me go through your country." + +"No one will hinder you, sir, for you seem a civil gentleman." + +"No one has hindered me hitherto. Wherever I have been in Wales I have +experienced nothing but kindness." + +"What country is yours, sir?" + +"England. Did you not know that by my tongue?" + +"I did not, sir. I took you for a Cumro of the south." + +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. + + +_II.--On Snowdon's Lofty Summit_ + +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. + +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? + +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. + +"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." + +To this harangue Henrietta listened with attention; three or four +English, who stood nigh, with grinning scorn, and a Welsh gentleman with +much interest. + +The Welshman, coming forward, shook me by the hand, exclaiming, "Wyt ti +Lydaueg?" (Are you from Brittany?) + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +An hour's walking brought me to Festiniog, the birthplace of Rhys Goch, +a celebrated bard, and a partisan of Owen Glendower. Next morning I +crossed a wild and 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. + +"Arenig Vawr," he replied, or something like it. I asked if anybody +lived upon it. + +"No," he replied; "too cold for man." + +"Fox?" said I. + +"No! too cold for fox." + +"Crow?" said I. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--Wanderings in South Wales_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +From Merthyr Tydvil I journeyed to Caerfili by Pen-y-Glas; then to +Newport; then by Caer Went, once an 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. + + + + +The Bible in Spain + + +_I.--The First Journey_ + + 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. + +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 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 Espana!" +and scoured on my way with more speed than before. + +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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +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. + +"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--Senor Don +Benito Mol, how do you do?" + +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. + +Upon my asking him who he was, the following conversation ensued between +us. + +"I am a Swiss of Lucerne, Benedict Mol by name, once a soldier in the +Walloon guard, and now a soap-boiler, at your service." + +"You speak the language of Spain very imperfectly," said I. "How long +have you been in the country?" + +"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." + +"Have you, then, realised a large capital in Spain?" said I, glancing at +his hat and the rest of his apparel. + +"Not a cuart, not a cuart; these two wash-balls are all that I possess." + +"Perhaps you are the son of good parents, and have lands and money in +your own country wherewith to support yourself?" + +"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." + +At various times during the next two years I again met Benedict Mol. + +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. + + +_II.--Travels in Northern Spain_ + +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. + +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 May I bade farewell to my friends, and set out for Salamanca. + +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. + +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. + +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 Coruna, where stands the tomb of Mocre, built by the chivalrous +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. + +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. + +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?" + +It was indeed Benedict. He had walked all the way from Madrid, +supporting himself by begging. + +"What motive could possibly bring you such a distance?" I asked him. + +"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." + +"And yet you have come to this country in search of treasure?" + +"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." + +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. + +_III.--The Alcalde of Finisterra_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +MYSELF: Who are you and what do you want? By what authority do you thus +presume to interfere with me? + +FIGURE: By the authority of the Justicia of Finisterra. Follow me +peaceably, Calros, or it will be the worse with you. + +"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." + +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: + +"Who are you, where is your passport, and what brings you to +Finisterra?" + +MYSELF: I am an Englishman. Here is my passport, and I came to see +Finisterra. + +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." + +MYSELF: I have already told you that I am a foreigner. I, of course, +carry a foreign passport. + +ALCALDE: Then you mean to assert that you are not Calros Rey? + +MYSELF: I never heard before of such a king, nor indeed of such a name. + +ALCALDE: Hark to the fellow; he has the audacity to say that he has +never heard of Calros the pretender, who calls himself king. + +MYSELF: 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. + +ALCALDE: See, you have betrayed yourself; that is the very person we +suppose him to be. + +MYSELF: 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. + +ALCALDE: 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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 manner, skulking across the land? Not so I trow. He would +have come in a ship." + +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. + +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." + +MYSELF: The New Testament. + +ALCALDE: Why do you carry such a book with you? + +MYSELF: One of my principal motives in visiting Finisterra was to carry +this book to that wild place. + +ALCALDE: 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. + +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. + +From Corcuvion I returned to Compostella and Coruna, 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. + +"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 will only be to return, for he is bewitched about this same +treasure." + +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. + +I had, moreover, disposed of a considerable number of Testaments with my +own hands. + + +_IV.--The Persecution_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"Well, Benedict," I told him, "I have nothing to say save that I hope +you will succeed in your digging." + +"Thank you, lieber Herr, thank you!" Here he stopped short and started. +"Heiliger Gott! Suppose I should not find the treasure, after all?" + +"Very rationally said. It is not too late. Put on your old garments, +grasp your ragged staff, and help me to circulate the Gospel." + +He mused for a moment, then shook his head. "No, no," he cried; "I must +accomplish my destiny! I shall find it--the schatz--it is still +there--it _must_ be there!" + +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.... + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +NOTE.--At this point the narrative abruptly ends. Borrow returned from +Morocco to England in the spring of 1840. + + + + +JAMES BOSWELL + +Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides + + +_I.--Edinburgh, Fifeshire, and Aberdeen_ + + 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 LIVES AND LETTERS), 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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 for us, and we went with +them and saw Marischal College. + +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. + + +_II.--Through the Macbeth Country_ + +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. + +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 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: + + How far is't called to Forres? What are these, + So withered, and so wild is their attire? + They look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, + And yet are on't. + +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: + + This castle has a pleasant seat: the air + Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself + Unto our gentle senses. + +Just as we came out of it a raven perched upon one of the chimney-tops +and croaked. Then I repeated: + + The raven himself is hoarse, + That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan + Under my battlements. + +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, 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. + + +_III.--In the Misty Hebrides_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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: "_Quantum cedat virtutibus aurum_" (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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--In the West of Scotland_ + +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 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. + +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." + +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 +courtsy 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. + +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 _Sam_ Johnson at the very spot where _Ben_ 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. + + + + +JAMES BRUCE + +Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile + + +_I.--The City of the Dog Star_ + + 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. + +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. + +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 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 Tigre, in Abyssinia, on November 15. + +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 Tigre. 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 Tigre--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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Savage Native Practices_ + +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, 1-1/2 miles in circumference. A little way +from Gondar to the north is Koscam, the palace of the iteghe 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. + +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 iteghe 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 Ozoro Esther, and others; and thereafter became +friends of the queen and her suite in the palace. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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: + +"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." + +On June 5 the king and Michael retired to Tigre; 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. + + +_III.--At the Source of the Nile_ + +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 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 Lunae 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 deg. 59' 25" north latitude. +Equally careful observations proved them to be 36 deg. 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." + +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. + + +_IV.--The Return to Egypt_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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 each was a large ring of gold; she +had a gold necklace of several rows, and her ankles bore manacles of +gold. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +JOHN LEWIS BURCKHARDT + +Travels in Nubia + + +_I.--On the Eastern Bank of the Nile_ + + 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 + Goettingen. 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. + +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 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. + +After crossing the mountain opposite Philae, 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. + +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. + +Beyond Wady Halfa is the second cataract, and the foaming waters dashing +against the black-and-green 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Discoveries in Egyptian Temples_ + +On March 15 my guide and I escaped from the Mamelouk's camp, and at +Kolbe 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 +6-1/2 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--Across the Nubian Desert_ + +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 Esne, which I had made my headquarters in Upper Egypt. + +I remained at Esne 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 Esne, for the +confines of Sennaar, and I determined to accompany it and try my +fortune on this new route without any servant and in the garb of a poor +trader. + +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. + +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 Shigre, +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 Shigre consist of huge blocks of granite heaped upon one +another in the wildest confusion. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Cobbe in Darfour, Shendy is the 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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Among Savage Arab Tribes_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +SIR RICHARD BURTON + +Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Meccah + + +_I.--The Pilgrim Ship_ + + 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. + +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 was amply +supplied with funds by the Royal Geographical Society. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Shaykh Hamid el Lamman, of El Medinah, is a perfect 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. + +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. + +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. + +It was twelve days before we reached Yambu. The 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. + +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. + + +_II.--In the Footsteps of Mohammed_ + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 as much smoke as possible; we lost twelve +men in the affair, besides several of the animals. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_III.--At the Shrine of the Prophet_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 aerolite. After several other ceremonies, I left the +holy place thoroughly exhausted. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +Let me conclude in the words of a long-dead brother traveller, Fahian, +"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." + + + + +SIR WILLIAM BUTLER + +The Great Lone Land + + +_I.--The Red River Expedition_ + + 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. + +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. + +Had the country bordering on the Red River been an unpeopled wilderness, +the plan of transferring the land 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 _voyageurs_ from Lower Canada. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 _fleur-de-lys_ +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?" "Yes." "Certainly +not!" "But if he calls upon you?" "Then I will see him." + +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! + +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." + + +_II.--The Expedition in the Wilderness_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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! + +Colonel Wolseley had been given no civil authority, and a wild scene of +drunkenness and debauchery among the _voyageurs_ 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. + + +_III.--In the Far North-west_ + +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. + +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. + +Between Fort Ellice and Carlton Fort you pass 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 trade and the residence of a chief factor of the +corporation. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--On the Dog Trail to Fort Garry_ + +I said good-bye to my friends at the Mountain House on December 12, and +once more turned my footsteps 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. + +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! + +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 of tree-cutting, fire-making, +supper-frying, and dog-feeding gone through for the last time. + +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. + + + + +The Wild North Land + + +_I.--From Civilisation to Savagery_ + + 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 + _habitants_ 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +eastward through a rich undulating land, and made for the Grand Forks of +the Saskatchewan, which we reached in the last days of October. + +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. + + +_II.--The Twin Dwellers of the Prairie_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Two days afterwards we came to Carlton Fort, where 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. + + +_III.--The Frozen Trail_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Through 300 miles of mountain the Peace River takes its course. +Countless creeks and rivers seek 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 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. + +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 canyon 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + +_IV.--Through Canyon and Rapid_ + +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. + +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 canyon 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. + +I took the opportunity of the delay to explore the canyon, 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 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 canyon, of a wide, deep, tranquil +stream flowing through the principal mountain range of the American +continent. + +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. + +We came to the forks of the Peace River on May 9, took that branch known +as the Ominica, and through perils without number attempted to conquer +in our canoe the passage of the deep black canyon. 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 canyon, 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 canyon, where it had +been cached. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +JAMES COOK + +Voyages Round the World + + +_I.--To the South Seas_ + + 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. + +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. + +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 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Round the World via the Antarctic_ + +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 deg. S. and about 11 deg. 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. + +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. + +We now encountered in 51 deg. 50' S. latitude and 21 deg. 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 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. + +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 A.D. Here they refitted their ship, and after three +months' separation met us again. + +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. + +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. + +On January 30, 1774, we sailed from New Zealand, and reaching latitude +67 deg. 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--The Pacific Isles and the Arctic Circle_ + +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. + +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. + +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: +_Naves Resolution et Discovery de Rege Magnae Britanniae Decembris 1776_, +and buried the same beneath a pile of stones, waving above it the +British flag. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +When in latitude 44 deg. N., longitude 234 deg. 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. + +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 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 deg. 30' and the longitude +of 210 deg., 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Life's Voyage Suddenly Ended_ + +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. + +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 Terreeoboo came and +complained of our having killed two of his people. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +WILLIAM DAMPIER + +New Voyage Round the World + + +_I.--Buccaneering in Southern Seas_ + + 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_II.--Adventures with the Privateers_ + +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. + +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. + +A calf that sucks is the most delicate meat; privateers commonly roast +them. The skin of the manatee is of 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. + +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. + +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. + +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'Estrees's whole squadron, +sent to take Curacoa 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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--On Robinson Crusoe's Island_ + +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 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 deg., 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + +_IV.--More Buccaneering Exploits_ + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_V.--Home by the East Indies_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +CHARLES DARWIN + +The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle + + +_I.--To the South American Coast_ + + 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 SCIENCE.) + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +The valley of the Rio Negro, broad as it is, has merely been excavated +out of the sandstone plain; and everywhere the landscape wears the same +sterile aspect. + + +_II.--Fossil Monsters of the Pampas_ + +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. + +(1) Head and bones of a _megatherium_, the huge dimensions of which are +expressed by its name; (2) the _megalonyx_, a great allied animal; (3) +the perfect skeleton of a _scelidorium_, 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 _mylodon Darwinii_, 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 _megatherium_, but was intimately related to +the Gnawers, the order which at the present day includes most of the +smallest quadrupeds; and judging from the position of the eyes, ears, +and nostrils, it was probably aquatic. + +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. + +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 _trigonocephalus_, 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. + + +_III.--In the Extreme South_ + +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 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. + +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 _infusoria_. 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. + +From the Strait of Magellan, the Beagle twice made a compass of the +Falkland Islands, and archipelago in 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. + +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. + + +_IV.--The Wonders of the Cordilleras_ + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A month was spent in the Galapagos Archipelago--a group of volcanic +islands situated on the Equator between 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. + + +_V.--The Coral Islands of the Indian Ocean_ + +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. + +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 tell +against the accumulated labour of myriads of architects at work night +and day, month after month? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +FELIX DUBOIS + +Timbuctoo the Mysterious + + +_I.--From Paris to the Niger_ + + 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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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." + + +_II.--The Valley of the Niger_ + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 _baga_ 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. + +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 _pagnes de Segu_ are made, which are in 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. + + +_III.--The Jewel of the Niger Valley_ + +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--_viz._, the Songhois. + +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. + +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, 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--_viz._, 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. + +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. The characteristics of the people are +sympathy, kindness, and generosity. + +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. + + +_IV.--Timbuctoo, Queen of the Sudan_ + +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. + +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 _tirailleurs_ with rifles on their shoulders. + +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. + +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. + +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 Phoenician and Roman colonists. So +also, when the Moors were driven 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 Sankore +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 +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. + + +_V.--The Romance of the Modern Conquest_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +RICHARD HAKLUYT + +The Principall Navigations + + +_I.--Of the Book and Why it was Made_ + + 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +pretended either ignorance or lacke of leasure, whereas the huge toile, +and the small profit to insue, were the chiefe causes of the refusall. + +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. + + +_II.--The Victories of King Arthur in Foreign Lands_ + +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. + +At that time, all the noble men of Norway tooke wives of the noble +nation of the Britaines, whereupon the 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. + + +_III.--How Martin Frobisher Sought a Passage to Cathaya by the +North-West_ + +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 Speranca; 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. + +And, further, he determined and resolved with himselfe 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. + +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, _Anno Domini_, 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. + +The worthy captaine, notwithstanding these discomforts, although his +mast was sprung, and his toppe mast 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. + +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. + +After our captaine, Martin Frobisher, had passed sixty leagues into this +foresayed streight, he went ashore, and found signes where fire had bene +made. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_IV.--The Valiant Fight of the Content against some Spanish Ships_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ten of the clocke; and then, seeing they +could not prevaile, gave us over. + +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. + + + + +A. W. KINGLAKE + +Eothen + + +_I.--Through Servia to Constantinople_ + + 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. + +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. + +We soon reached the southern bank in our row-boat, and were met by an +invitation from the pasha to pay 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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +In a steep street or a narrow alley you meet one of those coffin-shaped +bundles of white linen which implies 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. + + +_II.--The Troad, Smyrna, and Cyprus_ + +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. + +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 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!" + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--Nazareth, Jordan, and the Dead Sea_ + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Jerusalem and Bethlehem_ + +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. + +The Holy Sepulchre is under the roof of this great 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. + +"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. + +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. + + +_V.--To Cairo and the Pyramids_ + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD + +Nineveh and Its Remains + + +_I.--Mosul and its Hidden Mysteries_ + + Sir Austen Henry Layard, the most famous of all Oriental + archaeological 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. + +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. + +We left Aleppo on March 18, took the road through Bir and Orfa, and, +traversing the low country at the foot of the Kurdish hills, reached +Mosul on April 10. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The appearance of a stranger led to hopes, and reports 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Some objects of ivory, on which were traces of gold leaf had been found +by Awad in the ruins, and these I 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. + +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. + + +_II.--"They have Found Nimrod Himself!"_ + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_III.--Unearthing the Palaces of Assyria_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In another chamber were discovered a number of beautiful ivory +ornaments, now in the British Museum. On 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. + + +_IV.--Kouyunjik_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +By the middle of the month of June my labours in Assyria drew to a +close. The time assigned for the 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. + + + + +CAROLUS LINNAEUS + +A Tour in Lapland + + +_I.--A Wandering Scientist_ + + Carolus Linnaeus, 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 + Upsala, but in the following year exchanged his chair for + that of botany. To Linnaeus 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 Naturae," "Fundamenta Botanica," and the + "Species Plantarum." + +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. + +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; my manuscript ornithology, _Flora Uplandica_, +and _Characteres generici_. 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. + +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. + +At this season nature wore her most cheerful and delightful aspect, and +Flora celebrated her nuptials with Phoebus. 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. + +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 (_Anemone ranunculoides_), 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. + +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. + +At Enaenger 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 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. + +The old tradition that the inhabitants of Helsingland never have the +ague is untrue, since I heard of many cases. + +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 +_Anemone hepatica_ 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. + +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. + + +_II.--Lapland Customs_ + +The Laplanders of Lycksele prepare a kind of curd or cheese from the +milk of the reindeer and the leaves of 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 _nux vomica_, 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. + +The Lycksele Laplanders are subject, when they are compelled to drink +the warm sea water, to _allem_, 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. + +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. + +Though a fury in appearance, she addressed me with mingled pity and +reserve. + +I inquired how far it was to Sorsele. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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 Linnaean system of the order of the mammalia.] + + +_III.--Ignorance Incorrigible_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 text of Scripture, +silenced me by authority, and laughed at my ignorance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +_IV.--A Lapland Marriage_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When such pecuniary matters are finally arranged the father and mother +of the bridegroom present him and his 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + + + +DAVID LIVINGSTONE + +Missionary Travels and Researches + + +_I.--Early Experiences_ + + 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. + +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 +runs in your blood, it does not belong to you. I leave this precept +with you--Be honest." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Among the Makololo_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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. + +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 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 _secundem artem_, I concluded I could cure my fever +more quickly than they could. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--Peril and Patience_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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." + +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." + +We were soon on the banks of the Quango, and after some difficulties +reached the opposite bank. + +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" +had to do with the latitudes and longitudes which I was intent on +observing. + +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.'" + +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. + + +_IV.--Into the Wilderness Again_ + +For the sake of my Makololo companions I refused the tempting offer of a +passage home in one of her majesty's cruisers. + +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. + +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 (Garague?), farther north, and may +be the Nyanja of the Maravim. + +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. + +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." + +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. + + + + +PIERRE LOTI + +The Desert + + +_I.--Arabia Deserta_ + + 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. + +_February 22, 1894._ 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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 stillness and lifelessness of it all, and the air is pure and +virginal, blowing from the world before the creation. + +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. + +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. + +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 strangely enlarged against the vacant horizon, have gold on +their heads, on their legs, on their long necks; they are all edged with +gold. + +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. + + +_II.--The Habitation of Solitude_ + +_March 1._ 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. + +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 of rough, broken stairs, hewed out +of the rock, to a hostel for pilgrims at the top of the great fortress. + +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. + +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 cold, dazzling sunlight and the sparkling snow. +One feels that it is verily "the habitation of solitude," encompassed by +the great wildernesses. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +A kind of lodge, paved with chiselled silver, and hung with lighted +lamps, rises in the depth of the crypt; it is there that, according to +the venerated tradition, the _Angel of the Eternal_ appeared to Moses in +the midst of the burning bush. + + +_III.--Where Nothing Changes_ + +_March 16._ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +_Easter Sunday, March 25, 1894._ We were awakened this morning by the +singing of the larks. After travelling for three hours, look, here are +some trees--the first we 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! + +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. + + + + +SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE + +Voyage and Travel + + +_I.--Of the Holy Land and the Way Thereto_ + + 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 + Liege. 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 Liege, 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 mediaeval English prose. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 priests of that temple have all their writings under the +date of the fowl that is clept Phoenix; 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 Phoenix 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Of Strange Peoples and Strange Beasts in Divers Lands_ + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +And beyond this land, men go towards the land of Bacharie, where be full +evil folk and full cruel. + +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 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. + + +_III.--Of the Land of Prester John_ + +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. + +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 and the visage of a devil bodily, full +horrible and dreadful to see, and it showeth not but the head to the +shoulders. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +MUNGO PARK + +Travels in the Interior of Africa + + +_I.--Up the Gambia_ + + 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. + +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. + +The committee accepted me for the service, and their 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. + +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. + +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. + +On June 26 we left Vintain, and continued our course 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. + +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. + +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. + +The chief wild animals are the antelope, hyaena, 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 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. + +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. + + +_II.--Penetrating the Wild Interior_ + +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. + +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, Phoenic-ians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, or Goths, +were comprehended under the general name of _Mauri_, or Moors. All these +nations were converted to the religion of Mahomet during the Arabian +empire under the caliphs. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + + +_III--Romantic Savage Life_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--The Long Sought for Niger_ + +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 _to the eastward_. 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. + +I waited more than two hours without having an opportunity of crossing +the river, during which time the 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. + +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. + +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 Jenne, 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. + +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. + +In the countries that I visited the population is not 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. + +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. + + + + +MARCO POLO + +Travels + + +_I.--The Beginnings of a Romantic Career_ + + Marco Polo stands out in history and literature as the + most famous traveller belonging to the early mediaeval + 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +Kublai had removed to a splendid city named Cle Men Fu [near where +Peking now stands], and, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + + +_II.--Legends of Ancient Persia_ + +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. + +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. + +In the north of Persia the people tell of the Old Man 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + +_III.--Of the Tartars and their Grand Khan_ + +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. + +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. + +The Tartars believe in a supreme deity, to whom they offer incense and +prayers; while they also worship 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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]. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Of Ceylon and Malabar_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In this kingdom, and also throughout India, all the 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +In the kingdom of Musphili [Solconda], which you enter upon leaving +Malabar after proceeding five hundred miles northward, are the best and +most honourable 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. + +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. + + + + +BERNARDIN DE SAINT PIERRE + +Voyage to the Isle of France + + +_I.--Miseries of Slavery_ + + In 1768 Bernardin de Saint Pierre (see FICTION) 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. + +PORT LOUIS, _August 6, 1768_. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 their number, 1,200 more have to be imported every year. + +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. + + +_II.--A Land of Beauty and Abominations_ + +PORT LOUIS, _September 13, 1769_. 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--Bourbon, the Pirates' Island_ + +PORT LOUIS, _December 21, 1770_. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"I want a thousand piastres," said the pirate. + +"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." + +"Very well," said the generous corsair, "he can go free." + +The viceroy at once re-embarked and got under sail, Vastly content at +having escaped so cheaply. + +The pirate afterwards settled in the island with all his followers, and +was hanged after an amnesty had been 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Visit to the Cape Colony_ + +PORT LOUIS, _January 20, 1771_. 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, 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. + +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. + +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; 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. + + + + +JOHN HANNING SPEKE + +Discovery of the Source of the Nile + + +_I.--Beginnings in the Black Man's Land_ + + 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. + +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 which they took the money and +pledged themselves to serve me faithfully would think I had a first rate +set of followers. + +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 Mgeta 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. + +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 in +their mulish temperament which no kind words or threats can cure. + +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. + +In January, after many very trying experiences, we arrived at +Unyamuezi--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 Quande nullah and entered the +rich flat district of Mininga, where the gingerbread palm grows +abundantly. + +During my stay with Musa, the king at Kaze, 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 Sera, +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 Kaze 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. + +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. + + +_II.--Travel Difficulties and a King's Hospitality_ + +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 Lumeresi'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 Karague 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. + +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, my man Bombay came with exciting news. I +questioned him. + +"Will the big king see us?" + +"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." + +"Well, what was Suwarora like?" + +"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." + +"Were his officers drunk too? And did you get drunk?" + +"Yes," said Bombay, grinning and showing his whole row of sharp, pointed +teeth. + +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. + +Nothing could be more agreeable than our stay at Karague, 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 Ingezi Kagera 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 told me that +in Ruenda 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. + +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." + +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 +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. + + +_III.--A Distinguished Guest at the Court of Uganda_ + +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. + +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." + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +On February 19, Mtesa, the King of Uganda, sent his pages to announce a +levee 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. + +Mtesa 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 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: + +"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." + +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?" + +I knew he referred to the direct line to Zanzibar across the Masai. He +afterwards sent a page with this message: + +"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." + +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. + +I found that Mtesa 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: + +"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." + +I declined, however, to give him the instrument on the security of this +promise, and he went to breakfast. + +I had a brilliant instance of the capricious restlessness and +self-willedness of this despotic monarch Mtesa. 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. + +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. + +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 Karague by water, bring up our rear +traps, and in navigating the lake obtain the information he had been +frustrated in getting before. + +We resolved to try a new political influence at court. Grant had taken +to the court of Karague a jumping-jack to amuse the young princess, but +it gave offence here as a breach of etiquette. + +Finally we bade Mtesa 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 did, Mtesa in an +instant mimicked with the instinct of a monkey. + + +_IV.--The Source Confirmed At Last_ + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"We don't look on those things in the same fanciful manner that you do, +we are contented with all the common-places 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." + +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. + +The most remote waters or _tophead of the Nile_ 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. + +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. + + + + +LAURENCE STERNE + +A Sentimental Journey Through France +and Italy + + +_I.--Setting Out_ + + 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 FICTION) 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. + +"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 next morning, by three I had +got sat down to my dinner upon a fricasseed chicken--incontestably in +France. + +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?" + + +_II.--The Monk--Calais_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +A better reason was, I had predetermined not to give him a single sou. + +"'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 _great claims_ which are hourly +made upon it." + +As I pronounced the words _great claims_, 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 _order of mercy_, 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, _for the love of God_." + +The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a 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. + +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. + + +_III.--The Remise Door--Calais_ + +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. + +Monsieur Dessein had _diabled_ 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 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. + + +_IV.--The Snuff-box--Calais_ + +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." + +The poor monk blush'd as red as scarlet. "_Mon Dieu_," 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_V.--Montreuil_ + +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 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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + + +_VI.--Montreuil--La Fleur_ + +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. + +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. + +Now poor La Fleur could do nothing in the world but 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. + +La Fleur had set out early in life, as gallantly as most Frenchmen do, +with _serving_ 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 _a ses terres_, and lived _comme il plaisait a +Dieu_--that is to say, upon nothing. + +"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. + +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 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. + + +_III.--The Passport--Paris_ + +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." + +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 _suite_. 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. + +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. + +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 _trait_ I knew his character as perfectly, and could rely upon it +as firmly, as if he had served me with fidelity for seven years. + +"_Mon Seigneur!_" 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." + +"Not that I know of," quoth I, with an air of indifference. + +"Then, _certes_," replied he, "you'll be sent to the Bastille or the +Chatelet, _au moins_." + +"Pooh!" said I, "the King of France is a good-natur'd soul--he'll hurt +nobody." + +"_Cela n'empeche pas_," said he--"You will certainly be sent to the +Bastille to-morrow morning." + +"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. + +"_Pardi!_" said my host, "_ces Messieurs Anglais sont des gens tres +extraordinaires_"--And having said and sworn it he went out. + +_VII.--Le Patissier--Versailles_ + +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. + +La Fleur returned a little pale; and told me it was a Chevalier de St. +Louis selling pates. 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 pates which the chevalier was selling. + +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 pates was covered over with a white damask +napkin; and there was a look of _proprete_ and neatness throughout, that +one might have bought his pates of him, as much from appetite as +sentiment. + +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 pates into my hand I begged +he would explain the appearance which affected me. + +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 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 _patisserie_; and added, he felt no +dishonour in defending her and himself from want in this way--unless +Providence had offer'd him a better. + +It would be wicked to pass over what happen'd to this poor Chevalier of +St. Louis about nine months after. + +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. + + + + +VOLTAIRE + +Letters on the English + + +_I.--The Quakers_ + + Voltaire (see HISTORY) 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. + +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, 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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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?" + +"No," answered the Quaker, "neither I nor my brethren." + +"_Morbleu!_" I replied, "then you are not Christians?" + +"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." + +"_Ventrebleu!_" I retorted, "have you forgotten that Jesus Christ was +baptised by John?" + +"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." + +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. 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. + +"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." + + +_II.--Anglicans and Presbyterians_ + +This is the land of sects. An Englishman is a free man, and goes to +Heaven by any road he pleases. + +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. + +The Anglican clergy have retained many Catholic ceremonies, 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. + +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. + +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. + +The Anglican religion only embraces England and Ireland. +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_III.--The Government_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The House of Lords may reject the bill of the Commons 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. + + +_IV.--Commerce_ + +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. + +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. + +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 same name, not one of them with +a scrap of property beyond his coat of arms and his pride. + +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. + + +_V.--Tragedy and Comedy_ + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +His comedies, however, are the neatest and choicest on the English +stage; Vanbrugh's are the liveliest, and Wycherley's the most vigorous. + +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. + +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. + + + + +ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE + +Travels on the Amazon + + +_I.--First View_ + + 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." + +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. + +Early on the morning of the 28th we again anchored; and when the sun +arose in a cloudless sky, the city of Para, 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. + +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. Para 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. + +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 Para 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. + +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. The mango is also +abundant, and on every roadside the coffee-tree is seen growing, +generally with flower or fruit, often with both. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--The Wonderful Forest_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_III.--On the Para Tributary_ + +On the afternoon of August 26th we left Para 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. + +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. + +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 Moju, up which our way lay, and which enters the +Para 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 Para. + +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 Para, 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. + +Returning to Para 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 Marajo, and the northern shore. We had to go +down the Para river, and round the eastern point of Marajo, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--Continuing Upstream_ + +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 Para +and Amazon rivers. + +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 Para that the +stream began to widen out and the tide to flow into the Amazon instead +of into the Para 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. + +The most striking features of the Amazon are its vast 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. + +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. + +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 "Erycinidae." + +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. + + +_V.--The City of Barra_ + +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 Amazon. The trade is chiefly in Brazil +nuts, sarsaparilla, and fish. The distance up the Amazon from Para 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. + +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. + +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. + +The river Uaupes 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 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. + +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. + +In the dance they imitated the undulations of the serpent, raising the +head and twisting the tail. In the manoeuvres which followed, the two +great snakes seemed to fight, till the dance, which had greatly pleased +all the spectators, was concluded. + + +_VI.--Devil-Music_ + +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. + +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 Uaupes Indians, that +they consider it so dangerous for a woman ever to see one of these +instruments, that, having done so, she is punished with death, generally +by poison. + +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. + + +_VII.--The World's Greatest River Basin_ + +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. + +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. + +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, or beeches, we scarcely ever see two individuals of the same +species together. + +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. + + +_VIII.--Splendid Native Races_ + +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. + +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 Uaupes. 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +Among the tribes of the Uaupes 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. + +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. + +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 +"pages," or sorcerers, to propitiate. + +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; the great +houses of the Uaupes 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. + +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. + + + + +ELIOT WARBURTON + +The Crescent and the Cross + + +_I.--Alexandria_ + + 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--The Nile_ + +"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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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." + + +_III--Cairo and Heliopolis_ + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_IV.--The Market of Sorrow_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + +_V.--The Harem_ + +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. + +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 _you_ adorn yourself? +Is it for other men?" replied the fair barbarian. + +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 _she_ know of the disinterested affection and changeless constancy +of ball-room belles, in the land where woman is all free? + +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. + +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 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 _did_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_VI.--Djouni and Lady Hester Stanhope_ + +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, 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!" + +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. + +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. + +Here fountains once played in marble basins, and choice flowers bloomed; +but now it presented a scene of 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + +_VII.--Mount Hermon_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Soon afterwards we discovered a little fountain gushing from a snowy +hill, and only those who have climbed a mountain 9,000 feet high, under +a Syrian sun, can appreciate the luxury of such a draught as that cool, +bubbling rill afforded. + + +_VIII.--Damascus: The World's Oldest City_ + +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. + +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. + +One hour's gallop brought me to the suburban gates of Mezze, 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 inmates clad in white linen and reclining on cushions as they +smoke their chibouques. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHARLES WATERTON + +Wanderings in South America + + +_I.--First Journey_ + + 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 Maecenas 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." + +In the month of April, 1812, I left the town of Stabroek, to travel +through the wilds of Demerara and Essequibo, a part of _ci-devant_ 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. + +It would be a tedious journey for him who wishes to 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Demerara yields to no country in the world in her wonderful and +beautiful productions of the feathered 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Indians have it that they are the +abode of an evil genius, and they pass in the river below, with a +reverential awe. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +Good nourishment and rest, and the unwearied attention and kindness of +the Portuguese commander, stopped 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Chiefly birds are shot with this weapon. The flesh of the game is not +in the least injured by the poison. For larger game bows are used with +poisoned arrows. + +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. + +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. + + +_II.--Second Journey_ + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 the head of this bird with +such an enormous bill. It is impossible to conjecture. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + + +_III.--Third Journey_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +own land, have thrown off their clothes, and gone back into the forests. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The serpent now tried to better himself and set resolutely to work, but +we overpowered him. We contrived 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. + +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. + +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--"_monstrum horrendum, +informe_." 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +ARTHUR YOUNG + +Travels in France + + +_I.--The First Journey, 1787_ + + 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. + +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 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. + +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 _pour_ and the +_contre_, I think it not impracticable to retain in my case the benefit +of both plans. + +JOURNAL. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The forest around Chantilly, belonging to the Prince of Conde, 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? + +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 Berri with the _cordon bleu_. 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. + +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. + +May 31. On leaving Orleans, enter the miserable province of Sologne. The +poor people who cultivate the soil here are metayers, 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. + +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. + +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. + +June 16. A ridge of hills on the other side of the Garonne, which began +at Toulouse, became more and 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. + +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. + +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. + +Quit the Garonne some leagues before Serpe, where the river Neste falls +into it. The road to Bagnere 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 from London to the Highlands of Scotland, at +double the expense. + +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 _nidus_ for moths and spiders; and the furniture +such, that an English innkeeper would light his fire with it. + +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. + +Mops, brooms, and scrubbing brushes are not in the catalogue of the +necessaries of a French inn. Bells there are none; the _fille_ 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. + + +_II.--Second Journey, 1788_ + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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; 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. + +The 22nd. At Nantes, a town which has that sign of prosperity of new +buildings that never deceives. The quarter of the Comedie 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. + +Nantes is as _enflamme_ 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. + +[AUTHOR'S NOTE.--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.] + + +_III.--Third Journey, 1789_ + +June 5. Passage to Calais; 14 hours for reflection in a vehicle that +does not allow one power to reflect. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The 15th. This has been a rich day, and such an one 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'Abbe Sieyes 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. + +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 +Abbe, and was loudly applauded. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The 30th. At Nangis, having come from Paris. Entertained at the chateau +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 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. + +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. + +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 Francoises 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 chateau 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 _regeneration_ of +fire and sword, plunder, and bloodshed. + +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. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS, VOLUME +19*** + + +******* This file should be named 23998.txt or 23998.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/9/9/23998 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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