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diff --git a/39474.txt b/39474.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fba0dbc --- /dev/null +++ b/39474.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13922 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of From Egypt to Japan, by Henry M. Field + +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: From Egypt to Japan + +Author: Henry M. Field + +Release Date: April 18, 2012 [EBook #39474] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM EGYPT TO JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + + + + _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ + + FROM THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY + TO THE GOLDEN HORN. + + THE FIRST VOLUME OF + DR. FIELD'S TRAVELS AROUND THE WORLD. + + 1 vol. 12mo, cloth, uniform with this volume, $2.00. + _Sent postpaid, on receipt of price, by the Publishers_, + + SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., + 743 AND 745 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. + + + + + FROM EGYPT TO JAPAN. + + BY HENRY M. FIELD, D.D. + + NEW YORK: + SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. + 1877. + + + + + COPYRIGHT BY + SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. + 1877. + + TROW'S + PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO., + _205-213 East 12th St._, + NEW YORK. + + + + + To My Brothers, + DAVID DUDLEY, STEPHEN J., AND CYRUS W. FIELD, + ALL THAT ARE LEFT OF A LARGE FAMILY, + This Volume is Dedicated, + IN TOKEN OF THE LOVE OF A LIFETIME, WHICH + WILL GROW STRONGER TO THE END. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. CROSSING THE MEDITERRANEAN--ALEXANDRIA--CAIRO--THE + PYRAMIDS, 1 + + II. ON THE NILE, 15 + + III. THE TEMPLES OF EGYPT--DID MOSES GET HIS LAW FROM + THE EGYPTIANS? 28 + + IV. THE EGYPTIAN DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE, 37 + + V. THE RELIGION OF THE PROPHET, 45 + + VI. MODERN EGYPT AND THE KHEDIVE, 62 + + VII. MIDNIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE GREAT PYRAMID, 80 + + VIII. LEAVING EGYPT--THE DESERT, 96 + + IX. ON THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN, 106 + + X. BOMBAY--FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA, 115 + + XI. TRAVELLING IN INDIA--ALLAHABAD--THE MELA, 131 + + XII. AGRA--VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES--PALACE OF THE + GREAT MOGUL--THE TAJ, 148 + + XIII. DELHI--A MOHAMMEDAN FESTIVAL--SCENES IN THE + MUTINY, 162 + + XIV. FROM DELHI TO LAHORE, 172 + + XV. A WEEK IN THE HIMALAYAS, 182 + + XVI. THE TRAGEDY OF CAWNPORE, 210 + + XVII. THE STORY OF LUCKNOW, 222 + + XVIII. THE ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA, 236 + + XIX. MISSIONS IN INDIA--DO MISSIONARIES DO ANY GOOD? 249 + + XX. BENARES, THE HOLY CITY OF THE HINDOOS, 265 + + XXI. CALCUTTA--FAREWELL TO INDIA, 280 + + XXII. BURMAH--THE MALAYAN PENINSULA--SINGAPORE, 292 + + XXIII. THE ISLAND OF JAVA, 326 + + XXIV. UP THE CHINA SEAS--HONG KONG AND CANTON, 365 + + XXV. THREE WEEKS IN JAPAN, 397 + + + + +_This volume is complete in itself, though it is the Second Part of a +Journey Round the World, of which the First Part was published a year +ago, with the title "From the Lakes of Killarney to the Golden Horn." +The volumes are uniform in style and naturally go together, though +either is complete without the other._ + + + + +FROM EGYPT TO JAPAN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +CROSSING THE MEDITERRANEAN--ALEXANDRIA--CAIRO--THE PYRAMIDS. + + +On the Bosphorus there are birds which the Turks call "lost souls," as +they are never at rest. They are always on the wing, like stormy +petrels, flying swift and low, just skimming the waters, yet darting +like arrows, as if seeking for something which they could not find on +land or sea. This spirit of unrest sometimes enters into other +wanderers than those of the air. One feels it strongly as he comes to +the end of one continent, and "casts off" for another; as he leaves +the firm, familiar ground, and sails away to the distant and the +unknown. + +So felt a couple of travellers who had left America to go around the +world, and after six months in Europe, were now to push on to the +farthest East. It was an autumn afternoon near the close of the year +1875, that they left Constantinople, and sailed down the Marmora, and +through the Dardanelles, between the Castles of Europe and Asia, whose +very names suggested the continents that they were leaving behind, and +set their faces towards Africa. + +They could not go to Palestine. An alarm of cholera in Damascus had +caused a _cordon sanitaire_ to be drawn along the Syrian coast; and +though they might get in, they could not so easily get away; or would +be detained ten days in a Lazaretto before they could pass into +Egypt; and so they were obliged at the last moment to turn from the +Holy Land, and sail direct for Alexandria; touching, however, at +Mitylene and Scio; and passing a day at Smyrna and at Syra. With these +detentions the voyage took nearly a week, almost as long as to cross +the Atlantic. + +But it was not without its compensations. There was a motley company +in the cabin, made up of all nations and all religions: English and +Americans, French and Germans and Russians, Greeks and Turks, +Christians and Mohammedans. There was a grand old Turk, who was going +out to be a judge in Mecca, and was travelling with his harem, eight +women, who were carefully screened from the observation of profane +eyes. And there were other Mussulmans of rank, gentlemen in manners +and education, who would be addressed as Effendis or Beys, or perhaps +as Pashas, who did not hesitate to spread their small Persian carpets +in the cabin or on the deck at any hour, and kneel and prostrate +themselves, and say their prayers. + +Besides these, the whole forward part of the ship was packed with +pilgrims (there were four hundred of them) going to Mecca: Turks in +white turbans and baggy trousers; and Circassians in long overcoats, +made of undressed sheepskins, with tall, shaggy hats, like the +bear-skin shakos of Scotch grenadiers. Some of them had their belts +stuck thick with knives and pistols, as if they expected to have to +fight their way to the tomb of the Prophet. Altogether they were not +an attractive set, and yet one could not view, without a certain +respect, a body of men animated by a strong religious feeling which +impelled them to undertake this long pilgrimage; it requires three +months to go and return. Nor could one listen quite unmoved as at +different hours of the day, at sunrise, or midday, or sunset, the +muezzin climbed to the upper deck, and in a wailing voice called the +hour of prayer, and the true believers, standing up, rank on rank, +turned their faces towards Mecca, and reverently bowed themselves and +worshipped. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day we came in sight of a low-lying +coast, with not a hill or elevation of any kind rising above the +dreary waste, the sea of waters breaking on a sea of sand. The sun +sinking in the west showed the lighthouse at Alexandria, but as the +channel is narrow and intricate, ships are not allowed to enter after +sunset; and so we lay outside all night, but as soon as the morning +broke, steamed up and entered the harbor. Here was the same scene as +at Constantinople--a crowd of boats around the ship, and boatmen +shouting and yelling, jumping over one another in their eagerness to +be first, climbing on board, and rushing on every unfortunate +traveller as if they would tear him to pieces. But they are not so +terrible as they appear, and so it always comes to pass, that whether +"on boards or broken pieces of the ship," all come safe to land. + +In spite of this wild uproar, it was not without a strange feeling of +interest that we first set foot in Africa. A few days before we had +touched the soil of Asia, on the other side of the Bosphorus--the +oldest of the continents, the cradle of the human race. And now we +were in Africa--in Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs, out of which Moses +led the Israelites; the land of the Pyramids, the greatest monuments +of ancient civilization. + +As soon as one comes on shore, he perceives that he is in a different +country. The climate is different, the aspects of nature are +different, the people are different, the very animals are different. +Caravans of camels are moving slowly through the streets, and outside +of the city, coming up to its very walls, as if threatening to +overwhelm it, is the "great and terrible" desert, a vast and billowy +plain, whose ever-drifting sands would speedily bury all the works of +man, if they were not kept back from destruction by the waters of the +Nile, which is at once the creator and preserver of Egypt. + +Alexandria, although founded by Alexander the Great, whose name it +bears, and therefore more than two thousand years old--and although in +its monuments, Cleopatra's Needle and Pompey's Pillar, it carries back +the mind to the last of the Ptolemies, the proud daughter of kings, +and to her Roman lovers and conquerors--has yet in many parts quite a +modern aspect, and is almost a new city. It has felt, more than most +places in the East, the influence of European civilization. Commerce +is returning to its ancient seats along the Mediterranean, and the +harbor of Alexandria is filled with a forest of ships, that reminds +one of New York or Liverpool. + +But as it becomes more European, it is less Oriental; and though more +prosperous, is less picturesque than other parts of Egypt; and so, +after a couple of days, we left for Cairo, and now for the first time +struck the Nile, which reminds an American traveller of the Missouri, +or the lower Mississippi. It is the same broad stream of turbid, +yellow waters, flowing between low banks. This is the Great River +which takes its rise in the heart of Africa, beyond the equator, at a +point so remote that, though the Valley of the Nile was four thousand +years ago the seat of the greatest empire of antiquity, yet to this +day the source of the river is the problem of geographers. Formerly it +was a three days' journey from Alexandria to Cairo, but the railroad +shortens it to a ride of four hours, in which we crossed both branches +of the Nile. Just at noon we came in sight of the Pyramids, and in +half an hour were driving through the streets of the capital of Egypt. + +We like Cairo, after two or three weeks, much better than +Constantinople. It has another climate and atmosphere; and is +altogether a gayer and brighter city. The new quarter occupied by +foreigners is as handsomely built as any European city. The streets +are wide and well paved, like the new streets and boulevards of Paris. +We are at the "Grand New Hotel," fronting on the Ezbekieh gardens, a +large square, filled with trees, with kiosks for music, and other +entertainments. Our windows open on a broad balcony, from which we can +hear the band playing every afternoon, while around us is the city, +with its domes and minarets and palm trees. + +The great charm of Egypt is the climate. It is truly the Land of the +Sun. We landed on the first day of December, but we cannot realize +that this is winter. The papers tell us that it is very cold in New +York, and that the Hudson river is frozen over; but here every thing +is in bloom, as in mid-summer, and I wear a straw hat to protect me +from the heat of the sun. But it is not merely the warmth, but the +exquisite purity of the atmosphere, that makes it so delicious. The +great deserts on both sides drink up every drop of moisture, and every +particle of miasm that is exhaled from the decaying vegetation of the +Valley of the Nile, and send back into these streets the very air of +Paradise. + +Having thus the skies of Italy, and a much more balmy air, it is not +strange that Egypt attracts travellers from France, and England, and +America. It is becoming more and more a resort not only for invalids, +but for that wealthy class who float about the world to find the place +where they can pass existence with the most of languid ease. Many come +here to escape the European winters, and to enjoy the delicious +climate, and they are from so many countries, that Cairo has become a +cosmopolitan city. As it is on the road to India, it is continually +visited by English officers and civilians, going or returning. Of late +years it has become a resort also for Americans. A number of our army +officers have taken service under the Khedive, who rendezvous chiefly +at this New Hotel, so that with the travellers of the same country, we +can talk across the table of American affairs, as if we were at +Newport or Saratoga. Owing to the influx of so many foreigners, this +Hotel and "Shepheard's" seem like small colonies of Europeans. +Hearing only English, or French, or German, one might believe himself +at one of the great hotels in Switzerland, or on the Rhine. A stranger +who wishes to pass a winter in Cairo, need not die of ennui for want +of the society of his countrymen. + +Besides these officers in the army, the only Americans here in +official positions, are the Consul General Beardsley, and Judge +Batcheller, who was appointed by our Government to represent the +United States in the Mixed Court lately established in Egypt. Both +these gentlemen are very courteous to their countrymen, while giving +full attention to their duties. As we have sometimes had abroad +consuls and ministers of whom we could not be proud, it is something +to be able to say, that those here now in official position are men of +whom we need not be ashamed as representatives of our country. + +Another household which should not be overlooked, since it gives an +American a home feeling in Cairo, is that of the American Mission. +This has been here some years, and so won the favor of the government, +that the former Viceroy gave it a site for its schools, which proved +so valuable that the present Khedive has recently bought it back, by +giving a new site and L7000 into the bargain. The new location is one +of the best in Cairo, near the Ezbekieh square, and here with the +proceeds of the sale, and other funds contributed for the object, the +Mission is erecting one of the finest buildings for such purposes in +the East, where their chapel and schools, in which there are now some +five hundred children, will be under one roof. + +This Mission School some years ago was the scene of a romantic +incident. An Indian prince, then living in England, was on his way to +India, with the body of his mother, who had died far from her country, +but with the prejudices of a Hindoo strong in death, wished her body +to be taken back to the land of her birth. While passing through +Cairo, he paid a visit to the American Mission, and was struck with +the face of a young pupil in the girls' school, and after due inquiry +proposed to the missionaries to take her as his wife. They gave their +consent, and on his return they were married, and he took her with him +to England. This was the Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, a son of old Runjeet +Sing, the Lion of Lahore, who raised up a race of warriors, that after +his death fought England, and whose country, the Punjaub, the English +annexed to their Indian dominions; and here, as in other cases, +removed a pretender out of the way by settling a large pension on the +heir to the throne. Thus the Maharajah came into the possession of a +large revenue from the British government, amounting, I am told, to +some L30,000 a year. Having been from his childhood under English +pupilage, he has been brought up as a Christian, and finds it to his +taste to reside in England, where he is able to live in splendor, and +is a great favorite at court. His choice of a wife proved a most happy +one, as the modest young pupil of Cairo introduced into his English +home, with the natural grace of her race, for she is partly of Arab +descent, the culture and refinement learned in a Mission school. Nor +does he forget what he owes to the care of those who watched over her +in her childhood, but sends a thousand pounds every year to the school +in grateful acknowledgment of the best possible gift it could make to +him, that of a noble Christian wife. + +Besides this foreign society, there is also a resident society which, +to those who can be introduced to it, is very attractive. The +government of the Khedive has brought into his service some men who +would be distinguished in any European court or capital. The most +remarkable of these is Nubar Pasha, long the Minister of Foreign +Affairs. + +Judge Batcheller kindly took me to the house of the old statesman, who +received us cordially. On hearing that I was on my way around the +world, he exclaimed, "Ah, you Americans! You are true Bedouins!" I +asked him what was the best guide-book to Egypt? He answered +instantly, "The Bible." It was delightful to see his enthusiasm for +Egypt, although he is not an Egyptian. He is not an Arab, nor a Turk, +nor even a Mussulman; but an Armenian by birth and by religion. His +uncle, Nubar Pasha, came over with Mehemet Ali, whose prime minister +he was for forty years; and his nephew, who inherits his name, +inherits also the traditions of that great reign. Though born on the +other side of the Mediterranean, he is in heart an Egyptian. He loves +the country of his adoption, and all his thoughts and his political +ambition are for its greatness and prosperity. He has lived here so +long that he sometimes speaks of himself playfully as "one of the +antiquities of Egypt." "Of the first dynasty?" we ask. "Yes, of the +time of Menes." I do not believe he could exist anywhere else. He +loves not only the climate, but even the scenery of Egypt, which is +more charming to his eyes than the hills and vales of Scotland or the +mountains of Switzerland. "But you must admit," I said, "that it has a +great monotony." "No," he replied, "in Lombardy there is monotony; but +Egypt is immensity, infinity, eternity. The features of the landscape +may be the same, but the eye never wearies." Surely _his_ eye never +does, for it is touched with a poetic vision; he sees more than meets +the common eye; every passing cloud changes the lights and shadows; +and to him there is more of beauty in the sunset flashing through the +palm groves, as the leaves are gently stirred by the evening wind, +than in all the luxuriance of tropical forests. Even if we did not +quite share his enthusiasm, we could not but be charmed by the +pictures which were floating before his mind's eye, and by the +eloquence of his description. As he loves the country, so he loves the +people of Egypt. Poor and helpless as they are, they have won upon his +affection; he says "they are but children;" but if they have the +weakness of children, they have also their simplicity and +trustfulness; and I could see that his great ambition was to break up +that system of forced labor which crushes them to the earth, and to +secure to them at least some degree of liberty and of justice. + +With all its newness and freshness this city retains its Oriental +character. Indeed Grand Cairo is said to be the most Oriental of +cities except Damascus. It has four hundred thousand inhabitants, and +in its ancient portions has all the peculiar features of the East. Not +only is the city different from Constantinople, but the people are +different; they are another race, and speak another language. Turks +and Arabs are as different as Englishmen and Frenchmen. + +We are entertained every time that we go out of doors, with the +animated and picturesque life of the streets. There are all races and +all costumes, and all modes of locomotion. There are fine horses and +carriages. I feel like Joseph riding in Pharaoh's chariot, when we +take a carriage to ride out to Shoobra, one of the palaces of the +Khedive, with syces dressed in white running before to herald our +royal progress, and shout to the people to get out of our way. But one +who prefers a more Oriental mode of riding, can mount a camel, or +stoop to a donkey, for the latter are the smallest creatures that ever +walked under the legs of a man, and if the rider be very tall, he will +need to hold up his feet to keep them from dangling on the ground. Yet +they are hardy little creatures, and have a peculiar amble which they +keep up all day. They are very useful for riding, especially in some +parts of the city where the streets are too narrow to allow a carriage +to pass. + +The donkey-men are very sharp, like their tribe in all parts of the +world. The Arabs have a great deal of natural wit, which might almost +entitle them to be called the Irish of the East. They have picked up a +few words of English, and it is amusing to hear them say, with a most +peculiar accent, "All right," "Very good," "Go ahead." They seem to +know everybody, and soon find out who are their best customers. I +cannot go down the steps without a dozen rushing toward me, calling +out "Doctor, want a donkey?" One of them took me on my weak side the +first day by saying that the name of his animal was "Yankee Doodle," +and so I have patronized that donkey ever since, and a tough little +beast he is, scudding away with me on his back at a great rate. His +owner, a fine looking Arab, dressed in a loose blue gown and snowy +turban, runs barefooted behind him, to prick him up, if he lags in his +speed, or if perchance he goes too fast, to seize him by the tail, and +check his impetuosity. We present a ludicrous spectacle when thus +mounted, setting out for the bazaars, where our experience of +Constantinople is repeated. + +Of course the greatest sight around Cairo is the Pyramids. It is an +event in one's life to see these grandest monuments of antiquity. The +excursion is now very easy. They are eight miles from Cairo, and it +was formerly a hard day's journey to go there and back, as one could +only ride on a donkey or a camel, and had to cross the river in boats; +and the country was often inundated, so that one had to go miles +around. But the Khedive, who does everything here, has changed all +that. He has built an iron bridge over the Nile, and a broad road, +raised above the height of the annual inundations, so as never to be +overflowed, and lined with trees, the rapid-growing acacia, so that +one may drive through a shaded avenue the whole way. A shower which +had fallen the night before we went (a very rare thing in Egypt at +this season) had laid the dust and cooled the air, so that the day was +perfect, and we drove in a carriage in an hour and a half from our +hotel to the foot of the Pyramids. The two largest of these are in +sight as soon as one crosses the Nile, but though six miles distant +they seem quite near. Yet at first, and even when close to them, they +hardly impress the beholder with their real greatness. This is owing +to their pyramidal form, which, rising before the eye like the slope +of a hill, does not strike the senses or the imagination as much as +smaller masses which rise perpendicularly. One can hardly realize that +the Pyramid of Cheops is the largest structure in the world--the +largest probably ever reared by human hands. But as it slopes to the +top, it does not present its full proportions to the eye, nor impress +one so much as some of the Greek temples with their perpendicular +columns, or the Gothic churches with their lofty arches, and still +loftier towers, soaring to heaven. Yet the Great Pyramid is higher +than them all, higher even than the spire of the Cathedral at +Strasburg; while in the surface of ground covered, the most spacious +of them, even St. Peter's at Rome, seems small in comparison. It +covers eleven acres, a space nearly as large as the Washington Parade +Ground in New York; and is said by Herodotus to have taken a hundred +thousand men twenty years to build it. Pliny agrees in the length of +time, but says the number of workmen employed was over three hundred +thousand! + +But mere figures do not give the best impression of height; the only +way to judge of the Great Pyramid is to see it and to ascend it. One +can go to the top by steps, but as these steps are blocks of stone, +many of which are four feet high, it is not quite like walking up +stairs. One could hardly get up at all but with the help of the Arabs, +who swarm on the ground, and make a living by selling their services. +Four of them set upon me, seizing me by the hands, and dragging me +forward, and with pulling and pushing and "boosting," urged on by my +own impatience--for I would not let them rest a moment--in ten minutes +we were at the top, which they thought a great achievement, and rubbed +down my legs, as a groom rubs down a horse after a race, and clapped +me on the back, and shouted "All right," "Very good." I felt a little +pride in being the first of our party on the top, and the last to +leave it. + +These Arab guides are at once very troublesome and very necessary. One +cannot get along without them, and yet they are so importunate in +their demands for backsheesh that they become a nuisance. They are +nominally under the orders of a Sheik, who charges two English +shillings for every traveller who is assisted to the top, but that +does not relieve one from constant appeals going up and down. I found +it the easiest way to get rid of them to give somewhat freely, and +thus paid three or four times the prescribed charge before I got to +the bottom. No doubt I gave far too much, for they immediately quoted +me to the rest of the party, and held me up as a shining example. I am +afraid I demoralized the whole tribe, for some friends who went the +next day were told of an American who had been there the day before, +who had given "beautiful backsheesh." The cunning fellows, finding I +was an easy subject, followed me from one place to another, and gave +me no peace even when wandering among the tombs, or when taking our +lunch in the Temple of the Sphinx, but at every step clamored for +more; and when I had given them a dozen times, an impudent rascal came +up even to the carriage, as we were ready to drive away, and said that +two or three shillings more would "make all serene!"--a phrase which +he had caught from some strolling American, and which he turns to good +account. + +But one would gladly give any sum to get rid of petty annoyances, and +to be able to look around him undisturbed. Here we are at last on the +very summit of the Great Pyramid, and begin to realize its immensity. +Below us men look like mice creeping about, and the tops of trees in +the long avenue show no larger than hot-house plants. The eye ranges +over the valley of the Nile for many miles--a carpet of the richest +green, amid which groups of palms rise like islands in a sea. To the +east beyond the Nile is Cairo, its domes and minarets standing out +against the background of the Mokattam hills, while to the west +stretches far away the Libyan desert. + +Overlooking this broad landscape, one can trace distinctly the line of +the overflow of the Nile. Wherever the waters come, there is greenness +and fertility; at the point where they cease, there is barrenness and +desolation. It is a perpetual struggle between the waters and the +sands, like that which is always going on in human history between +barbarism and civilization. + +In the Pyramids the two things which impress us most are their vast +size and their age. As we stand on the top, and look down the long +flight of steps which leads to the valley below, we find that we are +on the crest of a mountain of stone. Some idea of the enormous mass +imbedded in the Great Pyramid may be gathered from the fact, +ascertained by a careful computation (estimating its weight at seven +millions of tons, and considering it a solid mass, its chambers and +passages being as far as discovered but 1/2000th of the whole), that +these blocks of stone, placed end to end, would make a wall a foot and +a half broad, and ten feet high around England, a distance of 883 +miles--a wall that would shut in the island up to the Scottish border. + +And the Pyramids are not only the greatest, but the oldest monuments +of the human race, the most venerable structures ever reared by the +hand of man. They are far older than any of the monuments of Roman or +Grecian antiquity. They were a marvel and a mystery then as much as +they are to-day. How _much_ older cannot be said with certainty. +Authorities are not fully agreed, but the general belief among the +later chronologists is that the Great Pyramid was built about two +thousand one hundred and seventy years before the time of Christ, and +the next in size a century later. Thus both have been standing about +four thousand years. Napoleon was right therefore when he said to his +soldiers before the battle fought with the Mamelukes under the shadow +of the Pyramids, "From those heights forty centuries behold you." This +disposes of the idea which some have entertained, that they were built +by the children of Israel when they were in Egypt; for according to +this they were erected two hundred years before even the time of +Abraham. Jacob saw them when he came down into Egypt to buy corn; and +Joseph showed them to his brethren. The subject Hebrews looked up to +them in the days of their bondage. Moses saw them when he was brought +up in the court of Pharaoh, and they disappeared from the view of the +Israelites only when they fled to the Red Sea. They had been standing +a thousand years when Homer sang of the siege of Troy; and here came +Herodotus the father of history, four hundred years before Christ, and +gazed with wonder, and wrote about them as the most venerable +monuments of antiquity, with the same curious interest as Rawlinson +does to-day. So they have been standing century after century, while +the generations of men have been flowing past, like the waters of the +Nile. + +We visited the Great Pyramid again on our return from Upper Egypt, and +explored the interior, but reserve the description to another chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON THE NILE. + + +At last we are on the Nile, floating as in a dream, in the finest +climate in the world, amid the monuments and memories of thousands of +years. Anything more delightful than this climate for winter cannot be +imagined. The weather is always the same. The sky is always blue, and +we are bathed in a soft, delicious atmosphere. In short, we seem to +have come, like the Lotus-eaters, to "a land where it is always +afternoon." In such an air and such a mood, we left Cairo to make the +voyage to which we had been looking forward as an event in our lives. + +To travellers who desire to visit Egypt, and to see its principal +monuments, without taking more time than they have at command, it is a +great advantage that there is now a line of steamers on the Nile. The +boats belong to the Khedive, but are managed by Cook & Son, of London, +the well-known conductors of excursions in Europe and the East. They +leave Cairo every fortnight, and make the trip to the First Cataract +and back in twenty days, thus comprising the chief objects of interest +within a limited time. Formerly there was no way to go up the Nile +except by chartering a boat, with a captain and crew for the voyage. +This mode of travel had many charms. The kind of boat--called a +_dahabeeah_--was well fitted for the purpose, with a cabin large +enough for a single family, or a very small party, and an upper deck +covered with awnings; and as it spread its three-cornered lateen sail +to the wind, it presented a pretty and picturesque object, and the +traveller floated along at his own sweet will. This had only the +drawback of taking a whole winter. But to leisurely tourists, who like +to do everything thoroughly, and so take but one country in a year; or +learned Egyptologists, who wish, in the intervals of seeing monuments, +to make a special study of the history of Egypt; or invalids, who +desire only to escape the damps and fogs of Britain, or the bitter +cold of the Northern States of America--nothing can be imagined more +delightful. There is a class of overworked men for whom no medicine +could be prescribed more effectual than a winter idled away in this +soothing, blissful rest. Nowhere in the world can one obtain more of +the _dolce far niente_, than thus floating slowly and dreamily on the +Nile. But for those of us who are wandering over all the earth, +crossing all the lands and seas in the round world, this slow voyaging +will not answer. + +Nor is it necessary. One can see Egypt--not of course minutely, but +sufficiently to get a general impression of the country--in a much +less time. It must be remembered that this is not like other countries +which lie four-square, presenting an almost equal length and breadth, +but in shape is a mere line upon the map, being a hundred times as +long as it is broad. To be exact, Egypt from the apex of the +Delta--that is from Cairo--to the First Cataract, nearly six hundred +miles, is all enclosed in a valley, which, on an average, is only six +miles wide, the whole of which may be seen from the deck of a steamer, +while excursions are made from day to day to the temples and ruins. It +is a mistake to suppose that one sees more of these ruins on a boat +because he is so much longer about it, when the extra time consumed is +not spent at Denderah or Thebes, but floating lazily along with a +light wind, or if the wind be adverse, tied up to a bank to await a +change. In a steamer the whole excursion is well divided, ample time +being allowed to visit every point of interest, as at Thebes, where +the boat stops three days. As soon as one point is done, it moves on +to another. In this way no time is lost, and one can see as much in +three weeks as in a dahabeeah in three months. + +Our boat carried twenty-seven passengers, of whom more than half were +Americans, forming a most agreeable company. All on deck, we watched +with interest the receding shores, as we sailed past the island of +Rhoda, where, according to tradition, the infant Moses was found in +the bulrushes; and where the Nilometer, a pillar planted in the water +ages ago, still marks the annual risings and fallings of the great +river of Egypt. The Pyramids stood out clear against the western sky. +That evening we enjoyed the first of a series of glorious sunsets on +the Nile. Our first sail was very short--only to Sakkara, a few miles +above Cairo, where we lay to for the night, the boat being tied up to +the bank, in the style of a steamer on the Mississippi. + +Early the next morning our whole company hastened ashore, where a +large array of donkeys was waiting to receive us. These had been sent +up from Cairo the night before. My faithful attendant was there with +"Yankee Doodle," and claimed me as his special charge. We were soon +mounted and pricking over what we should call "bottom lands" in the +valleys of our Western rivers, the wide plain being relieved only by +the palm groves, and rode through an Arab village, where we were +pursued by a rabble rout of ragged children. The dogs barked, the +donkeys brayed, and the children ran. Followed by such a retinue, we +approached the Pyramids of Sakkara, which stand on the same plateau as +those of Ghizeh, and are supposed to be even older in date. Though +none of them are equal to the Great Pyramid, they belong to the same +order of Cyclopean architecture, and are the mighty monuments of an +age when there were giants in the earth. + +There is a greater wonder still in the Tombs of the Sacred Bulls, +which were long buried beneath the sands of the desert, but have been +brought to light by a modern explorer, but which I will not describe +here, as I shall speak of them again in illustration of the religious +ideas of the Egyptians. + +Near the Pyramids of Sakkara is the site of Memphis, the capital of +ancient Egypt, of whose magnificence we have the most authentic +historic accounts, but of which hardly a trace remains. We galloped +our donkeys a long distance that we might pass over the spot where it +stood, but found only great mounds of earth, with here and there a few +scattered blocks of granite, turned up from the soil, to tell of the +massive structures that are buried beneath. The chief relic of its +former glory is a statue of Rameses the Great, one of the most famous +of the long line of the Pharaohs--a statue which was grand enough to +be worthy of a god--being some fifty feet high, but which now lies +stretched upon the earth, with its face downward, all its fine +proportions completely buried in a little pond--or rather puddle--of +dirty water! At certain seasons of the year, when the Nile subsides, +the features are exposed, and one may look upon a countenance "whose +bend once did awe the world;" but at present, seeing only the back, +and that broken, it has no appearance or shape of anything, and might +be a king, or queen, or crocodile. What a bitter satire is it on all +human pride, that this mighty king and conqueror, the Napoleon of his +day--who made nations tremble--now lies prone on the earth, his +imperial front buried in the slime and ooze of the Nile! That solitary +stone is all that is left of a city of temples and palaces, which are +here entombed, and where now groves of palms wave their tasselled +plumes, like weeping willows over the sepulchre of departed greatness. + +Our next excursion was to the remains of a very remote antiquity on +the other side of the Nile--the Rock-Tombs of Beni-Hassan--immense +caverns cut in the side of a mountain, in which were buried the great +ones of Egypt four thousand years ago. Many of them are inscribed with +hieroglyphics, and decorated with frescoes and bas-reliefs, in which +we recognize not only the appearance of the ancient Egyptians, but +even of the animals which were familiar in that day, such as the lion, +the jackal, and the gazelle, and more frequently the beasts of +burden--bulls and donkeys; but in none do we discover the horse, nor, +what is perhaps even more remarkable in a country surrounded by +deserts--the camel. + +In the King's tomb, or sepulchral chamber, a room some forty feet +square, hollowed out of the solid rock, the vaulted roof is supported +by Doric pillars, which shows that the Greeks obtained many of their +ideas of architecture in Egypt, as well as of philosophy and religion. + +As we continue our course up the river, we observe more closely the +features of the valley of the Nile. It is very narrow and is abruptly +bounded by barren and ragged mountains. Between these barriers the +river winds like a serpent from side to side, now to the east, and now +to the west, but inclining more to the range of Eastern or Arabian +hills, leaving the greater breadth of fertility on the western bank. +Here is the larger number of villages; here is the railroad which the +Khedive has built along the valley, beside which runs the long line of +telegraph poles, that sign of civilization, keeping pace with the iron +track, and passing beyond it, carrying the electric cord to the upper +Nile, to Nubia and Soudan. The Khedive, with that enterprise which +marks his administration, has endeavored to turn the marvellous +fertility of this valley to the most profitable uses. He has +encouraged the culture of cotton, which became very extensive during +our civil war, and is still perhaps the chief industry of the country. +Next to this is the growth of the sugar-cane: he has expended millions +in the erection of great manufactories of sugar, whose large white +walls and tall chimneys are the most conspicuous objects at many +points along the Nile. + +Now, as thousands of years ago, the great business of the people is +_irrigation_. The river does everything. It fertilizes the land; it +yields the crops. The only thing is to bring the water to the land at +the seasons when the river does not overflow. This is done by a very +simple and rude apparatus, somewhat like an old-fashioned well-sweep, +by which a bucket is lowered into the river, and as it is swung up the +water is turned into a trench which conducts it over the land. This is +the _shadoof_, the same which was used in the time of Moses. There is +another method by which a wheel is turned by an ox, lifting up a +series of buckets attached to a chain, but this is too elaborate and +expensive for the greater part of the poor people who are the tillers +of the soil. + +We pass a great number of villages, but, larger and smaller, all +present the same general features. At a distance they have rather a +pretty effect, as they are generally embowered in palm trees, out of +which sometimes peers the white minaret of a mosque. But a nearer +approach destroys all the picturesqueness. The houses are built of +unburnt brick, dried in the sun. They are mere huts of mud--as +wretched habitations as an Irish hovel or an Indian wigwam. The floor +is the earth, where all sexes and ages sit on the ground, while in an +enclosure scarcely separate from the family, sheep and goats, and dogs +and asses and camels, lie down together. + +The only pretty feature of an Arab village is the _doves_. Where these +Africans got their fondness for birds, I know not, but their mud +houses are surmounted--and one might almost say _castellated_--with +dove-cotes, which of course are literally "pigeon-holed," and stuck +round with branches, to seem like trees, and these rude aviaries are +alive with wings all day long. It was a pretty and indeed a touching +sight to see these beautiful creatures, cooing and fluttering above, +presenting such a contrast, in their airy flights and bright plumage, +to the dark and sad human creatures below. + +But if the houses of the people are so mean and poor, their clothing +is still worse, consisting generally of but one garment, a kind of +sack of coarse stuff. The men working at the _shadoof_ on the river +brink have only a strip of cloth around their loins. The women have a +little more _dress_ than the men, though generally barefoot and +bareheaded--while carrying heavy jars of water on their heads. The +children have the merest shred of a garment, a clout of rags, in such +tatters that you wonder how it can hold together, while many are +absolutely naked. + +This utter destitution would entail immense suffering, and perhaps +cause the whole race to die out, but for the climate, which is so mild +that it takes away in a great degree the need of shelter and raiment, +which in other countries are necessary to human existence. + +This extreme poverty is aggravated by one disease, which is almost +universal. The bright sun, glaring on the white sands, produces an +inflammation of the eyes, which being neglected, often ends in +blindness. I have seen more men in Egypt with one eye, or with none, +than in all Europe. + +It might be supposed that a people, thus reduced by poverty and +smitten by disease, would be crushed out of all semblance of humanity. +And yet this Arab race is one which has a strong tenacity of life. +Most travellers judge them harshly, because they are disgusted by the +unceasing cry for _backsheesh_, which is the first word that a +stranger hears as he lands in Egypt, and the last as he leaves it. But +even this (although it is certainly a nuisance and a pest) might be +regarded with more merciful judgment, if it were considered that it is +only the outward sign of an internal disease; that general beggary +means general poverty and general misery. + +Leaving this noisy crowd, which gathers about us in every village that +we enter, it is easy to find different specimens of Arab character, +which engage our interest and compel our respect. One cannot look at +these men without admiring their physique. They remind me much of our +American Indians. Like them, they are indolent, unless goaded to work +by necessity, and find nothing so pleasant as to sit idly in the sun. +But when they stand up they have an attitude as erect as any Indian +chief, and a natural dignity, which is the badge of their race. Many a +man who has but a single garment to cover him, will wrap it about him +as proudly as any Spanish cavalier would toss his cloak over his +shoulders, and stalk away with a bold, free stride, as if, in spite of +centuries of humiliation, he were still the untamed lord of the +desert. Their old men are most venerable in appearance. With their +long beards, white turbans, and flowing garments, they might stand for +the picture of Old Testament patriarchs. The women too (who do not +cover their faces as much as those in lower Egypt), though coarsely +and meanly dressed, yet as they walk with their water-jars on their +heads, stand more erect than the fashionable ladies of our cities. I +see them every day coming to fill their "pitchers" precisely as +Rebecca and Rachel came three thousand years ago, and if I should +approach one, saying, Give me to drink, (which I might well do, for +the water of the Nile--though containing so much sediment, that it +needs to be filtered--is as soft and sweet as that of our own Croton), +she would let down her jar from her head just as Rebecca let down her +jar for the servant of Abraham, when he came to ask her in marriage +for his master's son Isaac. + +The children too, though often naked, and if clothed at all, always in +rags, yet have fine olive complexions, and dazzling teeth, and those +bright eyes which are the sign of a degree of native intelligence. + +Nor can I refuse to say a word for the poor donkey-boy. Many years ago +a Scotchman in the Cape Colony, South Africa, who was accustomed to +make long journeys in the bush, wrote a little poem, depicting the +joys of that solitary life, which began, + + "Afar in the desert I love to ride, + With the silent bush-boy by my side." + +The donkey-boy is never silent, he is always singing or calling to his +donkey, urging him forward with stick and voice; yet who could wish a +more patient or faithful attendant, who, though on foot, trots by your +side from morning to night, the slave of your caprice, taking meekly +all your rebukes, perhaps undeserved, and content at last with a +pittance for his service? + +So have I had a little girl as a water-carrier, running close to my +saddle all day long, keeping up with the donkey's pace, and carrying a +small jar of water on her head, to wash my hands and face, or assuage +my thirst, thankful at last for a few piastres as her reward. + +We reached Assiout, the capital of Upper Egypt, early Sunday morning, +and laid up for the day. While our boat's company were preparing to go +on shore to see the town, I mounted a donkey and started off to find +the American Mission, which is at work among the Copts, who claim to +be the descendants of the ancient Egyptians. I arrived at the chapel +in time to hear a sermon and an address to the Sunday-school. As the +services were in Arabic, I could not understand what was said, but I +could perceive at once the earnestness of the speakers, and the close +attention of the hearers. After the sermon there was a baptism. The +congregation was a very respectable one both in numbers and +appearance. There were perhaps two hundred present, all decently, +although some were very poorly clad, and presented a striking contrast +to the ragged and dirty people around them. In the quiet and orderly +worship, and the songs that were sung, which were Arabic words to +American tunes, there was much to make one think of home. There was +nothing to distinguish the congregation except the Oriental turbans +and dress, and the fact that the women sat apart from the men, +separated by a screen, which shows that the seclusion of women is not +confined to the Mohammedans. It is an Oriental custom, and is observed +by the Copts as well as the Moslems. I am told that even among +Christian families here, it is not considered quite "the thing" for +women to go abroad and show impertinent curiosity, and that ladies of +good position, who are as intelligent as most Orientals, have never +seen the Nile, but two miles distant! Such is the power of fashion +even in Africa. In the church are several men of wealth, who give +freely of their means, as well as use their influence, for its +support. The Copts are nominal Christians, although, like most of the +Christian sects of the East, they are very ignorant and very +superstitious. But they have not the fanatical hatred to Christianity +of the Mussulmans. They acknowledge the authority of the Bible, and +are thus more open to argument and persuasion. Besides this +congregation, the mission has some dozen schools in the surrounding +country. In the town itself, besides the schools for the poorest +children, it has a boarding-school for those of a better class, an +academy which is the beginning of a college, and half a dozen young +men are preparing for the ministry. The field is a very hopeful one, +and I was assured that the success of the mission was limited only by +the means at its disposal. + +After visiting the schools, Rev. Mr. Strang accompanied me through the +town. It has over twenty-five thousand inhabitants, and is the point +of departure for the caravans which cross the Great Desert to Darfour +and the far interior of Africa, returning laden with ivory and ostrich +feathers, as in the days of King Solomon. We saw in an open square, or +market-place, some hundred camels, that, as they lay wearily on the +earth, looked as if they might have made the long journey over the +trackless sands. Laborers were at work, with no respect for the day, +for Friday is the Mohammedan Sabbath; and my friend pointed out, where +a number of workmen were building a house, the "taskmaster" sitting on +the top of the wall to overlook them, as in the days of the Bible. As +we returned by an old portal in the city walls, we found a number of +long-bearded and venerable men, who were "sitting in the gate" as +"elders" to administer justice. The city gate is the place of honor +and of justice now, as it was thousands of years ago. + +In the mountain behind the town are a great number of tombs, like +those of Beni-Hassan, vast chambers hewn out of the rock ages ago for +burial places. We walked along by these silent memorials of the mighty +dead, to the summit, from which is one of the most beautiful views of +the valley of the Nile. Below the plain is spread out for many miles, +well watered like the garden of the Lord, the emerald green coming up +to the very foot of the barren hills. But there it ceases instantly, +giving place to the desert. + +These contrasts suggest some comparisons between the scenery and the +climate of Egypt, and our own country. Whoever breathes this balmy +air, and looks up to this cloudless sky, must feel that the Lord of +all the earth has been bountiful to Egypt. As we read of the winter +storms now raging over half of Europe, we bless the more kindly skies +that are over us now. But after a few weeks of this dreamy, languid +life, one begins to feel the want of something else to stir his blood. +He finds that nature in Egypt, like the works of man, like the temples +and the pyramids, is a sublime monotony. The landscapes are all the +same. There are four or five grand features, the river, the valley, +the hills that enclose it, and beyond the boundless desert, and over +all the burning sun and sky. These are the elements that enter into +every landscape. There is no change, no variety. Look where you will, +there is no vision in the distance of lofty peaks dark with pines, or +white with snow, no torrents leaping down the mountain side (the +_silence_ of Egypt is one of the things that most oppress me), no +brooks that run among the hills, no winding paths along their banks +that invite the stranger to lose himself in their shade. I see indeed +hills on either horizon, but they are barren and desolate. On all +this double range, for six hundred miles, there is not a single green +thing--not a tree, not a shrub, not a blade of grass, not even a rock +covered with moss, only a waste of sand and stone. If you climbed +those hills yonder across the valley you would look off upon a +boundless plain of sand that stretches to the Red Sea; while behind +where we stand is the Libyan Desert, which is only an arm of the Great +Sahara, that crosses almost the whole of the continent. In all this +waste the valley of the Nile is the one narrow strip of fertility. And +even this is parched and burnt up to the very water's edge. Hence the +monotony of vegetation. There is not a forest in all Egypt, only the +palm groves, which are planted like garden flowers, but no tangled +wild wood, no lofty elms, no broad-spreading oaks that cast their +grateful shadow on the burning plains. All that variety of nature, +with which in other lands she beguiles the weary heart of man, is +wanting here. It is indeed the land of the sun, and in that is at once +its attraction and its terror, as the fiery orb beats down upon it, +withering man and beast, and turning the earth into a desert. + +Seeing this monotony of nature, and feeling this monotony of life, one +begins to pine after awhile, for a return to the scenes more varied, +though more wild and rugged, of his own more northern clime. We hear +much of the beauty of a "cloudless sky." It is indeed a relief for a +few weeks to those who escape from wintry storms, from bitter winds +and blinding snow. But who would have sunshine _forever_? The light +and warmth are better when softened and subdued by clouds that +intercept the overpowering rays. But here the clouds are few, and they +do not "return after the rain," for there _is_ no rain. In Lower Egypt +there is what may be called a rainy season. In the Delta, as the +clouds roll up from the Mediterranean, there is sometimes a sound of +abundance of rain. But in Upper Egypt it may be said that it never +rains. In Assiout it has rained but three times in ten years! Of +course the heat is sometimes fearful. Now it is mid-winter, and the +air is comparatively cool and bracing, but in midsummer it reaches 110 +and 112 degrees in the shade! For days and nights together the heat is +so intense that not a leaf stirs in the palm groves. Not only is there +not a drop of rain--there is not a breath of air. This it is to have a +"cloudless sky"! Gladly then would our friend exchange for half the +year the climate of Egypt for that of America. How refreshing it would +be to him to see, just for once, great masses of black clouds +gathering over the Arabian Hills, to see the lightnings flash as he +has seen them in his native Ohio, and to hear the thunder-peals +rolling across the valley from mountain to mountain, and at last dying +away on the Libyan desert. + +Think of this, ye who shiver in your winter storms at home, and sigh +for Egypt. Take it all in all, would you make the exchange? + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE TEMPLES OF EGYPT--DID MOSES GET HIS LAW FROM THE EGYPTIANS? + + +In the distribution of the monuments of Egypt, it is a curious fact +that the Pyramids are found almost wholly in Lower Egypt, and the +great Temples in Upper Egypt. It was not till we had been a week on +the Nile, that we had our first sight of the latter at Denderah. We +have since spent three days at Thebes, the great centre of historical +interest, and have made a regular campaign of sight-seeing, starting +on excursions every morning, and thus have explored the ruins on both +sides of the river--for Thebes, like many other great cities--like +London and Paris--was built on two sides of a river, but one much +greater than the Thames or the Seine, yet not so great but that it was +spanned by a bridge (at least this is inferred from some ancient +sculptures and inscriptions), over which poured a population such as +pours over London Bridge to-day. The site seems made for a great +capital, for here the mountains retire from the river, sweeping round +in a circuit of some fifty miles, leaving a broad plain to be filled +with human habitations. Here four thousand years ago was built a city +greater than that on the banks of the Tigris or the Euphrates, than +Nineveh or Babylon. Here was the centre of power and dominion for two +continents--not only for Africa, but for Asia--to which flocked the +multitudinous nations of Assyria and Arabia and Persia and the +farthest East, as well as the tribes of Ethiopia--as two thousand +years later all the peoples of the earth flocked to Rome. It is easy, +from historical records and monumental inscriptions, to form some +idea of the glory of this capital of the ancient world. We can imagine +the tumult and the roar of this more ancient Rome, when the chariots +of mighty kings, and the tread of armies returning victorious from +distant wars, thundered through her hundred gates. + +Then did the kings of Egypt rear temples and palaces and statues and +obelisks worthy of all that greatness. Then were built the most +gigantic temples ever raised by the hand of man--as much surpassing in +vastness and grandeur those reared centuries afterward by the Greeks, +as the latter surpass anything by the moderns. The temples of +Thebes--including Luxor and Karnac, which are parts of one city--are +as much grander than the Parthenon, as the Parthenon is grander than +the Madeleine at Paris, which is a feeble attempt to copy it. + +We have now been a week--beginning with Denderah--studying these +ruins, and may give certain general impressions. We do not attempt any +detailed description, which must necessarily be inadequate, since +neither words nor figures convey an idea of them, any more than they +do of the Alps. What would be thought of an avenue nearly two miles +long, lined with over twelve hundred colossal sphinxes? Yet such was +the avenue from Luxor to Karnac--an approach worthy to lead to the +temple of the gods. What can we say of a forest of columns, each +twelve feet in diameter, stretching out in long colonnades; of the +massive walls covered with bas-reliefs; and obelisks in single shafts +of granite, of such height and weight that it is the wonder of modern +engineering how they could be cut from the side of the hills, and be +brought a hundred and forty miles, and erected on their firm bases. + +But this temple--or rather cluster of temples and palaces--was not, +like the temple of Solomon, finished in a single reign. Karnac was not +the work of one man, or of one generation. It was twenty-five hundred +years in building, successive kings and dynasties adding to the mighty +whole, which was to represent all the glory of Egypt. + +The general impression of these temples--and the same is true of the +Egyptian statues and sculptures--is one of grandeur rather than +beauty. They seek to overpower the senses by mere size. Sometimes they +overdo the matter. Thus in the temples at Karnac the columns seem to +me too large and too much crowded for the best effect. Ordinary trees +may be planted in a dense grove, but great, broad-spreading oaks or +elms require space around them; and if these columns were a little +more _spaced_--to use a printer's word--the architectural effect would +be still grander. So in the Egyptian sculpture, everything is +colossal. In the granite lions and sphinxes there is always an aspect +of power in repose which is very impressive, and strikes one with awe. +But in any lighter work, such as frescoes and bas-reliefs, there is a +total absence of delicacy and grace. Nothing can be more stiff. They +sometimes have a rude force of drawing, but beauty they have none. +That was born in Greece. All the sculptures on all the temples of +Egypt are not worth--except as historical monuments--the friezes of +the Parthenon. + +One thing else has struck me much as to the plan of these temples, +viz.: that we see in them the types and models of much that has been +reproduced in various forms of ecclesiastical architecture. One has +but to observe with some care the construction of these vast +basilicas, to see how many features of Jewish, and even of Christian +and Moslem architecture, have been adopted from still older temples +and an earlier religion. Thus in the temple at Edfoo there is first +the vast enclosure surrounding the whole, and then within the walls an +outer court open to the sky, corresponding to the Court of the +Gentiles in the Temple at Jerusalem, to the Court of the Fountains +leading to the Mosques, and the cloister surrounding the approaches to +old abbeys and cathedrals. One might find a still closer resemblance +in forms of worship, in the vestments of priests, in the altars, and +in the burning of incense, etc., a parallel which scholars have often +traced. + +And now of all this magnificence and glory of the ancient capital of +Egypt, what remains? Only these vast ruins of temples and palaces. The +"plain of Thebes" is still here, but deserted and silent. A few +columns and statues rise above the plain to mark where the city stood, +but the city itself is gone as much as the people who inhabited it +four thousand years ago. A few miserable mud huts are built against +the walls of mighty temples, and the ploughman drives his team over +the dust of the city of a hundred gates. I saw a fellah ploughing with +a cow and a camel yoked together, and a couple of half-naked Arabs +raising water with their _shadoof_ between the Memnon (the statue +which was said to sing when its stony lips were touched by the rising +of the sun) and its brother statue--the two great Colossi, between +which ran the Royal street to Luxor. Was there ever a more complete +and utter desolation? In the temple called the Rameseum once stood the +largest statue that ever was known--that of Rameses the Great (the +same who had a statue at Memphis, for he erected monuments to himself +everywhere), cut out of a single block of granite brought from the +First Cataract, and weighing nearly nine hundred tons! On this was +inscribed, as Herodotus writes, who saw it twenty-three hundred years +ago: "I am the king of kings: if any man wish to know how great I am, +and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works!" What a comment on +the emptiness of human ambition, that this colossal statue, which was +to last to the end of the world, was long ago pulled down by a later +conqueror, Cambyses, the Persian, and now lies on its back, with its +nose knocked off, and eyes put out, and all its glory in the dust! + +In studying the figures and the inscriptions on the walls of temples, +there are many things which throw light on the manners and customs of +the ancient Egyptians. Here is a scene of hunting, or of fishing, or +of feasting. Here are the different trades, which show the skill of +the people in the mechanic arts, and many scenes which give us an +insight into their domestic life. These have been the subjects of two +learned and most interesting works by Wilkinson, which open the very +interior of ancient Egypt to our modern eyes. They show a very high +degree of civilization--of skill in all the useful arts, a skill fully +equal in many things, and in some greatly superior, to that of our own +day. Wendell Phillips, in his famous lecture on "The Lost Arts," finds +many of his illustrations in ancient Egypt. I could not but think that +this furnished a very effective answer to those advocates of +evolution, who hold that mankind sprung from animals, and have +gradually developed to their present state. How much progress have the +Egyptians made in four thousand years? Here the race has gone +backward, so that there is certainly no inherent tendency in our +nature to advance. + +But I was less interested in studying the domestic life of the ancient +Egyptians, than their religious ideas. Herodotus says that the +Egyptians were a very religious people, excelling all others in the +honors paid to their gods; and this we can well believe, seeing the +temples that they reared for their worship. But what were the gods +they adored, and what sort of worship did they render, and how did all +this act on the life and character of the people? Here we obtain a +less exalted estimate of the ancient Egyptians. The remains which they +have left, while they illustrate the greatness of the empire, which +four thousand years ago had its seat in the valley of the Nile, do not +give a high idea of its Religion. The land was wholly given to +idolatry. The Egyptians had as many gods as the Greeks and Romans, +only baser and lower, indicating baser and lower ideas. They made +gods, not only of the sun, moon, and stars, but of beasts and birds +and reptiles--of the apis and the ibis--of the serpent and the +crocodile. + +At Sakkara we visited one of the most stupendous mausoleums that we +have seen in Egypt--one which Herodotus described, but which for +centuries was so buried by the sands of the desert that its very site +was not known until brought to light by the researches of Mariette +Bey, who has done so much to restore the monuments of ancient Egypt. +The approach to it was by an avenue of sphinxes, which led to a vast +subterranean gallery--twenty feet wide and high--and leading two +thousand feet, more than a third of a mile, under the earth. This +long, vaulted passage is hewn in the solid rock--out of which open on +either side a series of chambers or recesses, like side chapels--each +containing a sarcophagus, 15 x 8 feet. These tombs, hollowed out of +the solid granite, are so huge and massive that we wonder how they +ever could have been got there. Yet these great sarcophagi--fit for +the burial places of a long line of kings--were not for the Pharaohs +or the Ptolemies, but for the Sacred Bulls! Thirty of these sarcophagi +have been found, and on the walls are tablets which record the birth, +and death, and burial of each one of these sacred beasts. These were +the gods of Egypt, mother of the arts, and civilizer of the earth! +This great repository of dead divinities is a colossal monument, at +once of the architectural skill of the ancient Egyptians, and of their +degrading superstition. + +This single fact is enough to answer those who would imply, if they do +not quite dare to assert, that the inspiration of the Books of Moses +was derived from the Egyptians. It is a favorite theory of certain +writers that Moses, being brought up in Egypt, here obtained both the +Law and the Religion which he gave to the Israelites. No doubt he did +learn much from a country that was at that time the most civilized in +the world. He was brought up in a court, and enjoyed every advantage +of a royal education. He was "learned in all the wisdom of the +Egyptians." And it detracts not at all from his inspiration, to +suppose that he may have been instructed to embody in his new and +better code whatever was excellent in the older system, and had been +approved by the experience of centuries. The ceremonial laws--such as +those of purification--may have been adopted from the Egyptians. But +these are the mere fringes of the garment of the great Lawgiver. As +soon as we open the Hebrew Scriptures, we find traces of a wisdom such +as the Egyptians never knew. The very first sentence--"In the +beginning God created the heavens and the earth"--scatters the fables +of Isis and Osiris, and substitutes for the troop of heathen deities +the worship of One Living and True God. This single declaration marks +a stupendous advance in the religious faith and worship of mankind. + +The same first principle appears as the corner-stone of the law given +on Mount Sinai: "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the +land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other +gods before me." + +The second law of the first table breaks in pieces the images of the +gods of the Egyptians: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven +image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, nor in +the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth." This was spoken +to a people that had just come out of a country where they worshipped +beasts and birds and reptiles, and where the walls of the temples were +covered with the images of all kinds of foul and creeping things. + +In this age of the world, and among civilized nations, we cannot +understand the passion for idolatry. Yet it is one of the most +universal and ineradicable instincts of a half barbarous people. They +see tokens of an unseen power in the forces of nature, in clouds and +winds, in lightning and tempest, and they torment themselves with all +imaginable terrors, from which they seek relief and protection in +bowing down to gods of wood and stone. + +The Israelites coming out of Egypt, were out of the house of bondage +in one sense, but they were in it in another. They were continually +relapsing into idolatry. The golden calf of Aaron was but an imitation +of the sacred bulls of Egypt. Often they pined for the products of the +fertile valley of the Nile. With nothing but the burning sands beneath +their feet, they might well long for the shade of the palm tree and +for its delicious fruit, and they said, Why hath this man Moses +brought us up to die in this wilderness? It required forty years of +wandering, and that a whole generation should leave their bones to +whiten the sands of the desert, before their children could be wholly +alienated from the worship of false gods. So not only with the +Israelites, but with all nations of men, ages of fiery discipline have +been necessary to bring back the race to this first article of our +faith: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and +earth." + +We might follow the comparison through all the tables of the law, to +show how absurd is the pretence that what Moses taught to the +Israelites he first learned from the Egyptians. Tell us, ye learned +antiquaries, where on all these temples, and in all the records which +they have left us, is there any trace of the Ten Commandments? + +And yet Egypt is connected very intimately, in history at least, with +the birth of our religion. No other country, except Palestine, figures +so largely in the Bible. Abraham went down into Egypt. Here came the +sons of Jacob to buy corn, and found Joseph ruling in the house of +Pharaoh. And hither centuries later fled the virgin mother with her +child from the wrath of Herod, fulfilling the prediction, "Out of +Egypt have I called my son." + +But Religion--the Divine wisdom which at once instructs and saves +mankind--came not from the valley of the Nile. Abraham and Jacob and +Moses saw the Pyramids standing just as we see them now, but they did +not point them to the true God. That knowledge came from a higher +source. "History," says Bunsen, "was born on that night when Moses, +with the law of God in his heart, led the people of Israel out of +Egypt." And not History only, but Religion then came to a new birth, +that was to be the herald of new and better hopes, and of a higher +civilization than was known to the ancient world. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE EGYPTIAN DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE. + + +The valley of the Nile is one vast sepulchre. Tombs and temples! +Temples and tombs! This is the sum of the monuments which ancient +Egypt has left us. Probably no equal portion of the earth's surface +was ever so populous, at once with the living and the dead. It is but +a narrow strip of territory--a line of green between two deserts; and +yet on this mere _ribbon_ of Africa lived the millions that made one +of the most populous and powerful of ancient empires. They were fed by +the marvellous fertility of the Nile valley, till they stood upon it +almost as thick as the ranks of corn that waved around them: and here, +when life was ended, they found a resting-place in the bosom of the +earth that nourished them, on which they slept as children on a +mother's breast. This strip of earth, long and narrow like a grave, +has been the sepulchre of nations. Here the myriads of Egypt's ancient +reigns--from the time of Menes--through the long line of the Pharaohs +and Ptolemies--the generations that built the Pyramids and those that +came after--laid themselves down to sleep in the great valley. Thus +the very dust of Egypt was made up of the dust of ancient Egyptians. + +But this was only the lot of the common people, to mingle their dust +with common clay--their tomb the common earth, their end to be exhaled +into the common air, or to reappear in other natural forms, living in +plants, blooming in flowers, or in broad-leaved palms, casting a +shadow on the earth from which they sprung. But for her great ones, +more enduring monuments were reared to guard their dust and perpetuate +their names. No people, ancient or modern, ever lavished so much on +these sacred and pious memorials. They expended more on the tombs of +the dead than on the houses of the living, for they reasoned that the +latter were but temporary dwellings, while the former were everlasting +habitations. The kings of Egypt cared more for great tombs than great +palaces, and they reared such mausoleums as the earth never saw +before. The Pyramids were their tombs, and the mountains were hollowed +into royal sepulchres. The rock tombs of Beni-Hassan are cut in the +side of the hills. The barren mountain that looks off upon the great +Libyan desert, is honeycombed with vast and silent halls of the dead. +At Thebes the traveller, ascending from the Nile, winds his way among +hills of sand into a valley of desolation. The summits around are not +covered with pines like our own darkly wooded hills, nor do even the +rocks gather moss--but all is bare and desolate. The desert has +overflowed the earth like a sea, and not a shrub nor a blade of grass +has survived the universal deluge. Yet here where not a living thing +can be found, has been discovered underground the most remarkable +series of tombs which exists. A whole mountain is pierced with deep +excavations. Passages open into its rocky sides, running many hundred +feet into the bowels of the earth, and branching off into recesses +like side chapels. These Halls of Death are like kings' palaces, with +stately chambers broad and high, whose sides and ceilings are covered +with hieroglyphics and illustrative symbols. + +A fact so remarkable as this, that the architecture of a great empire +which has built the most colossal structures in the world, has this +tomblike character, must have a meaning. The Egyptians were a very +religious people. They were not a gay and thoughtless race, like some +of their Asiatic and European neighbors. There is something grave even +in their faces, as seen in ancient statues and monuments. Their very +architecture had this heavy and solemn character. These colossal +temples, these silent sphinxes, seem oppressed with some great mystery +which they cannot reveal. These tombs show that the Egyptian mind was +full of the idea of death, and of another life. The Egyptians were not +Atheists, nor Sadducees. They believed devoutly in God, and in a life +to come. + +How strongly the idea of another life had taken hold of the Egyptian +mind is evident from the symbols in their religion. The symbol most +frequently employed is that of the _scarabaeus_--or beetle--the image +of which appears everywhere, which by analogy teaches that life, in +passing through death, may be born to a new life. The beetle lays its +eggs in the slime of the Nile; it buries them in mud, which it works +into a ball, and rolls over and over, back to the edge of the desert, +and buries in sand. There its work is ended: nature does the rest. Out +of this grave comes in time a resurrection, and life is born of death. +The ostrich eggs hung up in mosques, have the same symbolical meaning. +The ostrich buries its eggs in the sand, and nature, that kind mother +which watches over all life, gives them being. Thus is conveyed the +same idea as in the analogy of the chrysalis and the butterfly. + +Studying the religious faith of the Egyptians a little more closely, +we see that they believed not only in the immortality of the soul, but +in the resurrection of the body. The doctrine taught by Paul, was long +before taught by the priests of Egypt. Their tombs were not merely +memorials of those who had ceased to live, but resting-places for the +bodies of those whose spirits were absent but would some day return. +For this, bodies were embalmed with religious care; they were buried +in tombs hewn out of the solid rock, laid away in Pyramids, or in +caverns hollowed out of the heart of the mountains. There, embedded in +the eternal rocks, locked up with the bars of the everlasting hills, +it seemed that their remains would rest secure till the morning of +the resurrection day. + +Further, they believed not only in immortality and in resurrection, +but also in retribution. The soul that was to pass into another life, +was to go into it to be judged. There it was to be called to account +for the deeds done in the body. Even the funeral rites indicated how +strong was the belief of a judgment to come for all who departed this +life. After the bodies were embalmed, they were borne in solemn +procession to the Nile (most of the tombs being on the western bank), +or to a sacred lake, across which they were to be ferried. (Did not +this suggest to later Roman mythologists the river Styx, and the +boatman Charon who conveyed departed souls to the gloomy shades of +Pluto?) As the funeral procession arrived at the borders of the lake, +it paused till certain questions were answered, on which it depended +whether the dead might receive burial: or should be condemned to +wander in darkness three thousand years. If it passed this ordeal, it +moved forward, not to its everlasting repose, but to the Hall of +Judgment, where Osiris sits upon his throne as the judge of all +mankind. This scene is constantly represented in sculptures, in +bas-reliefs, and in frescoes on the walls of tombs. In one of them a +condemned wretch is driven away in the shape of a pig! (Was it here +that Pythagoras, who studied in Egypt, obtained his doctrine of the +transmigration of souls?) Before Osiris is the scribe, the recording +angel, who keeps a faithful record of the deeds done in the body. A +long line of judges--forty-two in number--sit arrayed as the final +arbiters of his fate--each with his question, on the answer to which +may depend the destiny of the departed soul. + +The "Book of the Dead" (copies of which are still found wrapped up +with mummies: several are in the British Museum) gives the answers to +be made to these searching questions, and also the prayers to be +offered, and the hymns that are to be sung, as the soul enters the +gloomy shades of the under-world. + +In this Egyptian doctrine of a future life there are Christian ideas. +Some indeed will say that Egypt gave rather than received; that she +was the mother of all learning and all wisdom in the ancient world; +that the Greeks obtained their philosophy from her (for Plato as well +as Pythagoras studied in Egypt); that the Eleusinian mysteries came +from Africa; that Moses here found what he taught the Hebrews; and +that even the Christian mysteries and the Christian faith came from +the banks of the Nile. + +There is certainly much food for reflection in this reappearance of +certain religious ideas in different countries and under different +forms. But there is a contrast as well as a resemblance. While the +Hebrews learned so much from the Egyptians, it is very remarkable that +they did _not_ imbibe that strong faith in the reality of the +invisible world, which lies at the foundation of religion. One would +suppose that the Israelites, coming out of Egypt, would be full of +these thoughts, and of the hopes and fears of a life to come. Yet in +all the books of Moses, rarely, if ever, are these motives addressed +to the Hebrews. The German critics argue from this that the Hebrews +did not believe in another life. The late Dr. Edward Robinson, the +distinguished Hebrew scholar, said that he could not find that +doctrine in the Old Testament. Without admitting such an extreme view, +it is certainly remarkable that that idea is much less prominent in +the Old Testament than in the New. It is not Moses, but Christ who has +brought life and immortality to light. + +But the Egyptian doctrine of a future life, while very curious and +interesting as a study of ancient belief, is utterly unsatisfying. The +ideas are detached and fragmentary, and wholly without evidence or +authority; they are merely the crude fancies of mythology, and not the +precise teachings of Revelation. And so in all the tombs and temples +of Egypt there is nothing which can relieve the doubts of a troubled +mind, or the sorrows of a heavy heart. + +I have had some sober thoughts while floating on the bosom of the +Nile. We cannot but see the world through our own eyes and through our +moods of mind. To those who have left their dead beyond the sea, +foreign travel has many sad and lonely hours. The world seems cold and +empty, and even the most religious mind is apt to be haunted with +gloomy thoughts. This is not a mood of mind peculiar to atheists and +unbelievers. Many devout men, in seasons of mental depression, are +tortured with doubts whether, after all, their religious faith is not +a delusion and a dream. + +And so many dark and bitter questionings come to me here in this land +of sepulchres. I have come to Egypt to learn something of the wisdom +of the Egyptians. Tell me then, ye tombs and temples and pyramids, +about God; tell me about the life to come! But the Pyramids speak not; +and the Sphinx still looks towards the East, to watch for the rising +sun, but is voiceless and mute. This valley of the Nile speaks of +nothing but death. From end to end its rock-ribbed hills are filled +with tombs. Yet what do they all teach the anxious and troubled heart +of man? Nothing! All these hills are silent. Not a sound, or even an +echo, comes from these dark sepulchres. No voice of hope issues out of +the caverns hollowed in the bosom of the hills. The hard granite of +the tombs itself is not more deaf to the cry of human anguish, or the +voice of supplication. + +I turn from the monuments of man to nature. I stand on the bank of the +Great River, and ask if it brings not some secret out of the heart of +Africa? Tell me, ye night winds, blowing from African deserts; tell +me, ye stars shining in the African heaven (this sky of Egypt is so +pure and clear that the stars seem higher and more distant from this +lower world), what light can ye throw on this great mystery of death? +And the stars twinkle, but speak not, and the palm trees quiver in +the night wind, but give no answer; and the great Nile flows on +silently to the sea, as life flows on to eternity. Nature is dumb; the +great secret is not revealed. + +For the revelation of that secret we turn not to Egypt, but to +Jerusalem. While the Egyptians groped darkly after the truth, how do +these dim shadows, these poor emblems and analogies, set forth by +contrast the clearer and better truth of revelation! All that is +written on the tombs of Egypt; all that is carved in stone, or written +in hieroglyphics on ancient sarcophagi; all that is built in temples +and pyramids; is not worth that one saying of our Lord, "I am the +Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in me, though he were +dead, yet shall he live." + +We spent Christmas day at Thebes, where a number of English boats had +drawn up to the landing to keep the day, so dear to the hearts of +Englishmen throughout the world. On Christmas eve they were decorated +with palm branches, and at night were lighted up with Chinese +lanterns, while row-boats were floating about, the Arab boatmen +singing their wild, plaintive melodies. + +Christmas brought a scene, if not so picturesque, yet far more sweet +and tender. It had been our good fortune to meet there Rev. Dr. Potter +of New York, the rector of Grace Church. He was going up the Nile with +Miss Wolfe, of Madison square. They were on two dahabeeahs, but kept +company, and anchored every night together. On Christmas day there was +a service on board Miss Wolfe's boat, which was attended by all the +English parties. It was held on the upper deck, which was spread with +carpets and covered with an awning on the top and sides to protect us +from the sun. Whether it was the strange scene, occurring in a distant +part of the world, or sad memories which were recalled by these +anniversary days, seldom has a service touched me more. It was very +sweet to hear the old, old prayers--some of them almost as old as +Christianity itself--to which we had so often listened in other +lands, and to join with the little company in the Christmas hymn: + + "Hark! the herald angels sing, + Glory to the new-born King; + Peace on earth and mercy mild; + God and man are reconciled." + +Dr. Potter read the service in his clear, rich voice, following it +with a sermon which was quite extempore and brief, but so simple and +so appropriate to the day that it went to every heart. And when at the +close was celebrated the communion, we all felt how pleasant it was in +such a place, so far from home, in a country surrounded by the ruins +of the temples of old idolatries, to join in the worship of Him who on +this day was born to be the Light and the Hope of the world. Better is +this than all that Egypt can teach us about a life to come. + +And so we turn from these great temples and tombs, which only mock our +hopes, to Him who has passed through the grave, and lighted the way +for us to follow Him. Let scholars dispute the first intent of the +words, yet nothing in the Old Testament or the New, more distinctly +expresses what I rest upon than this: "I know that my Redeemer liveth +and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though +worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RELIGION OF THE PROPHET. + + +In a review of the faiths of Egypt, one cannot overlook that which has +ruled in the land for more than a thousand years, and still rules, not +only in Egypt, but over a large part of Asia and Africa. We arrived in +Cairo a few days too late to witness the departure of the pilgrims for +Mecca. Once in the year there is a gathering of the faithful for a +journey which is the event of their lives. The spectacle is one of the +most picturesque in the East, as a long procession, mounted on camels, +many of which are richly caparisoned, files through the streets of the +city, amid the admiring gaze of the whole population, and takes the +way of the desert. Slowly it moves Eastward to the Red Sea, and +passing around it, turns South to the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. + +A caravan of pilgrims crossing the desert to visit the birthplace of +the prophet, is a proof that religious enthusiasm still lives even in +this unbelieving age. Perhaps the Moslem spirit is not so bigoted here +as at Constantinople. The Turk, with his heavy stolid nature, is a +more obstinate religionist than the Arab. And yet Mohammed was not a +Turk; he was an Arab, and the faith which he taught still fires the +heart of his race. + +In one view Cairo may be considered the capital of Islam, as it is the +seat of the great University, from which its priests go forth to all +parts of the Mohammedan world. This University is nine hundred years +old--older than Oxford, and still flourishes with as much vigor as in +the palmy days of the Arabian conquest. A visit to it is the most +interesting sight in Cairo. There I saw collected together--not one +hundred or two hundred students, such as are found in our Theological +Seminaries in America--but ten thousand! As one expressed it, "there +were two acres of turbans," assembled in a vast inclosure, with no +floor but a pavement, and with a roof over it, supported by four +hundred columns, and at the foot of every column a teacher, surrounded +by pupils, who sat at his feet precisely as Paul sat at the feet of +Gamaliel. As we entered there rose a hum of thousands of voices, +reciting the Koran. These students are not only from Egypt, but from +all parts of Africa, from Morocco to Zanzibar. They come from far up +the Nile, from Nubia and Soudan; and from Darfour beyond the Great +Desert, and from the western coast of Africa. Asia too is largely +represented in students both from Western Asia, from Turkey, Arabia, +and Persia; and from Central Asia, from Khiva and Bokhara, and +Turkistan and Afghanistan, and the borders of China. They come without +staff or scrip. There is no endowment to support them; no Students' +Fund or Education Board. They live on the charities of the faithful, +and when their studies are ended, those who are to be missionaries on +this continent mount their camels, and joining a caravan, cross the +Desert, and are lost in the far interior of Africa. + +This strange sight has set me a-thinking, and the more I think, the +more the wonder grows. A religion that supports great universities +from generation to generation; and that sends forth caravans, that are +like armies, on long pilgrimages, is not dead; it is full of life, and +can bring into the field tremendous forces to uphold its empire in the +East. What is the secret of its power, by which it lives on from +century to century, and seems as if it could not but by annihilating +die? There is no question of more interest to the historical student; +and no one which it is more necessary to understand in order to form +some just idea of the great Eastern War which is already looming above +the horizon. A full recognition of that which is good in Islam, and of +that which gives it power, would prevent many mistakes in forecasting +the future, although it might abate the sanguine confidence of our +missionary friends in the speedy triumph of Christianity over its +hereditary foe. + +First of all, we must recognize the fact of its existence as one of +the great religions of the world. The number of its adherents is +variously estimated at from a hundred and fifty to a hundred and +eighty millions. It holds but a corner of Europe, but extends its +empire over a large part of Asia and Africa. The whole of Africa which +is not Pagan, is Moslem. In Asia Islam disputes the sway of Hindooism +in India, where the Queen has more Moslem subjects than the Sultan +himself, and of Buddhism in the islands of the Malayan Archipelago. +Over so large a part of the earth's surface is extended the wide +dominion of the Prophet. His followers number one-tenth, perhaps +one-eighth, or even one-sixth part of the human race. + +Nor is this dominion a merely nominal thing. On the contrary, the true +believers are strong believers. It may well be doubted, whether among +the nations nominally Christian the mass of the people really believe +with half the firmness and the fervor of Mussulmans. The Moslems are +as sincere, and in their way as devout, as the adherents of any +religion on the face of the globe. No one can enter the mosque of St. +Sophia, and see the worshippers turning their faces towards Mecca, not +only kneeling but prostrating themselves, touching the pavement with +their foreheads, and repeating, in a low, mournful tone, passages from +the Koran, without feeling that these men really believe. Those +prostrate forms, those wailing voices, are not the signs of hypocrisy, +but of a faith that, however mistaken, is at least sincere. In their +own minds they are in the presence of the Highest, and offer worship +to the unseen God. Indeed they are more than believers, they are +zealots, carrying their faith to fanaticism. A body so vast in number, +composed of such fierce religionists, is certainly a great power in +the political and military, as well as religious, forces, that are yet +to contend for the mastery of the Eastern world. + +Nor is this power inactive in spreading its faith; it is full of +missionary zeal. Max Mueller divides all the religions of the world +into proselytizing and non-proselytizing. Mohammedanism belongs to the +former class as much as Christianity. The days are past when the +followers of the Prophet swept over large parts of Asia and Africa, +converting tribes and nations by the sword. And yet even at the +present day it keeps up a Propaganda as vigorous as that of the +Catholics at Rome. Its university here is training ten thousand young +apostles. Moslem missionaries preach the Koran, and make proselytes, +in all parts of India. But the chief field of their labors is in +Africa, where they have penetrated far into the interior, and +converted numerous tribes to the faith. It is difficult to obtain +accurate statistics in regard to the spread of Islam in Africa. +Livingstone thought the reports greatly exaggerated. That is quite +possible, and yet, making every allowance, there can be no doubt that +it has obtained a success much greater than that of Christian +missions. + +A religion which has such a foundation on the solid earth, holding +nations and empires in its wide dominion; and which has such a +history, stretching over twelve centuries; is a subject worthy the +closest attention of scholars. Its history is not unlike that of +Christianity itself, in the feebleness of its beginning and the +greatness of its results. It started in an obscure corner of the +world--in the deserts of Arabia--and rapidly conquered the East, +overrunning all the adjacent parts of Asia and Africa, and extending +along the Mediterranean to the Straits of Gibraltar, and thence +crossed into Spain, where it maintained itself for eight hundred +years against all the power of Europe to expel it. Such conquests +show a prodigious vitality--a vitality not yet exhausted, as it still +holds the half of Asia and Africa. A faith which commands the +allegiance of so large a part of mankind must have some elements of +truth to give it such tremendous power. Perhaps we can find the key in +the character of its Founder, and in the faith which he taught. + +A great deal has been written about the life of Mohammed, but even yet +his character is imperfectly understood. Perhaps we cannot fully +understand it, for there are in it contradictions which perplex the +most patient and candid student. By many he is dismissed at once as a +vulgar impostor, a sort of Joe Smith, who invented monstrous lies, and +by stoutly sticking to them got others to believe in them, and as soon +as he rallied a few followers about him, compelled neighboring tribes +to accept his faith by the unsparing use of the sword. + +This is an easy way to get rid of a difficult historical question, but +unfortunately it does not explain the facts. It is by that sort of +cheap reasoning that Gibbon undertakes to explain the rapid spread of +Christianity. But if Mohammed had been a cunning impostor, his first +claim would have been to work miracles, which on the contrary he never +claimed at all, but distinctly repudiated. Nor was he a greedy +mercenary; he was a poor man; his followers relate with pride how he +mended his own clothes, and even pegged his own shoes. But he combined +every element of the visionary and the enthusiast. He had that vivid +imagination that conceives strongly of things invisible to the natural +sense, to which "things that are not become as things that are," and +that ardent temperament that kindles at the sight of these unseen +realities. Perhaps this temperament was connected with his bodily +constitution; from his youth he was subject to epileptic fits, and his +revelations were accompanied with convulsions. Such things are found +in other religions. They are quite common in the history of devout +and passionate Romanists. Nor are they unknown even among Protestants, +who profess to be more sober and rational. Among the Methodists, at +camp-meetings, a very frequent effect of religious emotion has been +that strong men were so prostrated that they fell to the ground and +became as dead, and when they recovered, retained impressions never to +be effaced, as if they had seen things which it was not lawful to +utter. The revelations of Mohammed were all accompanied by these +"physical manifestations." Sometimes the angel spoke to him as one man +to another; at other times something within his bosom sounded like a +bell, which he said "rent him in pieces." At such times he fell to the +ground and foamed at the mouth, or his eyes turned red, and he +streamed with perspiration, and roared like a camel, in his struggle +to give utterance to the revelation of God. This does not look like +imposture, but like insanity. The constitution of such a man is a +psychological study. + +This natural ardor was inflamed by long seclusion. From his youth he +loved solitude. Like the old prophets, he withdrew from the world to +be alone with God. Like Elijah, he hid himself in a cave. Every year, +during the month of Ramadan, he retired to a cave in Mount Hera, three +miles from Mecca, to give himself up to religious contemplation; and +there, it is said, amid spasmodic convulsions, he had his first +vision, in which the angel Gabriel appeared to him. + +This explanation of a mind half disordered, subject to dreams and +visions and fanatical illusions, is much more rational than that of +supposing in him an artful design to impose a new religion on his +countrymen. Like other enthusiasts, he became the victim of his own +illusions. His imagination so wrought upon him that he came to accept +his visions as Divine revelations. In this he was not playing a part; +he was not the conscious hypocrite. No doubt he believed himself what +he wished others to believe. Indeed he made them believe, by the very +sincerity and intensity of his own convictions. + +Mohammedanism may be considered as a system of theology, and as a +system of morality. The former seems to have been derived largely from +Judaism. Mohammed belonged to the tribe of the Koreishites, who +claimed to be descended from Abraham through Ishmael. His family were +the keepers of the Caaba, or holy place of Mecca, where is the black +stone which was brought from heaven, and the spring Zemzem, which +sprang up in the desert to save the life of Hagar and her child. Thus +he was familiar from his earliest years with the traditions of the +patriarchs. + +When a boy of fourteen he made a journey with his uncle into Syria, +where he may have learned more of the ancient faith. Much is said of +his becoming acquainted with a Nestorian bishop or monk, from whom he +is supposed to have learned something of Christianity. But he could +not have learned _much_, for his views of it were always extremely +vague. It is doubtful whether he ever saw the New Testament, or had +any knowledge of it other than that derived from some apocryphal +books. There is no trace in the Koran of the sublime doctrines of the +Gospel, or even of its moral precepts. Although Mohammed professed +great reverence for Jesus, whom with Moses he considers the greatest +of prophets next to himself, yet his ideas of the Religion which He +taught were of the most indefinite kind. + +But one thing he did learn, which was common to Judaism and +Christianity--that there is but one God. The Monotheism of the Hebrews +took the stronger hold of him, from its contrast to the worship around +him, which had degenerated into gross idolatry. The tribes of Arabia +had become as base idolaters as the Canaanites. Even the holy Caaba +was filled with idols, and the mission of the prophet--as he regarded +it--was to restore the worship of the One Living and True God. His +first burst of prophetic fire and prophetic wrath was a fierce +explosion against idolatry, and it was a moment of triumph when he was +able to walk through the Caaba, and see the idols dashed in pieces. + +Here then is the first and last truth of Islam, the existence of one +God. The whole is comprehended in this one saying, "God is God, and +Mohammed is his prophet." + +With the homage due to God, is the respect due to His revealed will. +Moslems claim for the Koran what many Christians do not claim for the +Bible--a literal and verbal inspiration. Every word is Divine. + +And not only is the unity of God the cardinal truth, but it is vital +to salvation. In this respect Islam is a Religion. It is not a mere +philosophy, the acceptance or rejection of which is a matter of +indifference. It is not merely a system of good morals--it is a Divine +code for the government of mankind, whose acceptance is a matter of +life and death--of salvation or damnation. + +The doctrine of _retribution_ is held by the Moslems in its most rigid +form--more rigid indeed than in the Christian system: for there is no +atonement for sin. The judgment is inexorable; it is absolute and +eternal. Before their eyes ever stands the Day of Judgment--the Dies +Irae--when all men shall appear before God to receive their doom. + +But in that last day, when unbelievers shall be destroyed, the +followers of the prophet shall be saved. They can go to the tribunal +of their Maker without trembling. One day riding outside the walls of +Constantinople, we approached a cemetery just as a funeral procession +drew near, bearing the form of the dead. We stopped to witness the +scene. The mourners gathered around the place where the body was laid, +and then the ulema approached the grave, and began _an address to the +dead_, telling her (it was a woman) not to be afraid when the angel +came to call her to judgment, but to appear before the bar of the +Almighty, and answer without fear, for that no follower of the prophet +should perish. + +The religious observances of the Moslems are very strict. As God is +the sole object of worship, so the great act of Religion is communion +with Him. Five times a day the voice of the muezzin calls them to +prayer. The frequent ablutions were perhaps derived from the Jewish +law. Fasting is imposed with a severity almost unknown in the +Christian world. The most rigid Catholics hardly observe the forty +days of Lent as the Moslems do the month of Ramadan. Almsgiving is not +only recommended, but required. Every true believer is commanded to +give one-tenth of his income to charity. + +As to the moral results of Mohammedanism, it produces some excellent +effects. It inculcates the strictest temperance. The Koran prohibits +the use of wine, even though wine is one of the chief products of the +East. In this virtue of total abstinence the Moslems are an example to +Christians. + +So in point of integrity; the honesty of the Turk is a proverb in the +East, compared with the lying of Christians. Perhaps this comes in +part not only from his religion, but from the fact that he belongs to +the conquering race. Tyrants and masters do not need to deceive, while +falsehood and deceit are the protection of slaves. Subject races, +which have no defence before the law, or from cruel masters, seek it +in subterfuge and deception. But this claim of integrity may be pushed +too far. However it may be in Asia Minor, among simple-minded Turks, +who have not been "spoiled by coming in contact with Christians," +those who have to do with Turks in the bazaars of Constantinople, are +compelled to confess, that if they do not tell lies, they tell very +big truths. However, as between the Turk and the Greek, in point of +honesty, it is quite possible that those who know them both would give +the preeminence to the former. + +Whatever the weakness of Mohammedanism, it does not show itself in +_that sort_ of vices. His very pride makes the Mussulman scorn these +meaner sins. His religion, as it lifts him up with self-esteem, +produces an effect on his outward bearing. He has an air of +independence which is unmistakable. I think I never saw a Mussulman +that was afraid to look me in the face. He has none of the sneaking +servility that we see in some races. This is a natural consequence of +his creed, according to which God is so great that no man is great in +his sight. Islam is at once a theocracy and a democracy. God is sole +Lawgiver and King, before whom all men stand on the same level. Hence +men of all nations and races fraternize together. In Constantinople +blacks and whites, the men of Circassia and the men of Ethiopia, walk +arm in arm, and stand on the level of absolute equality. + +This democratic spirit is carried everywhere. There is no caste in +Islam, not even in India, where it is at perpetual war with the castes +of Hindooism. So as it spreads in the interior of Africa, it raises +the native tribes to a degree of manliness and self-respect which they +had not known before. It "levels up" the African race. Our +missionaries in Liberia, who come in contact with certain Moslem +tribes from the interior, such as the Mandingoes, will testify that +they are greatly superior to those farther South, on the Gold Coast, +the Ashantees and the people of Dahomey, who have filled the world +with horror by their human sacrifices. All this disappears before the +advance of Islam. It breaks in pieces the idols; it destroys devil +worship and fetichism and witchcraft, and puts an end to human +sacrifices. Thus it renders a service to humanity and civilization. + +So far Islam is a pretty good religion--not so good indeed as +Christianity, but better than any form of Paganism. It has many +elements of truth, derived chiefly from Judaism. So far as Mohammed +followed Moses--so far as the Koran followed the Old Testament--they +uttered only the truth, and truth which was fundamental. The unity of +God is the foundation of religion. It is not only a truth, but the +greatest of truths, the first condition of any right religious +worship. In declaring this, Mohammed only proclaimed to the Arabs what +Moses had proclaimed to the Hebrews: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God +is one Lord." But he repeated it with great vehemence and effect, +wielding it as a battle-axe to break in pieces the idols of the +heathen. And so far--as against idolatry--Islam has served a great +purpose in history. But there its utility ends. It teaches indeed that +there is but one God. But what a God is that which it presents to our +worship! "This God is not our God." The Mohammedan idea of God is very +different from the Christian idea of a Father in heaven. It is the +idea of the Awful, the Invisible--grand indeed, yet cold and distant +and far away, like the stars on the desert, or in the Arctic night, +"wildly, spiritually bright," shining with a glittering splendor, but +lofty and inaccessible, beyond the cries of human agony or despair. +This view of God is so limited and partial as to produce the effect of +positive error. In a just religious system there must be included the +two ideas of God and man; and these in their proper relation to each +other. Exclusive contemplation of either leads astray. When man +fastens on the idea of one God, he plants himself on a rock. But he +must not bow himself upon the rock, and clasp it so as to forget his +own separate individuality, lest the mighty stone roll over upon him +and crush him. This the Mussulman does. He dwells so on the idea of +God, that his own existence is not only lost sight of, but +annihilated. The mind, subdued in awe, is at length overpowered by +what it beholds. Man is nothing in that awful presence, as his life is +but a point in the Divine eternity. + +It cannot be denied that the idea of God, and God alone, may produce +some grand effects on human character. It inspires courage. If God be +for us, who can be against us? That God _is_ for him, the Mussulman +never doubts; and this confidence inspires him in danger, and on the +field of battle, so that he fights with desperation. But if the +fortune of war be against him, who so well as the devout Mussulman +knows how to suffer and to die? He murmurs not; but bows his head, +saying "God is great," and submits to his fate. Thus his creed carried +out to its logical consequence ends in fatalism. He believes so +absolutely in God, that the decrees of the Almighty become a fixed +fate, which the will of man is impotent to resist. All this comes from +an imperfect idea of God. Here Islam is defective, just where +Christianity is complete. + +There is nothing in Mohammedanism that brings God down to earth, +within the range of human sympathy or even of human conception. There +is no incarnation, no Son of God coming to dwell among men, hungry and +weary, bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows, suffering in the +garden, and dying on the cross. + +The Mussulman does not feel his need of such help. In his prayers +there is no acknowledgment of sin, no feeling of penitence, no +confession of unworthiness. He knows not how poor and weak he is, with +a religion in which there is no Saviour and Redeemer, no Lamb of God +that taketh away the sin of the world, no Holy Spirit to help our +infirmities, to strengthen our weaknesses. + +So with Moslem morality; if we scan it closely, we find it wanting in +many virtues. Some writers give the most elevated ideas of it. Says +Chambers' Cyclopaedia: "Aside from the domestic relations, the ethics +of the Mohammedan religion are of the highest order. Pride, calumny, +revenge, avarice, prodigality, and debauchery, are condemned +throughout the Koran; while trust in God, submission to His will, +patience, modesty, forbearance, love of peace, sincerity, frugality, +benevolence, liberality, are everywhere insisted upon." + +This is very high praise. But mark the exception: "Aside from the +domestic relations." That exception takes out of the system a whole +class of virtues, and puts a class of vices in their place. Here is +the great crime of Islam against humanity--its treatment of woman. We +will not charge against it more than belongs to it. The seclusion of +woman is not a Mohammedan custom so much as an Oriental one, and one +of a very ancient date. When Abraham sent a servant to find a wife for +Isaac, and he returned bringing Rebekah, as the caravan drew near +home, and Isaac went out to meditate at eventide, as soon as Rebekah +saw him in the distance, she lighted off from her camel and "veiled +herself." Polygamy too existed before Mohammed: it existed among the +patriarchs. It is claimed that Mohammed repressed it, limiting a man +to four wives, although he far exceeded the number himself. Gibbon, +who never misses an opportunity of making a point against the Bible, +says: "If we remember the seven hundred wives and three hundred +concubines of the wise Solomon, we shall applaud the modesty of the +Arabian who espoused no more than seventeen or fifteen wives." But +this pretence of self-restraint is a mockery. It is notorious that +Mohammed was a man of the grossest licentiousness; and the horrible +and disgusting thing about it is that he grew more wicked as he grew +older; and while trying to put restraint upon others put none upon +himself. He punished licentiousness with a hundred stripes, and +adultery with death, and yet he was a man of unbounded profligacy, and +to make it worse, pleaded a Divine revelation to justify it! + +This example of the prophet has had its influence on all the +generations of his followers. It has trailed the slime of the serpent +over them all. Any one who has been in a Mohammedan country must have +felt that the position of woman is a degradation. One cannot see them +gliding through the streets of Cairo or Constantinople, with their +faces veiled as if it were a shame to look on them, and passing +swiftly as if indeed it were a sin for them to be seen abroad, +without a feeling of pity and indignation. + +And in what a position are such women at home, if it can be called a +home, where there is no family, no true domestic life! The wife of a +Mohammedan--the mother of his children--is little better than a slave. +She is never presented to his friends--indeed you could not offer a +greater insult to a Turk than to ask after his wife! Of course there +is no such thing as society where women are not allowed to appear. +Such a society as that of London or Paris, composed of men eminent in +government, in science and literature--a society refined and elevated +by the presence of women of such education and manners and knowledge +of the world as to be the fit companions of such men--could not +possibly exist in Constantinople. + +But the degradation of woman is not the only crime to be charged to +Islam. In fit companionship with it is cruelty. Mohammed had many +virtues, but he had no mercy. He was implacable toward his enemies. He +massacred his prisoners, not from hard necessity, but with a fierce +delight. Fanaticism extinguished natural compassion, and he put his +enemies to death with savage joy. In this his followers have "bettered +his instructions." The Turks are cruel, perhaps partly by nature, but +partly also because any tender sympathies of nature are kept down by a +fiery zeal. Their religion does not make them merciful. When a people +have become possessed with the idea that they are the people of God, +and that others are outcasts, they become insensible to the sufferings +of those outside of the consecrated pale. + +In the Greek Revolution the people of Scio joined in the rebellion. A +Turkish army landed on the island, and in two months put 23,000 of the +inhabitants to the sword, without distinction of age or sex; 47,000 +were sold into slavery, and 5,000 escaped to Greece. In four months +the Christian population was reduced from 104,000 to 2,000. + +What the Turks are in Europe and Asia, the Arabs are in Africa. The +spread of Mohammedanism is a partial civilization of some heathen +tribes. But, alas, the poor natives come in contact with +"civilization" and "religion" in another way--in the Arab +slave-hunters, who, though they are Mohammedans, and devoutly pray +toward Mecca, are the most merciless of human beings. One cannot read +the pages of Livingstone without a shudder at the barbarities +practised on defenceless natives, which have spread terror and +desolation over a large part of the interior of Africa. + +These cruel memories rise up to spoil the poetry and romance which +some modern writers have thrown about the religion of the prophet. +They disturb my musings, when awed or touched by some features of +Moslem faith; when I listen to the worship in St. Sophia, or witness +the departure of pilgrims for Mecca. Whatever Oriental pomp or +splendor may still survive in its ancient worship, at its heart the +system is cold, and hard, and cruel; it does not acknowledge the +brotherhood of man, but exalts the followers of the prophet into a +caste, who can look down on the rest of mankind with ineffable scorn. +Outside of that pale, man is not a brother, but an enemy--an enemy not +to be won by love, but to be conquered and subdued, to be made a +convert or a slave. Not only does the Koran not bid mercy to be shown +to unbelievers, but it offers them, as the only alternatives, +conversion, or slavery, or death. + +Needs it any argument to show how impossible is good government under +a creed in which there is no recognition of justice and equality? I +think it is Macaulay who says that the worst Christian government is +better than the best Mohammedan government. Wherever that religion +exists, there follow inevitably despotism and slavery, by which it +crushes man, as by its polygamy and organized licentiousness, it +degrades and crushes woman. Polygamy, despotism, and slavery form the +trinity of woes which Mohammedanism has caused to weigh for ages, +like a nightmare, on the whole Eastern world. Such a system is as +incompatible with civilization as with Christianity, and sooner or +later must pass away, unless the human race is to come to a +standstill, or to go backward. + +But when and how? I am not sanguine of any speedy change. Such changes +come slowly. We expect too much and too soon. In an age of progress we +think that all forms of ignorance and superstition must disappear +before the advance of civilization. But the _vis inertiae_ opposes a +steady resistance. It has been well said, "We are told that knowledge +is power, but who has considered the power of ignorance?" How long it +lives and how hard it dies! We hear much of the "waning crescent," but +it wanes very slowly, and it sometimes seems as if the earth itself +would grow old and perish before that waning orb would disappear from +the heavens. Christian Missions make no more impression upon Islam +than the winds of the desert upon the cliffs of Mount Sinai. + +I do not look for any great change in the Mohammedan world, except in +the train of political changes. That religion is so bound up with +political power, that until that is destroyed, or terribly shaken, +there is little hope of a general turning to a better faith. War and +Revolution are the fiery chariots that must go before the Gospel, to +herald its coming and prepare its way. Material forces may open the +door to moral influences; the doctrines of human freedom and of human +brotherhood may be preached on battle plains as well as in Christian +temples. When the hard iron crust of Islam is broken up, and the +elements begin to melt with fervent heat, the Eastern world may be +moulded into new forms. Then will the Oriental mind be brought into an +impressible state, in which argument and persuasion can act upon it; +and it may yield to the combined influence of civilization and +Christianity. The change will be slow. It will take years; it may +take centuries. But sooner or later the fountains of the great deep +will be broken up. That cold, relentless system must pass away before +the light and warmth of that milder faith which recognizes at once the +brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. + +In that coming age there may be other pilgrimages and processions +going up out of Egypt. "The dromedaries shall come from far." But +then, if a caravan of pilgrims issues from Cairo, to cross the desert, +to seek the birthplace of the founder of its religion, it will not +turn South to Mecca, but North to Bethlehem, asking with the Magi of +old, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his +star in the East, and are come to worship him." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MODERN EGYPT AND THE KHEDIVE. + + +Egypt is a country with a long past, as we found in going up the Nile; +may we not hope, also, with a not inglorious future? For ages it was +sunk so low that it seemed to be lost from the view of the world. No +contrast in history could be greater than that between its ancient +glory and its modern degradation. Its revival dates from about the +beginning of the present century, and, strange to say, from the +invasion of Egypt by Napoleon, which incidentally brought to the +surface a man whose rise from obscurity, and whose subsequent career, +were only less remarkable than his own. When Napoleon landed in Egypt +at the head of a French army of invasion, among the forces gathered to +oppose him was a young Albanian, who had crossed over from Greece at +the head of three hundred men. This was Mehemet Ali, who soon +attracted such attention by his daring and ability, that a few years +after the French had been driven out, as the country was still in a +distracted state, which required a man of vigor and capacity, he was +made Pasha of Egypt--a position which he retained from that time +(1806) until his death in 1850. Here he had new dangers, which he +faced with the same intrepidity. That which first made his name known +to the world as a synonym of resolute courage and implacable revenge, +was the massacre of the Mamelukes. These had long been the real +masters of Egypt--a terror to every successive government, as were the +Janissaries to the Sultan in Constantinople. Mehemet Ali had been but +five years in power, when, finding that he was becoming too strong +for them, they plotted to destroy him. He learned of the conspiracy +just in time, and at once determined to "fight fire with fire;" and, +inviting them to the Citadel of Cairo for some public occasion, +suddenly shut the gates, and manning the walls with his troops, shot +them down in cold blood. Only one man escaped by leaping his horse +from the wall. This savage butchery raised a cry of horror throughout +Europe, and Mehemet Ali was regarded as a monster of treachery and of +cruelty. It is impossible to justify such a deed by any rules of +civilized warfare. But this, it is said, was not civilized warfare; it +was simply a plot of assassination on one side, forestalled by +assassination on the other. I do not justify such reasoning. And yet I +could not but listen with interest to Nubar Pasha (the most eloquent +talker, as well as the most enlightened statesman, of Egypt), as he +defended the conduct of his hero. He, indeed, has a hereditary +allegiance to Mehemet Ali, which he derived from his uncle, the prime +minister. Said he: "The rule of the Mamelukes was anarchy of the worst +kind; it was death to Egypt, and IT IS RIGHT TO KILL DEATH." The +reasoning is not very different from that by which Mr. Froude +justifies Cromwell's putting the garrison of Drogheda to the sword. +Certainly in both cases, in Egypt as in Ireland, the end was peace. +From that moment the terror of Mehemet Ali's name held the whole land +in awe; and from one end of the valley of the Nile to the other, there +was perfect security. "Every tree planted in Egypt," said Nubar Pasha, +"is due to him; for till then the people in the country did not dare +to plant a tree, for the Mamelukes or the wandering Bedouins came and +pitched their tents under its shade, and then robbed the village." But +now every wandering tribe that hovered on the borders of the desert, +was struck with fear and dread, and did not dare to provoke a power +which knew no mercy. Hence the plantations of palms which have sprung +up around the Arab villages, and the beautiful avenues of trees which +have been planted along the roads. + +It is not strange that such a man soon became too powerful, not only +for the Mamelukes, but for Turkey. The Sultan did not like it that one +of his subjects had "grown so great," and tried more than once to +remove him. But the servant had become stronger than his master, and +would not be removed. He raised a large army, to which he gave the +benefit of European discipline, and in the latter part of his life +invaded Syria, and swept northward to Damascus and Aleppo, and was +only prevented from marching to Constantinople by the intervention of +foreign powers. It seems a pity now that France and England +interfered. The Eastern question might have been nearer a solution +to-day, if the last blow to the Grand Turk had been given by a Moslem +power. But at least this was secured, that the rule of Egypt was +confirmed in the family of Mehemet Ali, and the Viceroy of Egypt +became as fixed and irremovable as the Sultan himself. + +Mehemet Ali died in 1850, and was succeeded by his son Ibrahim Pasha, +who inherited much of his father's vigor. Ismail Pasha, the present +Khedive, is the son of Ibrahim Pasha, and grandson of Mehemet Ali. +Thus he has the blood of warriors in his veins, with which he has +inherited much of their proud spirit and indomitable will. + +No ruler in the East at the present moment attracts more of the +attention of Europe. I am sorry to go away from Cairo without seeing +him. I have had two opportunities of being presented, though not by +any seeking or suggestion of my own. But friends who were in official +positions had arranged it, and the time was fixed twice, but in both +cases I had to leave on the day appointed, once to go up the Nile, and +the other to embark at Suez. I cannot give therefore a personal +description of the man, but can speak of him only from the reports of +others, among whom are some who see him often and know him well. The +Khedive has many American officers in his service, some of them in +high commands (General Stone is at the head of the army), and these +are necessarily brought into intimate relations with him. These +officers I find without exception very enthusiastic in their +admiration. This is quite natural. They are brought into relations +with him of the most pleasant kind. He wants an army, and they +organize it for him. They discipline his troops; if need be, they +fight his battles. As they minister to his desire for power, and for +military display, he gives them a generous support. And so both +parties are equally pleased with each other. + +But making full allowance for all these prepossessions in his favor, +there are certain things in which not only they, but all who know the +present ruler of Egypt, agree, and which therefore may be accepted +without question, which show that he has a natural force of mind and +character which would be remarkable in any man, and in one of his +position are still more extraordinary. Though living in a palace, and +surrounded by luxury, he does not pass his time in idleness, but gives +himself no rest, hardly taking time for food and sleep. I am told that +he is "the hardest-worked man in Egypt." He rises very early, and sees +his Ministers before breakfast, and supervises personally every +department of the Government to such extent indeed as to leave little +for others to do, so that his Ministers are merely his secretaries. He +is the government. Louis XIV. could not more truly say, "I am the +State," than can the Khedive of Egypt, so completely does he absorb +all its powers. + +Such activity seems almost incredible in an Oriental. It would be in a +Turk. But Ismail Pasha boasts that "he has not a drop of Turkish blood +in his veins." It is easy to see in his restless and active mind the +spirit of that fierce old soldier, Mehemet Ali, though softened and +disciplined by an European education. + +This may be a proof of great mental energy, but it is not necessarily +of the highest wisdom. The men who accomplish most in the world, are +those who use their brains chiefly to plan, and who know how to choose +fit instruments to carry out their plans, and do not spend their +strength on petty details which might be done quite as well, or even +better, by others. + +The admirers of the Khedive point justly to what he has done for +Egypt. Since he came into power, the Suez Canal has been completed, +and is now the highway for the commerce of Europe with India; great +harbors have been made or improved at Alexandria, at Port Said, and at +Suez; canals for irrigation have been dug here and there, to carry +over the country the fertilizing waters of the Nile; and railroads +have been cut across the Delta in every direction, and one is already +advanced more than two hundred miles up the Nile. These are certainly +great public works, which justly entitle the Khedive to be regarded as +one of the most enlightened of modern rulers. + +But while recognizing all this, there are other things which I see +here in Egypt which qualify my admiration. I cannot praise without +reserve and many abatements. The Khedive has attempted too much, and +in his restless activity has undertaken such vast enterprises that he +has brought his country to the verge of bankruptcy. Egypt, like +Turkey, is in a very bad way. She has not indeed yet gone to the +length of repudiation. From this she has been saved for the moment by +the sale of shares of the Suez Canal to England for four millions +sterling. But this is only a temporary relief, it is not a permanent +cure for what is a deep-seated disease. The financial troubles of +Egypt are caused by the restless ambition of the Khedive to accomplish +in a few years the work of a century; and to carry out in an +impoverished country vast public works, which would task the resources +of the richest country in Europe. The Khedive has the reputation +abroad of being a great ruler, and he certainly shows an energy that +is extraordinary. But it is not always a well regulated energy. He +does too much. He is a man of magnificent designs, and projects public +works with the grandeur of a Napoleon. This would be very well if his +means were at all equal to his ambition. But his designs are so vast +that they would require the capital of France or Great Britain, while +Egypt is a very poor country. It has always of course the natural +productiveness of the valley of the Nile, but beyond that it has +nothing; it has no accumulated wealth, no great capitalists, no large +private fortunes, no rich middle class, from which to draw an imperial +revenue. With all that can be wrung from the miserable fellahs, taxed +to the utmost limit of endurance, still the expenses outrun enormously +the income. + +It is true that Egypt has much more to show for her money than Turkey. +If she has gone deeply in debt, and contracted heavy foreign loans, +she can at least point to great public works for the permanent good of +Egypt; although in the construction of some of these she has +anticipated, if not the wants of the country, at least its resources +for many years to come. + +For example, at the First Cataract, I found men at work upon a +railroad that is designed to extend to Khartoum, the capital of +Soudan, and the point of junction of the Blue and the White Nile! In +the latter part of its course to this point, it is to cross the +desert; as it must still farther, if carried eastward, as projected, +to Massowah on the Red Sea! These are gigantic projects, but about as +necessary to the present commerce of Egypt as would be a railway to +the very heart of Africa. + +But all the money has not gone in this way. The Khedive has had the +ambition to make of Egypt a great African Empire, by adding to it vast +regions in the interior. For this he has sent repeated expeditions up +the Nile, and is in a continual conflict with his barbarous +neighbors, and has at last got into a serious war with Abyssinia. + +But even this is not all. Not satisfied with managing the affairs of +government, the Khedive, with that restless spirit which characterizes +him, is deeply involved in all sorts of private enterprises. He is a +speculator on a gigantic scale, going into every sort of mercantile +adventure. He is a great real estate operator. He owns whole squares +in the new parts of Cairo and Alexandria, on which he is constantly +building houses, besides buying houses built by others. He builds +hotels and opera houses, and runs steamboats and railroads, like a +royal Jim Fisk. The steamer on which we crossed the Mediterranean from +Constantinople to Alexandria, belonged to the Khedive, and the +railroad that brought us to Cairo, and the hotel in which we were +lodged, and the steamer in which we went up the Nile. + +Nor is he limited in his enterprises to steamers and railroads. He is +a great cotton and sugar planter. He owns a large part of the land in +Egypt, on which he has any number of plantations. His immense sugar +factories, on which he has expended millions of pounds, may be seen +all along the valley of the Nile; and he exports cotton by the +shipload from the port of Alexandria. + +A man who is thus "up to his eyes" in speculation, who tries to do +everything himself, must do many things badly, or at least +imperfectly. He cannot possibly supervise every detail of +administration, and his agents have not the stimulus of a personal +interest to make the most of their opportunity. I asked very often, +when up the Nile, if these great sugar factories which I saw _paid_, +and was uniformly answered "No;" but that they _would_ pay in private +hands, if managed by those who had a personal stake in saving every +needless expense, and increasing every possible source of income. But +the Khedive is cheated on every side, and in a hundred ways. And even +if there were not actual fraud, the system is one which necessarily +involves immense waste and loss. Here in Cairo I find it the universal +opinion that almost all the Khedive's speculations have been gigantic +failures, and that they are at the bottom of the trouble which now +threatens the country. + +Such is the present financial condition of the Khedive and of Egypt. I +couple the two together; although an attempt is made to distinguish +them, and we hear that although Egypt is nearly bankrupt, yet that the +Khedive is personally "the richest man in the world!" But the accounts +are so mixed that it is very difficult to separate them. There is no +doubt that the Khedive has immense possessions in his hands; but he +is, at the same time, to use a commercial phrase, enormously +"extended;" he is loaded with debt, and has to borrow money at ruinous +rates; and if his estate were suddenly wound up, and a "receiver" +appointed to administer upon it, it is extremely doubtful what would +be the "assets" left. + +Such an administrator has appeared. Mr. Cave has just come out from +England, to try and straighten out the Khedive's affairs. But he has a +great task before him. Wise heads here doubt whether his mission will +come to anything, whether indeed he will be allowed to get at the +"bottom facts," or to make anything more than a superficial +examination, as the basis of a "whitewashing report" which may bolster +up Egyptian credit in Paris and London. + +But if he does come to know "the truth and the whole truth," then I +predict that he will either abandon the case in despair, or he will +have to recommend to the Khedive, as the only salvation for him, a +more sweeping and radical reform than the latter has yet dreamed of. +It requires some degree of moral courage to talk to a sovereign as to +a private individual; to speak to him as if he were a prodigal son who +had wasted his substance in riotous living; to tell him to moderate +his desires, and restrain his ambition, and to live a quiet and sober +life; and to "live within his means." But this he must do, or it is +easy to see where this brilliant financiering will end. + +If Mr. Cave can persuade the Khedive to restrain his extravagance; to +stop building palaces (he has now more than he can possibly use); and +to give up, once for all, as the follies of his youth, his grand +schemes of annexing the whole interior of Africa, as he has already +annexed Nubia and Soudan; and to "back out" as gracefully as he can +(although it is a very awkward business), of his war with Abyssinia; +and then to follow up the good course he has begun with his Suez Canal +shares, by selling all his stock in every commercial company (for one +man must not try to absorb all the industry of a kingdom); if he can +persuade him to sell all the railways in Egypt; and to sell every +steamship on the Mediterranean, except such as may be needed for the +use of the government; and every boat on the Nile except a yacht or +two for his private pleasure; to sell all his hotels and theatres; his +sugar factories and cotton plantations; and abandoning all his private +speculations, to be content with being simply the ruler of Egypt, and +attending to the affairs of government, which are quite enough to +occupy the thoughts of "a mind capacious of such things;" then he may +succeed in righting up the ship. Otherwise I fear the Khedive will +follow the fate of his master the Sultan. + +But impending bankruptcy is not the worst feature in Egypt. There is +something more rotten in the State than bad financial management. It +is the want of justice established by law, which shall protect the +rights of the people. At present, liberty there is none; the +government is an absolute despotism, as much as it was three thousand +years ago. The system under which the Israelites groaned, and for +which God brought the plagues upon Egypt, is in full force to-day. The +Khedive has obtained great credit abroad by the expeditions of Sir +Samuel Baker and others up the Nile, which were said to be designed to +break up the slave trade. But what signifies destroying slavery in +the interior of Africa, when a system still more intolerable exists in +Egypt itself? It is not called slavery; it is simply _forced labor_, +which, being interpreted, means that when the Khedive wants ten +thousand men to dig a canal or build a railroad, he sends into the +requisite number of villages, and "conscripts" them _en masse_, just +as he conscripts his soldiers (taking them away from their little +farms, perhaps, at the very moment when their labor is most needed), +and sets them to work for himself, under taskmasters, driving them to +work under the goad of the lash, or, if need be, at the point of the +bayonet. For this labor, thus cruelly exacted, they receive absolutely +nothing--neither pay _nor food_. A man who has constructed some of the +greatest works of Modern Egypt, said to me, as we were riding over the +Delta, "I built this railroad. I had under me twenty thousand men--all +forced labor. In return for their labor, I gave them--_water_!" "But +surely you paid them wages?" "No." "But at least you gave them food?" +"No." "But how did they live?" "The women worked on the land, and +brought them bread and rice." "But suppose they failed to bring food, +what became of the workmen?" "They starved." And not only were they +forced to work without pay and without food, but were often required +to furnish their own tools. Surely this is making bricks without +straw, as much as the Israelites did. Such a system of labor, however +grand the public works it may construct, can hardly excite the +admiration of a lover of free institutions. + +On all who escape this forced labor, the _taxation_ is fearful. The +hand of the government is as heavy upon them as in the ancient days. +To one who was telling me of this--and no man knows Egypt better--I +said, "Why, the government takes half of all that the country yields." +"Half?" he answered, "_It takes all._" To the miserable fellahs who +till the soil it leaves only their mud hovels, the rags that scarcely +hide their nakedness, and the few herbs and fruits that but just keep +soul and body together. Every acre of ground in Egypt is taxed, and +every palm tree in the valley of the Nile. What would our American +farmers say to a tax of twelve dollars an acre on their land, and of +from twenty-five to fifty cents on every apple tree in their orchards? +Yet this enormous burden falls, not on the rich farmers of New +England, or New York, or Ohio, but on the miserable fellahs of Egypt, +who are far more destitute than the negroes of the South. Yet in the +midst of all this poverty and wretchedness, in these miserable Arab +villages the tax gatherer appears regularly, and the tax, though it be +the price of blood, is remorselessly exacted. If anybody refuses, or +is unable to pay, no words are wasted on him, he is immediately +bastinadoed till his cries avail--not with the officers of the law, +who know no mercy, but with his neighbors, who yielding up their last +penny, compel the executioner to let go his hold. + +Such is the Egyptian Government as it presses on the people. While its +hand is so heavy in ruinous taxations, the administration of justice +is pretty much as it was in the time of the Pharaohs. It has been in +the hands of a set of native officials, who sometimes executed a rude +kind of justice on the old principle of strict retaliation, "an eye +for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," but commonly paid no regard to +the merits of a case, but decided it entirely by other considerations. +In matters where the Government was concerned, no private individual +had any chance whatever. The Khedive was the source of all authority +and power, a central divinity, of whom every official in the country +was an emanation, before whom no law or justice could stand. In other +matters judges decided according to their own pleasure--their like or +dislike of one or the other of the parties--or more often according to +their interest, for they were notoriously open to bribes. Thus in the +whole land of Egypt justice there was none. In every Arab village the +sheik was a petty tyrant, who could bastinado the miserable fellahs at +his will. + +This rough kind of government answered its purpose--or at least there +was no one who dared to question it--so long as they had only their +own people to rule over. But when foreigners came to settle in Egypt, +they were not willing to be subjected to this Oriental justice. Hence +arose a system of Consular Courts, by which every question which +concerned a foreigner was argued and decided before a mixed tribunal, +composed of the Consul of the country and a native judge. This seemed +very fair, but in fact it only made confusion worse confounded. For +naturally the Consul sided with his own countryman (if he did not, he +would be considered almost a traitor), his foreign prejudices came +into play; and so what was purely a question of law, became a +political question. It was not merely a litigation about property +between A and B, but a matter of diplomatic skill between France (or +any other foreign power) and Egypt; and as France was the stronger, +she was the more likely to succeed. Hence the foreigner had great +advantages over the native in these Consular Courts, and if in +addition the native judge was open to a bribe, and the foreigner was +willing to give it, the native suitor, however wronged, was completely +at his mercy. + +Such was the state of things until quite recently. But here at least +there has been a reform in the introduction of a new judicial system, +which is the greatest step forward that has been taken within half a +century. + +The man who was the first to see what was the radical vice of the +country, the effectual hindrance to its prosperity, was Nubar Pasha. +He had the sagacity to see that the first want of Egypt was not more +railroads and steamboats, but simple justice--the protection of law. +How clearly he saw the evil, was indicated by a remark which I once +heard him make. He said: "The idea of justice does not exist in the +Oriental mind. We have governors and judges, who sit to hear causes, +and who decide them after the Oriental fashion--that is, they will +decide in favor of a friend against an enemy, or more commonly in +favor of the man who can pay the largest bribe; but to sit patiently +and listen to evidence, and then decide according to abstract justice, +is something not only foreign to their customs, but of which they have +absolutely no idea--they cannot conceive of it." He saw that a feeling +of insecurity was at the bottom of the want of confidence at home and +abroad; and that to "establish justice" was the first thing both to +encourage native industry, and to invite the capital of France and +England to expend itself in the valley of the Nile. To accomplish this +has been his single aim for many years. He has set himself to do away +with the old Oriental system complicated by the Consular Courts, and +to introduce the simple administration of justice, by which there +should be one law for natives and foreigners, for the rich and the +poor, for the powerful and the weak. + +To inaugurate such a policy, which was a virtual revolution, the +initiative must be taken by Egypt. But how could the Khedive propose a +change which was a virtual surrender of his own absolute power? He +could no longer be absolute _within the courts_: and to give up this +no Oriental despot would consent, for it was parting with the dearest +token of his power over the lives and fortunes of his subjects. But +the Khedive was made to see, that, if he surrendered something, he +gained much more; that it was an immense advantage to himself and his +country to be brought within the pale of European civilization; and +that this could not be until it was placed under the protection of +European law. + +But Egypt was not the only power to be consulted. The change could +only be made by treaty with other countries, and Egypt was not an +independent State, and had no right to enter into negotiations with +foreign powers without the consent of the Porte. To obtain this +involved long and tedious delays at Constantinople. And last of all, +the foreign States themselves had to be persuaded into it, for of +course the change involved the surrender of their consular +jurisdiction; and all were jealous lest it should be giving up the +rights of their citizens. To persuade them to the contrary was a slow +business. Each government considered how it would affect its own +subjects. France especially, which had had great advantages under the +old Consular Courts, was the last to give its consent to the new +system. It was only a few days before the New Year, at which it was to +be inaugurated, that the National Assembly, after a debate lasting +nearly a week, finally adopted the measure by a majority of three to +one, and thus the great judicial reform, on which the wisest statesman +of Egypt had so long fixed his heart, was consummated. + +The change, in a word, is this. The old Consular Courts are abolished, +and in their place are constituted three courts--one at Cairo, one at +Alexandria, and one at Ismailia--each composed of seven judges, of +whom a majority are nominated by the foreign powers which have most to +do with Egypt: France, England, Germany, Austria, Russia, and the +United States. In the selection of judges, as there are three benches +to be filled, several are taken from the smaller states of Europe. +There is also a higher Court of Appeal constituted in the same way. + +The judges to fill these important positions have already been named +by the different governments, and so far as the _personnel_ of the new +courts is concerned, leave nothing to be desired. They are all men of +reputation in their own countries, as having the requisite legal +knowledge and ability, and as men of character, who will administer +the law in the interest of justice, and that alone. The United States +is represented by Judge Barringer at Alexandria, and Judge Batcheller +at Cairo--both of whom will render excellent service to Egypt, and do +honor to their own country. + +The law which these courts are to administer, is not Moslem law (until +now the supreme law of Egypt was the Koran, as it still is in Turkey), +nor any kind of Oriental law--but European law. Guided by the same +intelligence which framed the new judicial system, Egypt has adopted +the Code Napoleon. The French language will be used in the courts for +the European judges, and the Arabic for the native. + +In administering this law, these courts are supreme; they cannot be +touched by the Government, or their decisions annulled; for _they are +constituted by treaty_, and any attempt to interfere with them would +at once be resented by all the foreign powers as a violation of a +solemn compact, and bring down upon Egypt the protest and indignation +of the whole civilized world. + +The change involved in the introduction of such a system can hardly be +realized by Europeans or Americans. It is the first attempt to +inaugurate a reign of law in Egypt, or perhaps in any Oriental +country. It is a breakwater equally against the despotism of the +central power, and the meddlesomeness of foreign governments, acting +through the Consular Courts. For the first time the Khedive is himself +put under law, and has some check to his power over the lives and +property of his subjects. Indeed we may say that it is the first time +in the history of Egypt that there has been one law for ruler and +people--for the Khedive and the fellah, for the native-born and for +the stranger within their gates. + +The completion of such a system, after so much labor, has naturally +been regarded with great satisfaction by those who have been working +for it, and its inauguration on the first of the year was an occasion +of congratulation. On that day the new judges were inducted into +office, and after taking their official oaths they were all +entertained at the house of Judge Batcheller, where was present also +Mr. Washburne, our Minister at Paris, and where speeches were made in +English, French, German, and Arabic, and the warmest wishes expressed +both by the foreign and native judges, that a system devised with so +much care for the good of Egypt, might be completely successful. Of +course it will take time for the people to get accustomed to the new +state of things. They are so unused to any form of justice that at +first they hardly know what it means, and will be suspicious of it, as +if it were some new device of oppression. They have to be educated to +justice, as to everything else. By and bye they will get some new +ideas into their heads, and we may see a real administration of +justice in the valley of the Nile. That it may realize the hopes of +the great man by whom it has been devised, and "establish justice" in +a country in which justice has been hitherto unknown, will be the wish +of every American. + +This new judicial system is the one bright spot in the state of Egypt, +where there is so much that is dark. It is the one step of real +progress to be set over against all the waste and extravagance, the +oppression and tyranny. Aside from that I cannot indulge in any +rose-colored views. I cannot go into ecstasies of admiration over a +government which has had absolute control of the country for so many +years, and has brought it to the verge of ruin. + +And yet these failures and disasters, great as they are, do not abate +my interest in Egypt, nor in that remarkable man who has at present +its destinies in his hands. I would not ask too much, nor set up an +unreasonable standard. I am not so foolish as to suppose that Egypt +can be a constitutional monarchy like England; or a republic like +America. This would be carrying republicanism to absurdity. I am not +such an enthusiast for republican institutions, as to believe that +they are the best for all peoples, whatever their degree of +intelligence. They would be unsuited to Egypt. The people are not fit +for them. They are not only very poor, but very ignorant. There is no +middle class in Egypt in which to find the materials of free +institutions. Republican as I am, I believe that _the best possible +government for Egypt is an enlightened despotism_; and my complaint +against the government of the Khedive is, not that he concentrates all +power in himself, but that he does not use it wisely--that his +government unites, with many features of a civilized state, some of +the very worst features of Oriental tyranny. + +But with all that is dark in the present state of this country, and +sad in the condition of its people, I believe that Egypt has a great +future before it; that it is to rise to a new life, and become a +prosperous State of the modern world. The Nile valley has a great part +yet to play in the future civilization of Africa, as an avenue of +access to the interior--to those central highlands where are the Great +Lakes, which are the long-sought sources of the Nile; and from which +travellers and explorers, merchants and missionaries, may descend on +the one hand to the Niger, and to the Western Coast; or, on the other, +to those vast regions which own the rule of the Sultan of Zanzibar. I +watch with interest every Expedition up the Nile, if so be it is an +advance, not of conquest, but of peaceful commerce and civilization. + +Perhaps the Khedive will rise to the height of the emergency, and +bring his country out of all its difficulties, and set it on a new +career of prosperity. He has great qualities, great capacity and +marvellous energy. Has he also the gift of political wisdom? + +Never had a ruler such an opportunity. He has a part to act--if he +knows how to act it well--which will give him a name in history +greater than any of the old kings of Egypt, since to him it is given +to reconstruct a kingdom, and to lead the way for the regeneration of +a continent. If only he can see that his true interest lies, not in +war, but in peace, not in conquering all the tribes of Africa, and +annexing their territory, but in developing the resources of his own +country, and in peaceful commerce with his less civilized neighbors, +he will place himself at the head of a continent, and by the powerful +influence of his example, and of his own prosperous State, become not +only the Restorer of Egypt, but the Civilizer of Africa. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MIDNIGHT IN THE HEART OF THE GREAT PYRAMID. + + +Our last night in Cairo we spent in riding out to Ghizeh by moonlight, +and exploring the interior of the Great Pyramid. We had already been +there by day, and climbed to the top, but did not then go inside. +There is no access but by a single narrow passage, four feet wide and +high, which slopes at a descending angle, so that one must stoop very +low while he slides down an inclined plane, as if he were descending +into a mine by a very small shaft. There is not much pleasure in +crouching and creeping along such a passage, with a crowd of Arab +guides before and behind, lighting the darkness with their torches, +and making the rocky cavern hideous with their yells. These creatures +fasten on the traveller, pulling and pushing, smoking in his face, and +raising such a dust that he cannot see, and is almost choked, and +keeping up such a noise that he cannot hear, and can hardly think. One +likes a little quiet and silence, a little chance for meditation, when +he penetrates the sepulchre of kings, where a Pharaoh was laid down to +rest four thousand years ago. So I left these interior researches, on +our first visit to the Pyramid, to the younger members of our party, +and contented myself with clambering up its sides, and looking off +upon the desert and the valley of the Nile, with Cairo in the +distance. + +But on our trip up the Nile, I read the work of Piazzi Smyth, the +Astronomer Royal of Scotland, "Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid," +and had my curiosity excited to see again a structure which was not +only the oldest and greatest in the world, but in which he thought to +have discovered the proofs of a divine revelation. Dr. Grant of Cairo, +who had made a study of the subject, and had spent many nights in the +heart of the Pyramid, taking accurate measurements, kindly offered to +accompany us; and so we made up a party of those who had come down the +Nile--an Episcopal clergyman from New England, a Colonel from the +United States Army, a lady from Cambridge, Mass., and a German lady +and her daughter who had been with us for more than two months, and my +niece and myself. It was to be our last excursion together, as we were +to part on the morrow, and should probably never all meet again. + +At half-past eight o'clock we drove away from the Ezbekieh square in +Cairo. It was one of those lovely nights found only in Egypt. The +moon, approaching the full, cast a soft light on everything--on the +Nile, as we crossed the long iron bridge, and on the palms, waving +gently in the night wind. We rode along under the avenue of trees +planted by old Mehemet Ali, keeping up an animated conversation, and +getting a great deal of information about Egypt. It was two hours +before we reached the Pyramid. Of course the Arabs, who had seen the +carriages approaching along the road, and who like vultures, discern +their prey from a great distance, were soon around us, offering their +services. But Dr. Grant, whose experience had taught him whom to seek, +sent for the head man, whom he knew, who had accompanied him in his +explorations, and bade him seek out a sufficient number of trusty +guides for our party, and keep off the rest. + +While the sheik was seeking for his retainers, we strolled away to the +Sphinx, which looked more strange and weird than ever in the +moonlight. How many centuries has he sat there, crouching on the +desert, and looking towards the rising sun. The body is that of a +recumbent lion. The back only is seen, as the giant limbs, which are +stretched out sixty feet in front, are wholly covered by the sand. +But the mighty head still lifts its unchanged brow above the waste, +looking towards the East, to see the sun rise, as it has every morning +for four thousand years. + +On our return to the Pyramid, Dr. Grant pointed out the "corner +sockets" of the original structure, showing how much larger it was +when first built, and as it stood in the time of the Pharaohs. It is +well known that it has been mutilated by the successive rulers of +Egypt, who have stripped off its outer layers of granite to build +palaces and mosques in Cairo. This process of spoliation, continued +for centuries, has reduced the size of the Pyramid _two acres_, so +that now it covers but eleven acres of ground, whereas originally it +covered thirteen. Outside of all this was a pavement of granite, +extending forty feet from the base, which surrounded the whole. + +By the time we had returned, the sheik was on hand with his swarthy +guides around him, and we prepared to enter the Pyramid. It was not +_intended_ to be entered. If it had been so designed--as it is the +largest building in the world--it would have had a lofty gateway in +keeping with its enormous proportions, like the temples of Upper +Egypt. But it is not a temple, nor a place for assembly or for +worship, nor even a lofty, vaulted place of burial, like the tombs of +the Medici in Florence, or other royal mausoleums. Except the King's +and Queen's chambers (which are called chambers by courtesy, not being +large enough for ordinary bedrooms in a royal palace, but more like a +hermit's rocky cell), the whole Pyramid is one mass of stone, as solid +as the cliff of El Capitan in the Yo Semite valley. The only entrance +is by the narrow passage already described; and even this was walled +up so as to be concealed. If it were intended for a tomb, whoever +built it sealed it up, that its secret might remain forever inviolate; +and that the dead might slumber undisturbed until the Judgment day. It +was only by accident that an entrance was discovered. About a +thousand years ago a Mohammedan ruler, conceiving the idea that the +Pyramid had been built as a storehouse for the treasures of the kings +of Egypt, undertook to break into it, and worked for months to pierce +the granite sides, but was about to give it up in despair, when the +accidental falling of a stone led to the discovery of the passage by +which one now gains access to the interior. + +In getting into the Pyramid one must stoop to conquer. But this +stooping is nothing to the bodily prostrations he has to undergo to +get into some passages of the temples and underground tombs. Often one +has not only to crouch, but to crawl. Near the Pyramid are some tombs, +the mouths of which are so choked up with sand that one has actually +to forego all use of hands and knees. I threw myself in despair on the +ground, and told the guides to drag me in by the heels. As one lies +prone on the earth, he cannot help feeling that this horizontal +posture is rather ridiculous for one who is in the pursuit of +knowledge. I could not but think to what a low estate I had fallen. +Sometimes one feels indeed, as he is thus compelled to "lick the +dust," as if the curse of the serpent were pronounced upon him, "On +thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy +life." + +We had trusted to the man in authority to protect us from the horde of +Arabs; but nothing could keep back the irrepressible camp-followers, +who flocked after us, and when we got into the King's chamber, we +found we had twenty-four! With such a bodyguard, each carrying a +lighted candle, we took up our forward march, or rather our forward +_stoop_, for no man can stand upright in this low passage. Thus +bending one after another, like a flock of sheep, we vanished from the +moonlight. Dr. Grant led the way, and, full of the wonders of the +construction of the Pyramid, he called to me, as he disappeared down +its throat, to look back and see how that long tube--longer and larger +than any telescope that ever was made--pointed towards the North +Star. But stars and moon were soon eclipsed, and we were lost in the +darkness of this labyrinth. The descent is easy, indeed it is too +easy, for the sides of the passage are of polished limestone, smooth +as glass, and the floor affords but a slight hold for the feet, so +that as we bent forward, we found it difficult to keep our balance, +and might have fallen from top to bottom if we had not had the strong +arms of our guides to hold us up. With such a pair of crutches to lean +upon, we slid down the smooth worn pavement till we came to a huge +boulder, a granite portcullis, which blocked our way, around which a +passage had been cut. Creeping around this, pulled and hauled by the +Arabs, who lifted us over the dangerous places, we were shouldered on +to another point of rock, and now began our ascent along a passage as +slippery as that before. Here again we should have made poor progress +alone, with our boots which slipped at every moment on the smooth +stones, but for the Arabs, whose bare feet gave them a better hold, +and who held us fast. + +And now we are on a level and move along a very low passage, crouching +almost on our hands and knees, till we raise our heads and stand in +the Queen's Chamber--so called for no reason that we know but that it +is smaller than the King's. + +Returning from this, we find ourselves at the foot of the Grand +Gallery, or, as it might be called, Grand Staircase (as in its lofty +proportions it is not unlike one of the great staircases in the old +palaces of Genoa and Venice), which ascends into the heart of the +Pyramid. This is a magnificent hall, 157 feet long, 28 feet high, and +7 feet wide. But the ascent as before is over smooth and polished +limestone, to climb which is like climbing a cone of ice. We could not +have got on at all but for the nimble Arabs, whose bare feet enabled +them to cling to the slippery stone like cats, and who, grasping us in +their naked arms, dragged us forward by main force. The ladies shrank +from this kind of assistance, as they were sometimes almost embraced +by these swarthy creatures. But there was no help for it. This kind of +bodily exercise, passive and active, soon brought on an excessive +heat. We were almost stifled. Our faces grew red; I tore off my cravat +to keep from choking. Still, like a true American, I was willing to +endure anything if only I got ahead, and felt rewarded when we reached +the top of the Grand Gallery, and instead of looking _up_, looked +_down_. + +From this height we creep along another passage till we reach the +object of our climbing, in the lofty apartment called the King's +Chamber. This is the heart of the Great Pyramid--the central point for +which apparently it was built, and where, if anywhere, its secret is +to be found. At one end lies the sarcophagus (if such it was; if the +Pyramid was designed to be a tomb) in which the great Cheops was +buried. It is now tenantless, except by such fancies as travellers +choose to fill it withal. I know not what sudden freak of fancy took +me just then, perhaps I thought, How would it seem to be a king even +in his tomb? and instantly I threw myself down at full length within +the sarcophagus, and lay extended, head thrown back, and hands folded +on my breast, lying still, as great Cheops may have lain, when they +laid him in his royal house of death. It was a soft bed of dust, +which, as I sank in it, left upon my whole outward man a _marked_ +impression. It seemed very like ordinary dust, settled from the clouds +raised by the Arabs in their daily entrances to show the chamber to +visitors. But it was much more poetical to suppose that it was the +mouldering dust of Cheops himself, in which case even the mass that +clung to my hair might be considered as an anointing from the historic +past. From this I was able to relieve myself, after I reached home +that night, by a plentiful application of soap and water; but alas, my +gray travelling suit bore the scars of battle, the "dust of conflict," +much longer, and it was not till we left Suez that a waiter of the +ship took the garment in hand, and by a vigorous beating exorcised the +stains of Egypt, so that Pharaoh and his host--or his dust--were +literally cast into the Red Sea. + +And now we were all in the King's Chamber, our party of eight, with +three times the number of Arabs. The latter were at first quite noisy, +after their usual fashion, but Dr. Grant, who speaks Arabic, hushed +them with a peremptory command, and they instantly subsided, and +crouched down by the wall, and sat silent, watching our movements. One +of the party had brought with him some magnesium wire, which he now +lighted, and which threw a strong glare on the sides and on the +ceiling of the room, which, whether or not intended for the sepulchre +of kings, is of massive solidity--faced round with red granite, and +crossed above with enormous blocks of the same rich dark stone. With +his subject thus illuminated, Dr. Grant pointed out with great +clearness those features of the King's Chamber which have given it a +scientific interest. The sarcophagus, which is an oblong chest of red +granite, in his opinion, as in that of Piazzi Smyth, is not a +sarcophagus at all; indeed it looks quite as much like a huge bath-tub +as a place of burial for one of the Pharaohs. He called my attention +to the fact that it could not have been introduced into the Pyramid by +any of the known passages. It must, therefore, have been built in it. +It is also a singular fact that it has no cover, as a sarcophagus +always has. No mummy was ever found in it so far as we have any +historic record. Piazzi Smyth, in his book, which is full of curious +scientific lore, argues that it was not intended for a tomb, but for a +fixed standard of measures, such as was given to Moses by Divine +command. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence, if nothing more, +that it is of the exact size of the Ark of the Covenant. But without +giving too much importance to real or supposed analogies and +correspondences, we must acknowledge that there are many points in +the King's Chamber which make it a subject of curious study and of +scientific interest; and which seem to show that it was constructed +with reference to certain mathematical proportions, and had a design +beyond that of being a mere place of burial. + +After we had had this scientific discussion, we prepared for a +discussion of a different kind--that of the lunch which we had brought +with us. A night's ride sharpens the appetite. As the only place where +we could sit was the sarcophagus itself, we took our places in it, +sitting upon its granite sides. An Arab who knew what we should want, +had brought a pitcher of water, which, as the heat was oppressive, was +most grateful to our lips, and not less acceptable to remove the dust +from our eyes and hands. Thus refreshed, we relished our oranges and +cakes, and the tiny cups of Turkish coffee. + +To add to the weirdness of the scene, the Arabs asked if we would like +to see them perform one of their native dances? Having our assent, +they formed in a circle, and began moving their bodies back and forth, +keeping time with a strange chant, which was not very musical in +sound, as the dance was not graceful in motion. It was quickly over, +when, of course, the hat was passed instantly for a contribution. + +The Colonel proposed the health of Cheops! Poor old Cheops! What would +he have said to see such a party disturbing the place of his rest at +such an hour as this? I looked at my watch; it was midnight--an hour +when the dead are thought to stir uneasily in their graves. Might he +not have risen in wrath out of his sarcophagus to see these frivolous +moderns thus making merry in the place of his sepulture? But this +midnight feast was not altogether gay, for some of us thought how we +should be "far away on the morrow." For weeks and months we had been +travelling together, but this excursion was to be our last. We were +taking our parting feast--a fact which gave it a touch of sadness, as +the place and the hour gave it a peculiar interest. + +And now we prepared to descend. I lingered in the chamber to the last, +waiting till all had gone--till even the last attendant had crawled +out and was heard shouting afar off--that I might for a moment, at +least, be alone in the silence and the darkness in the heart of the +Pyramid; and then, crouching as before, followed slowly the lights +that were becoming dimmer and dimmer along the low and narrow passage. +Arrived at the top of the Grand Gallery, I waited with a couple of +Arabs till all our party descended, and then lighting a magnesium +wire, threw a sudden and brilliant light over the lofty walls. + +It was one o'clock when we emerged from our tomb to the air and the +moonlight, and found our carriages waiting for us. The moon was +setting in the West as we rode back under the long avenue of trees, +and across the sacred Nile. It was three o'clock when we reached our +hotel, and bade each other good-night and good-bye. Early in the +morning two of us were to leave for India on our way around the world, +and others were to turn their faces towards the Holy Land and Italy. +But however scattered over Europe and America, none of us will ever +forget our Midnight in the Heart of the Great Pyramid. + +In recalling this memory of Egypt, my object is not merely to furnish +a poetical and romantic description, but to invite the attention of +the most sober readers to what may well be a study and an instruction. +This Pyramid was the greatest of the Seven Wonders of the World in the +time of the Greeks, and it is the only one now standing on the earth. +May it not be that it contains some wisdom of the ancients that is +worthy the attention of the boastful moderns; some secret and sacred +lore which the science of the present day may well study to reveal? It +may be (as Piazzi Smyth argues in his learned book) that we who are +now upon the earth have "an inheritance in the Great Pyramid;" that +it was built not merely to swell the pride of the Pharaohs, and to be +the wonder of the Egyptians; but for our instruction, on whom the ends +of the world are come. Without giving our adhesion in advance to any +theory, there are certain facts, clearly apparent, which give to this +structure more than a monumental interest. For thousands of years it +had been supposed to have been built for a royal tomb--for that and +that only. So perhaps it was--and perhaps not. At any rate a very +slight observation will show that it was built also for other +purposes. For example: + +Observe its geographical position. It stands at the apex of the Delta +of the Nile, and Piazzi Smyth claims, in the centre of the habitable +globe! He has a map in which its point is fixed _in_ Africa, yet +between Europe and Asia, and which shows that it stands in the exact +centre of the land surface of the whole world. This, if it be an +accident, is certainly a singular one. + +Then it is exactly on the thirtieth parallel of latitude, and it +stands four-square, its four sides facing exactly the four points of +compass--North, South, East, and West. Now the chances are a million +to one that this could not occur by accident. There is no need to +argue such a matter. It was certainly done by design, and shows that +the old Egyptians knew how to draw a meridian line, and to take the +points of compass, as accurately as the astronomers of the present +day. + +Equally evident is it that they were able to measure the solar year as +exactly as modern astronomers. Taking the sacred cubit as the unit of +measure there are in each side of the Pyramid just 3651/4 cubits, which +gives not only the number of days in the year, but the six hours over! + +That it was built for astronomical purposes, seems probable from its +very structure. Professor Proctor argues that it was erected for +purposes of astrology! Never was there such an observatory in the +world. Its pinnacle is the loftiest ever placed in the air by human +hands. It seems as if the Pyramid were built like the tower of Babel, +that its top might "touch heaven." From that great height one has +almost a perfect horizon, looking off upon the level valley of the +Nile. It is said that it could not have been ascended because its +sides were covered with polished stone. But may there not have been a +secret passage to the top? It is hard to believe that such an +elevation was not made use of by a people so much given to the study +of the stars as were the ancient Egyptians. In some way we would +believe that the priests and astrologers of Egypt were able to climb +to that point, where they might sit all night long looking at the +constellations through that clear and cloudless sky; watching Orion +and the Pleiades, as they rose over the Mokattam hills on the other +side of the Nile, and set behind the hills of the Libyan desert. + +There is another very curious fact in the Pyramid, that the passage by +which it is entered points directly to the North Star, and yet not to +the North Star that now is, but to Alpha Draconis, which was the North +Star four thousand years ago. This is one way in which the age of the +Pyramid is determined, for it is found by the most exact calculations +that 2170 years before Christ, a man placed at the bottom of that +passage, as at the bottom of a well, and looking upward through that +shaft, as if he were looking through the great telescope of Lord +Rosse, would fix his eye exactly on the North Star--the pole around +which was revolving the whole celestial sphere. As is well known, this +central point of the heavens changes in the lapse of ages, but that +star will come around to the same point in 25,800 years more, when, if +the Pyramid be still standing, the observers of that remote period can +again look upward and see Alpha Draconis on his throne, and mark how +the stars "return again" to their places in the everlasting +revolutions of the heavens. + +As to the measurement of _time_, all who have visited astronomical +observatories know the extreme and almost infinite pains taken to +obtain an even temperature for clocks. The slightest increase of +temperature may elongate the pendulum, and so affect the duration of a +second, and this, though it be in a degree so infinitesimal as to be +almost inappreciable, yet becomes important to the accuracy of +computations, when a unit has to be multiplied by hundreds of +millions, as it is in calculating the distances of the heavenly +bodies. To obviate this difficulty, astronomical clocks are sometimes +placed in apartments under ground, closed in with thick walls (where +even the door is rarely opened, but the observations are made through +a glass window), so that it cannot be affected by the variations of +temperature of the outer world. But here, in the heart of this +mountain of stone, the temperature is preserved at an absolute +equilibrium, so that there is no expansion by heat and no contraction +by cold. What are all the observatories of Greenwich, and Paris and +Pulkowa, to such a rock-built citadel as the Great Pyramid? + +But not only was the Pyramid designed to stand right in its position +towards the earth and the heavenly bodies; but also, and perhaps +chiefly (so argues Prof. Smyth) was it designed for metrological (not +met_eo_rological) purposes--to furnish an exact standard of weights +and measures. The unit of lineal measure used in the Pyramid he finds +to correspond not to the English _foot_, nor to the French _metre_, +but to the Hebrew _sacred cubit_. This is certainly a curious +coincidence, but may it not prove simply that the latter was derived +from the former? Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, +and may have brought from the Valley of the Nile weights and measures, +as well as customs and laws. + +But this cubit itself, wherever it came from, has some very remarkable +correspondences. French and English mathematicians and astronomers +have had great difficulty to fix upon an exact standard of lineal +measure. Their method has been to take some length which had an exact +relation to one of the unchangeable spaces or distances of the globe +itself. Thus the English inch is one five hundred millionth part of +the axis of the earth. But Prof. Smyth finds in the Great Pyramid a +still better standard of measure. The cubit contains twenty-five of +what he calls "Pyramid inches," and fifty of these are just equal to +one ten-millionth part of the earth's axis of rotation! He finds in +the Pyramid a greater wonder still in a measure for determining the +distance of the earth from the sun, which is the unit for calculating +the distances of the heavenly bodies! That which scientific +expeditions have been sent into all parts of the earth within the last +two years to determine by more accurate observations of the transit of +Venus, is more exactly told in the Great Pyramid erected four thousand +years ago! + +It is a very fascinating study to follow this learned professor in his +elaborate calculations. He seems to think the whole of the exact +sciences contained in the Great Pyramid. The vacant chest of red +granite in the King's Chamber, over which Egyptologists have puzzled +so much, is to him as the very ark of the Lord. That which has been +supposed to be a sarcophagus, with no other interest than as having +once held a royal mummy, he holds not to be the tomb of Cheops, or of +any of the kings of Egypt, but a sacred coffer intended to serve as a +standard of weights and measures for all time to come. He thinks it +accomplishes perfectly the arithmetical feat of squaring the +circle!--the height being to the circumference of the base, as the +radius is to the circumference of a circle. + +But the Great Pyramid has, to Professor Smyth, more than a +scientific--it has a religious interest. He is a Scotchman, and not +only a man of science, but one who believes, with all the energy of +his Scotch nature, in a Divine revelation; and as might be supposed, +he connects this monument of scientific learning with One who is the +source of all wisdom and knowledge. However great may have been the +wisdom of the Egyptians, he does not believe that they had a knowledge +of geodesy and astronomy greater than the most learned scientific men +of our day. He has another explanation, that the Great Pyramid was +built by the guidance of Him who led the Israelites out of Egypt, and +who, as he shone upon their path in the desert, now shines by this +lighthouse and signal tower upon the blindness and ignorance of the +world. He believes that the Pyramid was constructed by Divine +inspiration just as much as the Jewish Tabernacle; that as Moses was +commanded to fashion everything according to the pattern showed to him +in the Mount, so some ancient King of Egypt, working under Divine +inspiration, builded better than he knew, and wrought into enduring +stone, truths which he did not perhaps himself understand, but which +were to be revealed in the last time, and to testify to a later +generation the manifold wisdom of God. As to its age he places it +somewhere between the time of Noah and the calling of Abraham. Dr. +Grant even thinks it was built before the death of Noah! But mankind +could hardly have multiplied in the earth in the lifetime of even the +oldest of the patriarchs, so as to be capable of building such +monuments. The theory is that it was not built by an Egyptian +architect. There is a tradition mentioned in Herodotus of a shepherd +who came from a distant country, from the East, who had much to do +with the building of the Pyramid, and was regarded as a heavenly +visitant and director. Prof. Smyth thinks it probable, that this +visitor was Melchisedek! He even gives the Pyramid a prophetic +character, and thinks that the different passages and chambers are +designed to be symbolical of the different economies through which God +educates the race. The entrance at first _descends_. That may +represent the gradual decadence of mankind to the time of the Flood, +or to the exodus of the Israelites. Then the passage begins to +_ascend_, but slowly and painfully, which represents the Jewish +Dispensation, when men were struggling towards the light. After a +hundred and twenty-seven feet of this stooping and creeping upward, +there is a sudden enlargement, and the low passage rises up into the +Grand Gallery, just as the Mosaic economy, after groping through many +centuries, at last bursts into the full glory of the Christian +Dispensation. + +Believing in its inspired character, he finds in every part of this +wonderful structure signs and symbols. Taking it as an emblem of +Christian truth, where is the chief corner-stone? Not at the base, but +at the top--the apex! At the bottom, there are four stones which are +equal--no one of which is above another--the _chief_ corner-stone +therefore must be the capstone! + +It will be perceived that this is a very original and very sweeping +theory; that it overturns all our ideas of the Great Pyramid; that it +not only turns Cheops out of it, but turns Science and Revelation +together into it. We may well hesitate before accepting it in its full +extent, and yet we must acknowledge our indebtedness to Prof. Smyth. +He has certainly given a new interest to this hoary monument of the +past. Scientific men who reject his theory are still deeply interested +in the facts which he brings to light, which they recognize as very +extraordinary, and which show a degree of scientific knowledge which +not only they did not believe to exist among the Egyptians, but which +hardly exists in our day. + +So much as this we may freely concede, that the Pyramid has a +scientific value, if not a sacred character; that it is full of the +wisdom of the Egyptians, if not of the inspiration of the Almighty; +and that it is a storehouse of ancient knowledge, even if it be not +the very Ark of the Covenant, in which the holiest mysteries are +enshrined! + +Leaving out what may be considered fanciful in the speculations of +the Scotch astronomer, there is yet much in the facts he presents +worthy the consideration of the man of science, as well as the devout +attention of the student of the Bible, and which, if duly weighed, +will at once enlarge our knowledge and strengthen our faith. + +Such are the lessons that we derive from even our slight acquaintance +with the Great Pyramid; and so, as we looked back that night, and saw +it standing there in the moonlight, its cold gray summit, its "chief +corner-stone," pointing upwards to the clear unclouded firmament, it +seemed to point to something above the firmament--to turn our eyes and +thoughts to Heaven and to God. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +LEAVING EGYPT--THE DESERT. + + +We left Cairo the next morning. Our departure from Egypt was not +exactly like that of the Israelites, though we came through the land +of Goshen, and by the way of the Red Sea. We did not flee away at +night, nor hear the rush of horses and chariots behind us. Indeed we +were very reluctant to flee at all; we did not like to go away, for in +those five or six weeks we had grown very fond of the country, to +which the society of agreeable travelling companions lent an +additional charm. + +But the world was all before us, and necessity bade us depart. It was +the 6th of January, the beginning of the feast of Bairam, the +Mohammedan Passover. The guns of the Citadel ushered in the day, +observed by all devout Mussulmans, which commemorates the sacrifice by +Abraham--not of Isaac, but of _Ishmael_, for the Arabs, who are +descendants of Ishmael, have no idea of his being set aside by the +other son of the Father of the Faithful. On this day every family +sacrifices the paschal lamb (which explains the flocks of sheep which +we had seen for several days in the streets of the city), and +sprinkles its blood upon the lintels and doorposts of their houses, +that the angel of death may pass them by. The day is one of general +rejoicing and festivity. The Khedive gives a grand reception to all +the foreign representatives at his palace of Gezireh, at which I had +been invited to be present. But from this promised pleasure I had to +tear myself away, to reach the steamer at Suez on which we were to +embark the next day for India. But if we missed the Khedive, we had at +least a compensation, for as we were at the station, who should appear +but Nubar Pasha! He had just resigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, +which took a load off his shoulders, and felt like a boy out of +school, and was now going off to a farm which he has a few miles from +Cairo, to have a holiday. He immediately came to us and took a seat in +the same carriage, and we sat together for an hour, listening to his +delightful conversation, as he talked of Egypt with a patriot's love +and a poet's enthusiasm. There is no man who more earnestly wishes its +prosperity, and it would be well for the Khedive if he were always +guided by such advisers. At the station his servants met him with one +of those beautiful white donkeys, so much prized in the East, and as +he rode away waving his hand to us, we felt that we were parting from +one of the wisest and wittiest men whom it had been our good fortune +to meet in all our travels. + +At Zagazig, the railroad from Cairo unites with that from Alexandria. +Here we stopped to dine, and while waiting, a special train arrived +with Mr. Cave, who has come out from London to try and put some order +into the financial affairs of Egypt. If he succeeds, he will deserve +to be ranked very high as a financier. He was going on to Ismailia to +meet M. de Lesseps, that they might go through the Suez Canal +together. + +And now we leave behind us the rich land of Goshen, where Joseph +placed his father Jacob and his brethren, with their flocks and herds; +we leave the fertile meadows and the palm groves. We are on the track +of the Israelites; we have passed Rameses, the first station in their +march, and entered the desert, that "great and terrible wilderness" in +which they wandered forty years. We enter it, not on camels or horses, +but drawn by a steed of fire. A railway in the desert! This is +progress indeed. There is something very imposing to the imagination +in the idea of an iron track laid in the pathless sands, over which +long trains move swifter than "the swift dromedaries," and carrying +burdens greater than the longest caravans. These are the highways of +civilization, which may yet carry it into the heart of Africa. Here, +too, are the great ships, passing through the Suez Canal, whose tall +masts are outlined against the horizon, as they move slowly from sea +to sea. + +And now we are approaching the border line between Asia and Africa. It +is an invisible line; no snow-capped mountains divide the mighty +continents which were the seats of the most ancient civilization; no +sea flows between them: the Red Sea terminates over seventy miles from +the Mediterranean; even the Suez Canal does not divide Asia and +Africa, for it is wholly in Egypt. Nothing marks where Africa ends and +Asia begins, but a line in the desert, covered by drifting sands. And +yet there is something which strangely touches the imagination, as we +move forward in the twilight, with the sun behind us, setting over +Africa, and before us the black night coming on over the whole +continent of Asia. + +So would I take leave of Africa--in the Night and in the Desert. Byron +closes his Childe Harold with an apostrophe to the Ocean, his Pilgrim +ending his wanderings on the shore. The Desert is like the Sea: it +fills the horizon, and shuts out the sight of "busy cities far away," +leaving one on the boundless plain, as on the Ocean--alone with the +Night. Perhaps I may be indulged in some quiet musings here, before we +embark on the Red Sea, and seek a new world in India. + +But what can one say of the desert? The subject seems as barren as its +own sands. _Life_ in the desert? There is _no_ life; it is the very +realm of death, where not a blade of grass grows, nor even an insect's +wing flutters over the mighty desolation; the only objects in motion, +the clouds that flit across the sky, and cast their shadows on the +barren waste below; and the only sign that man has ever passed over +it, the bleaching bones that mark the track of caravans. + +But as we look, behold "a wind cometh out of the North," and stirring +the loose sand, whirls it into a column, which moves swiftly towards +us like a ghost, as if it said: "I am the spirit of the desert; man, +wherefore comest thou here? Pass on. If thou invadest long my realm of +solitude and silence, I will make thy grave." We shall not linger, but +only "tarry for a night," to question a little the mystery that lies +hidden beneath these drifting sands. + +We look again, and we see shadowy forms coming out of the +whirlwind--great actors in history, as well as figures of the +imagination. The horizon is filled with moving caravans and marching +armies. Ancient conquerors pass this way for centuries from Asia into +Africa, and back again, the wave of conquest flowing and reflowing +from the valley of the Tigris to the valley of the Nile. As we leave +the Land of Goshen, we hear behind us the tramp of the Israelites +beginning their march; and as the night closes in, we see in another +quarter of the horizon the wise men of the East coming from Arabia, +following their guiding star, which leads them to Bethlehem, where +Christ was born. + +And so the desert which was "dead" becomes "alive;" a whole living +world starts up from the sands, and glides into view, appearing +suddenly like Arab horsemen, and then vanishing as if it had not been, +and leaving no trace in the sands any more than is left by a wreck +that sinks in the ocean. But like the sea, it has its passing life, +which has a deep human interest. And not only is there a life of the +desert, but a literature which is the expression of that life--a +history and a poetry, which take their color from these peculiar forms +of nature--and even a music of the desert, sung by the camel-drivers, +to the slow movement of the caravan, its plaintive cadence keeping +time to the tinkling of the bells. + +It has been one of the problems of physical geographers: What was the +_use_ of deserts in the economy of nature? A large part of Africa is +covered by deserts. The Libyan Desert reaches to the Sahara, which +stretches across the continent. All this seems an utterly waste +portion of the earth's surface. The same question has been raised in +regard to the sea: Why is it that three-fourths of the globe are +covered by water? Perhaps the same answer may be given in both cases. +These vast spaces may be the generators and purifiers of the air we +breathe--the renovators of our globe's atmosphere. + +And the desert has its beauty as well as its utility. It is not all a +dead level, a boundless monotony, but is billowy like the sea, with +great waves of sand cast up by the wandering winds. The color, of +course, is always the same, for there is no green thing to relieve the +yellow sand. But nature sometimes produces great effects with few +materials. This monotony of color is touched with beauty by the glow +of sunset, as the light of day fades over the wide expanse. Sunrise +and sunset on the desert have all the simple but grand effects of +sunrise and sunset on the ocean. What painter that has visited Egypt +has not tried to put on canvas that after-glow on the Nile, which is +alike his wonder and his despair? Egypt is one of the favorite +countries sought by European artists, who seek to catch that +marvellous color which is the effect of its atmosphere. They find many +a subject in the desert. With the accessories of life, few as they +are, it presents many a scene to attract a painter's eye, and +furnishes full scope to his genius. A great artist finds ample +material in its bare and naked outlines, relieved by a few solitary +figures--the Arab and his tent, or the camel and his rider. Perhaps +the scene is simply a few palm trees beside a spring, under whose +shade a traveller has laid him down to rest from the noon-tide heat, +and beside him are camels feeding! But here is already a picture. With +what effect does Gerome give the Prayer in the Desert, with the camel +kneeling on the sands, and his rider kneeling beside him, with his +face turned towards Mecca; or Death in the Desert, where the poor +beast, weary and broken, is abandoned to die, yet murmurs not, but has +a look of patience and resignation that is most pathetic, as the +vultures are seen hovering in the air, ready to descend on their prey! + +A _habitat_ so peculiar as the desert must produce a life as peculiar. +It is of necessity a lonely life. The dweller in tents is a solitary +man, without any fixed ties, or local habitation. Whoever lives on the +desert must live alone, or with few companions, for there is nothing +to support existence. It must be also a nomadic life. If the Arab +camps, with his flocks and herds, in some green spot beside a spring, +yet it is only for a few days, for in that time his sheep and cattle +have consumed the scanty herbage, and he must move on to some new +resting-place. Thus the life of the desert is a life always in motion. +The desert has no settled population, no towns or villages, where men +are born, and grow up, and live and die. Its only "inhabitants" are +"strangers and pilgrims," that come alone or in caravans, and pitch +their tents, and tarry for a night, and are gone. + +Such a life induces peculiar habits, and breeds a peculiar class of +virtues and vices. Nomadic tribes are almost always robbers, for they +have to fight for existence, and it is a desperate struggle. But, on +the other hand, their solitary life as well as the command of the +prophet, has taught them the virtue of hospitality. Living alone, they +feel at times the sore need of the presence of their kind, and welcome +the companionship even of strangers. An Arab sheik may live by preying +on travellers, but if a wanderer on the desert approaches his tent and +asks shelter and protection, he gives it freely. Even though the old +chief be a robber, the stranger sleeps in peace and safety, and his +entertainer is rewarded by the comfort of seeing a human face and +hearing a human voice. + +To traverse spaces so vast and so desolate would not be possible were +it not for that faithful beast of burden which nature has provided. +Horses may be used by the Bedouins on their marauding expeditions, but +they keep near the borders of the desert, where they can make a dash +and fly; but on the long journey across the Great Sahara, by which the +outer world communicates with the interior of Africa, no beast could +live but the camel, which is truly the ship of the desert. Paley might +find an argument for design in the peculiar structure of the camel for +its purpose; in its stomach, that can carry water for days, and its +foot, which is not small like that of the horse, but broad, to keep +the huge animal from sinking in the sands. It serves as a snow-shoe, +and bears up both the beast and his rider. Then it is not hard like a +horse's hoof, that rings so sharp on the pavement, but soft almost +like a lion's paw. And tall as the creature is, he moves with a +swinging gait, that is not unpleasant to one accustomed to it, and as +he comes down on his soft foot, the Arab mother sits at ease, and her +child is lulled to rest almost as if rocked in a cradle. + +Thus moving on in these slow and endless marches, what so natural as +that the camel-riders should beguile their solitude with song? The +lonely heart relieves itself by pouring its loves and its sorrows into +the air; and hence come those Arabian melodies, so wild and plaintive +and tender, which constitute the music of the desert. Some years since +a symphony was produced in Paris, called "The Desert," which created a +great sensation, deriving its peculiar charm from its unlikeness to +European music. It awakened, as it were, a new sense in those who had +been listening all their lives to French and German operas. It seemed +to tell--as music only tells--the story of the life of the desert. In +listening one could almost see the boundless plain, broken only by the +caravan, moving slowly across the waste. He could almost "feel the +silence" of that vast solitude, and then faintly in the distance was +heard the tinkling of the camel-bells, and the song of the desert rose +upon the evening air, as softly as if cloistered nuns were singing +their vesper hymns. The novel conception took the fancy of the +pleasure seekers of Paris, always eager for a new sensation. The +symphony made the fame of the composer, Felicien David, who was +thought to have shown a very original genius in the composition of +melodies, such as Europe had not heard before. The secret was not +discovered until some French travellers in the East, crossing the +desert, heard the camel-drivers singing and at once recognized the +airs that had so taken the enthusiasm of Paris. They were the songs of +the Arabs. The music was born on the desert, and produced such an +effect precisely because it was the outburst of a passionate nature +brooding in solitude. + +Music and poetry go together: the life that produces the one produces +the other also. And as there is a music of the desert, so there is a +poetry of the desert. Indeed the desert may be almost said to have +been the birthplace of poetry. The Book of Job, the oldest poem in the +world, older than Homer, and grander than any uninspired composition, +was probably written in Arabia, and is full of the imagery of the +desert. + +But while the mind carols lightly in poetry and music, its deeper +musings take the form of Religion. It is easy to see how the life of +the desert must act upon a thoughtful and "naturally religious" mind. +The absence of outward objects throws it back upon itself; and it +broods over the great mystery of existence. Coleridge's Ancient +Mariner, when he was + + "Alone on the wide, wide sea," + +found that + + "So lonely 'twas that God himself + Scarce seemed there to be." + +But in the desert one may say there is nothing but God. If there is +little of earth, there is much of heaven. The glory of the desert is +at night, when the full moon rises out of the level plain, as out of +the sea, and walks the unclouded firmament. And when she retires, then +all the heavenly host come forth. The atmosphere is of such exquisite +purity, that the stars shine with all their splendor. No vapor rises +from the earth, no exhalation obscures the firmament, which seems all +aglow with the celestial fires. It was such a sight that kindled the +mind of Job, as he looked up from the Arabian deserts three thousand +years ago, and saw Orion and the Pleiades keeping their endless march; +and as led him to sing of the time "when the morning stars sang +together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." + +Is it strange that God should choose such a vast and silent temple as +this for the education of those whom He would set apart for his own +service? Here the Israelites were led apart to receive the law from +the immediate presence of God. The desert was their school, the place +of their national education. It separated them from their own history. +It drew a long track between them and the bitter past. It was a fit +introduction to their new life and their new religion, as to their new +country. + +In such solitudes God has had the most direct communion with the +individual soul. It was in the desert that Moses hid himself in a +cleft of the rock while the Lord passed by; that the Lord answered Job +out of the whirlwind; and from it that John the Baptist came forth, as +the voice of one crying in the wilderness. + +So in later ages holy men who wished to shun the temptations of +cities, that they might lead lives of meditation and prayer, fled to +the desert, that they might forget the world and live for God alone. +This was one of the favorite retreats of Monasticism in the early +Christian centuries. The tombs of the Thebaid were filled with monks. +Convents were built on the cliffs of Mount Sinai that remain to this +day. + +We do not feel the need of such seclusion and separation from the +world, but this passing over the desert sets the mind at work and +supplies a theme for religious meditation. Is not life a desert, +where, as on the sea, all paths are lost, and the traveller can only +keep his course by observations on the stars? And are we not all +pilgrims? Do we not all belong to that slow moving caravan, that +marches steadily across the waste and disappears in the horizon? Can +we not help some poor wanderer who may be lonely and friendless, or +who may have faltered by the way; or guide another, if it be only to +go before him, and leave our footprints in the sands, that + + "A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, + Seeing may take heart again?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ON THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN. + + +Suez lies between the desert and the sea, and is the point of +departure both for ships and caravans. But the great canal to which it +gives its name, has not returned the favor by giving it prosperity. +Indeed the country through which it passes derives little benefit from +its construction. Before it was opened, Egypt was on the overland +route to India, from which it derived a large revenue. All passengers +had to disembark at Alexandria and cross by railroad to Suez; while +freight had to be unshipped at the one city and reshipped at the +other, and thus pay tribute to both. Now ships pass directly from the +Mediterranean into the canal, and from the canal into the Red Sea, so +that the Englishman who embarks at Southampton, need not set his foot +on the soil of Egypt. Thus it is not Egypt but England that profits by +the opening of the Suez Canal; while Egypt really suffers by the +completion of a work which is of immense benefit to the commerce of +the world. + +Though the Suez Canal is an achievement of modern times, yet the idea +is not modern, nor indeed the first execution. It was projected from +almost the earliest period of history, and was begun under the +Pharaohs, and was at one time completed, though not, as now, solely +for the passage of ships, but also as a defence, a gigantic moat, +which might serve as a barrier against invasions from Asia. + +There is nothing in Suez to detain a traveller, and with the morning +we were sailing out in one of the native boats, before a light wind, +to the great ship lying in the harbor, which was to take us to India. +We had, indeed, a foretaste, or rather fore_sight_, of what we were +soon to look upon in the farthest East, as we saw some huge elephants +moving along the quay; but these were not familiar inhabitants, but +had just been disembarked from a ship arrived only the day before from +Bombay--a present from the Viceroy of India to the Viceroy of Egypt. + +Once on board ship I was as in mine own country, for now, for the +first time in many months, did I hear constantly the English language. +We had been so long in Europe, and heard French, German, Italian, +Greek and Turkish; and Arabic in Egypt; that at first I started to +hear my own mother tongue. I could not at once get accustomed to it, +but called to the waiter "garcon," and was much surprised that he +answered in English. But it was very pleasant to come back to the +speech of my childhood. Henceforth English will carry me around the +globe. It is the language of the sea, and of "the ends of the earth;" +and it seems almost as if the good time were coming when the whole +earth should be of one language and of one speech. + +And now we are on the Red Sea, one of the historical seas of the +world. Not far below the town of Suez is supposed to be the spot where +the Israelites were hemmed in between the mountains and the sea; where +Moses bade the waves divide, and the fleeing host rushed in between +the uplifted walls, feeling that, if they perished, the waters were +more merciful than their oppressors; while behind them came the +chariots of their pursuers. + +It was long before we lost sight of Egypt. On our right was the +Egyptian coast, still in view, though growing dimmer on the horizon; +and as we sat on deck at evening the gorgeous sunsets flamed over +those shores, as they did on the Nile, as if reluctant to leave the +scene of so much glory. + +On the other side of the sea stretched the Peninsula of Sinai, with +its range of rugged mountains, among which the eye sought the awful +summit from which God gave the law. + +This eastern side of the Red Sea has been the birthplace of religions. +Half way down the coast is Jhidda, the port of Mecca. Thus Islam was +born not far from the birthplace of Judaism, of which in many features +it is a close imitation. + +I have asked many times, What gave the name to the Red Sea? Certainly +it is not the color of the water, which is blue as the sea anywhere. +It is said that there is a phosphorescent glow, given by a marine +insect, which at night causes the waters to sparkle with a faint red +light. Others say it is from the shores, which being the borders of +the desert, have its general sandy red, or yellow, appearance. I +remember years ago, when sailing along the southern coast of Wales, a +gentleman, pointing to some red-banked hills, said they reminded him +of the shores of the Red Sea. + +But whether they have given it its name or not, these surrounding +deserts have undoubtedly given it its extreme heat, from which it has +become famous as "the hottest place in the world." The wind blowing +off from these burning sands, scorches like a sirocco; nor is the heat +much tempered by the coolness of the sea--for indeed the water itself +becomes heated to such a degree as to be a serious impediment to the +rapid condensation of steam. + +We began to feel the heat immediately after leaving Suez. The very +next day officers of the ship appeared in white linen pantaloons, +which seemed to me a little out of season; but I soon found that they +were wiser than I, especially as the heat increased from day to day as +we got more into the tropics. Then, to confess the truth, they +sometimes appeared on deck in the early morning in the most neglige +attire. At first I was a little shocked to see, not only officers of +the ship, but officers of the army, of high rank, coming on deck after +their baths barefoot; but I soon came to understand how they should be +eager, when they were almost burning with fever, to be relieved of +even the slightest addition to weight or warmth. In the cabin, +_punkas_, long screens, were hung over the tables, and kept swinging +all day long. The deck was hung with double awnings to keep off the +sun; and here the "old Indians" who had made this voyage before, and +knew how to take their comfort in the hot climate, were generally +stretched out in their reclining bamboo-chairs, with a cigar in one +hand and a novel in the other. + +The common work of the ship was done by Lascars, from India, as they +can stand the heat much better than English sailors. They are docile +and obedient, and under the training of English officers make +excellent seamen. + +But we must not complain, for they tell us our voyage has been a very +cool one. The thermometer has never been above 88 degrees, which +however, considering that this is _midwinter_, is doing pretty well! + +If such be the heat in January, what must it be in July? Then it is +fairly blistering; the thermometer rises to 110 and 112 degrees in the +shade; men stripped of clothing to barely a garment to cover them, are +panting with the heat; driven from the deck, they retreat to the lower +part of the ship, to find a place to breathe; sometimes in despair, +the captain tells me, they turn the ship about, and steam a few miles +in the opposite direction, to get a breath of air; and yet, with all +precautions, he adds that it is not an infrequent thing, that +passengers overpowered sink under a sunstroke or apoplexy. + +Such heat would make the voyage to India one of real suffering, and of +serious exposure, were it not for the admirable ships in which it can +be made. But these of the Peninsular and Oriental company are about as +perfect as anything that swims the seas. We were fortunate in hitting +upon the largest and best of the fleet, the Peshawur. Accustomed as we +have been of late to the smaller steamers on the Mediterranean, she +seems of enormous bulk, and is of great strength as well as size; and +being intended for hot climates, is constructed especially for +coolness and ventilation. The state-rooms are much larger than in most +sea-going steamers, and though intended for three persons, as the ship +was not crowded (there were berths for 170 passengers, while we had +but 34, just one-fifth the full complement) we had each a whole +state-room to ourselves. There were bath-rooms in ample supply, and we +took our baths every morning as regularly as on land. + +On the Peshawur, as on all English ships, the order and discipline +were admirable. Every man knew his place, and attended to his duty. +Everything was done silently, and yet so regularly that one felt that +there was a sharp eye in every corner of the ship; that there was a +vigilant watch night and day, and this gave us such a sense of safety, +that we lay down and rose up with a feeling of perfect security. + +Besides, the officers, from the captain down, not only took good care +for the safety of our lives, but did everything for our comfort. They +tried to make us feel at home, and were never so well pleased as when +they saw us all pleasantly occupied; some enjoying games, and others +listening to music, when some amateur was playing on the piano, at +times accompanied by a dozen manly and womanly voices. Music at sea +helps greatly to beguile the tedium of a voyage. Often the piano was +brought on deck, at which an extemporized choir practised the hymns +for public service; among which there was one that always recurred, +and that none can forget: + + "Eternal Father, strong to save, + Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, + Who bid'st the mighty ocean deep + Its own appointed limits keep: + Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee + For those in peril on the sea." + +And when the Sunday morning came and the same prayers were read which +they had been accustomed to hear in England, many who listened felt +that, whatever oceans they might cross, here was a tie that bound them +to their island home, and to the religion of their fathers. + +On the morning of the sixth day we passed the island of Perim, which +guards the Gates of the Red Sea, and during the day passed many +islands, and were in full sight of the Arabian coast, and at the +evening touched at Aden. Here the heat reaches the superlative. In +going down the Red Sea, one may use all degrees of comparison--hot, +hotter, hottest--and the last is Aden. It is a barren point of rock +and sand, within twelve degrees of the Equator, and the town is +actually in the crater of an extinct volcano, into which the sun beats +down with the heat of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. But the British +Government holds it, as it commands the entrance to the Red Sea, and +has fortified it, and keeps a garrison here. However it mercifully +sends few English soldiers to such a spot, but supplies the place +chiefly with native regiments from India. All the officers hold the +place in horror, counting it a very purgatory, from which it is +Paradise to be transferred to India. + +But from this point the great oppression of the heat ceased. Rounding +this rock of Aden, we no longer bore southward (which would have taken +us along the Eastern coast of Africa, to the island of Zanzibar, the +point of departure for Livingstone to explore the interior, and of +Stanley to find him), but turned to the East, and soon met the +Northeast monsoon, which, blowing in our faces, kept us comparatively +cool all the way across the Indian Ocean. + +And now our thoughts began to be busy with the strange land which we +were soon to see, a land to which most of those on board belonged, and +of which they were always ready to converse. Strangers to each other, +we soon became acquainted, and exchanged our experiences of travel. +Beside me at the table sat a barrister from Bombay, and next to him +three merchants of that city, who, leaving their families in England, +were returning to pursue their fortunes in India. One had been a +member of the Governor's Council, and all were familiar with the +politics and the business of that great Empire. There was also a +missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, who, after ten years' +service, had been allowed a year and a half to recruit in the mother +country, and was now returning to his field of labor in Bombay, with +whom I had many long talks about the religions of India and the +prospects of missions. There was a fine old gentleman who had made his +fortune in Australia, to which he was returning with his family after +a visit to England. + +The military element, of course, was very prominent. A large +proportion of the passengers were connected in some way with the army, +officers returning to their regiments, or officers' wives returning to +their husbands. Of course those who live long in India, have many +experiences to relate; and it was somewhat exciting to hear one +describe the particulars of a tiger hunt--how the game of all kind was +driven in from a circuit of miles around by beaters, and by elephants +trained for the work; how the deer and lesser animals fled frightened +by, while the hunter, bent on royal game, disdained such feeble prey, +and every man reserved his fire, sitting in his howdah on the back of +an elephant till at last a magnificent Bengal tiger sprang into view, +and as the balls rained on his sides, with a tremendous bound he fell +at the feet of the hunters; or to hear a Major who had been in India +during the Mutiny, describe the blowing away of the Sepoys from the +mouths of cannon; with what fierce pride, like Indian warriors at the +stake, they shrank not from the trial, but even when not bound, stood +unmoved before the guns, till they were blown to pieces, their legs +and arms and mangled breasts scattered wide over the field. + +There was a surgeon in the Bengal Staff Corps, Dr. Bellew, who had +travelled extensively in the interior of Asia, attached to several +missions of the Government, and had published a volume, entitled "From +the Indus to the Tigris." He gave me some of his experiences in +Afghanistan, among the men of Cabul, and in Persia. Three years since +he was attached to the mission of Sir Douglas Forsyth to Kashgar and +Yarkund. This was a secret embassy of the government to Yakoob Beg, +the Tartar chief, who by his courage as a soldier had established his +power in those distant regions of Central Asia. In carrying out this +mission, the party crossed the Himalayas at a height far greater than +the top of Mont Blanc. Our fellow traveller gave us some fearful +pictures of the desolation of those snowy wastes, as well as some +entertaining ones of the strange manners of some parts of High Asia. +He passed through Little Thibet, where prevails the singular custom of +polyandry--instead of one man having many wives, one woman may have +many husbands, although they cannot be of different families. She can +marry half a dozen brothers at once, but must not extend her household +into another family. He was now bound for Nepaul, under the shadow of +the Himalayas, being ordered to report at once to the Maharajah, who +is preparing to receive the Prince of Wales, and to entertain him with +the grandest tiger hunt ever known in India. + +With such variety of company, and such talk to enliven the hours, as +we sat on deck at twilight, or by moonlight--for we had the full moon +on the Indian Ocean--the days did not seem long, and we were almost +taken by surprise as we approached the end of our voyage. + +On the afternoon of the twelfth day from Suez we were nearing our +destined port, and eyes and glasses were turned in that direction; but +it was not till the sun was setting that his light shone full on the +Ghauts, the range of mountains that line the western coast of +India--steps, as their name implies, to the high table-land of the +interior. Presently as the darkness deepened, the revolving light of +the lighthouse shot across the deep; signal guns from the city +announced the arrival of the mail from England; rows of lamps shining +for miles round the bay lighted up the waters and the encircling +shore; and, there was India! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BOMBAY--FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF INDIA. + + +Never did travellers open their eyes with more of wonder and curiosity +than we, as we awoke the next morning and went on deck and turned to +the unaccustomed shore. The sun had risen over the Ghauts, and now +cast his light on the islands, covered with cocoanut palms, and on the +forest of shipping that lay on the tranquil waters. Here were ships +from all parts of the world, not only from the Mediterranean and from +England, but from every part of Asia and Africa, and from Australia. A +few weeks before had been witnessed here a brilliant sight at the +landing of the Prince of Wales. A long arched way of trellis work, +still hung with faded wreaths, marked the spot where the future +Emperor of India first set foot upon its soil. Our ship, which had +anchored off the mouth of the harbor, now steamed up to her moorings, +a tug took us off to the Mazagon Bunder, the landing place of the +Peninsular and Oriental Company, where we mounted a long flight of +granite steps to the quay--and were in India. + +Passing through the Custom House gates, we were greeted not by the +donkey-boys of Egypt, but by a crowd of barefooted and barelegged +Hindoos, clad in snowy white, and with mountainous turbans on their +heads, who were ambitious of the honor of driving us into the city. +The native carriage (or _gharri_, as it is called) is not a handsome +equipage. It is a mere box, oblong in shape, set on wheels, having +latticed windows like a palanquin, to admit the air and shut out the +sun. Mounting into such a "State carriage," our solemn Hindoo gave +rein to his steed, and we trotted off into Bombay. As our destination +was Watson's Hotel, in the English quarter at the extreme end of the +city, we traversed almost its whole extent. The streets seemed +endless. On and on we rode for miles, till we were able to realize +that we were in the second city in the British empire--larger than any +in Great Britain except London--larger than Liverpool or Glasgow, or +Manchester or Birmingham. + +Of course the population is chiefly native, and this it is which +excites my constant wonder. As I ride about I ask myself, Am I on the +earth, or in the moon? Surely this must be some other planet than the +one that I have known before. I see men as trees walking, but they are +not of any familiar form or speech. Perhaps it is because we are on +the other side of the world, and everything is turned topsy-turvy, and +men are walking on their heads. We may have to adopt the Darwinian +theory of the origin of man; for these seem to be of another species, +to belong to another department of the animal kingdom. That old Hindoo +that I see yonder, sitting against the wall, with his legs curled up +under him, seems more like a chimpanzee than a man. He has a way of +sitting on his _heels_ (a posture which would be impossible for a +European, but which he will keep for hours), which is more like an +animal than a human creature. + +Truly we have never been in such a state of bewilderment since we +began our travels, as since we landed in Bombay. Constantinople seemed +strange, and Egypt stranger still; but India is strangest of all. The +streets are swarming with life, as a hive swarms with bees. The +bazaars are like so many ant-hills, but the creatures that go in and +out are not like any race that we have seen before. They are not white +like Europeans, nor black like Africans, nor red like our American +Indians; but are pure Asiatics, of a dark-brown color, the effect of +which is the greater, as they are generally clad in the garments which +nature gives them. The laboring class go half naked, or more than +half. It is only the house-servants that wear anything that can be +called a costume. The coolies, or common laborers, have only a strip +of cloth around their loins, which they wear for decency, for in this +climate they scarcely need any garment for warmth. One thing which is +never omitted is the turban, or in its place a thick blanket, to +shield the head from the direct rays of the sun. But there is nothing +to hide the swarthy breast or limbs. Those of a better condition, who +do put on clothing, show the Oriental fondness for gorgeous apparel by +having the richest silk turbans and flowing robes. The women find a +way to show their feminine vanity, being tricked out in many colors, +dark red, crimson and scarlet, with yellow and orange and green and +blue--the mingling of which produces a strange effect as one rides +through the bazaars and crowded streets, which gleam with all the +colors of the rainbow. The effect of this tawdry finery is heightened +by the gewgaws which depend from different parts of their persons. +Earrings are not sufficiently conspicuous for a Hindoo damsel, who has +a ring of gold and pearl hung in her nose; which is considered a great +addition to female beauty. Heavy bracelets of silver also adorn her +wrists and ankles. Almost every woman who shows herself in the street, +though of the lowest condition, and barefoot, still gratifies her +pride by huge silver anklets clasping her naked feet. + +But these Asiatic faces, strange as they are, would not be +unattractive but for artificial disfigurements--if men did not chew +the betel nut, which turns the lips to a brilliant red, and did not +have their foreheads striped with coarse pigments, which are the +badges of their different castes! + +Imagine a whole city crowded with dark skinned men and women thus +dressed--or not dressed--half naked on the one hand, or bedizened like +harlequins on the other, walking about, or perchance riding in little +carriages _drawn by oxen_--a small breed that trot off almost as fast +as the donkeys we had in Cairo--and one may have some idea of the +picturesque appearance of the streets of Bombay. + +We are becoming accustomed to the manners and customs of this eastern +world. We never sit down to dinner but with the punka swinging over +us, and the "punka-walla," the coolie who swings it, is a recognized +institution. In the hot months it is kept swinging all night, and +Europeans sleep under it. These things strike us strangely at first, +but we soon get used to these tropical devices, and in fact rather +like them. In a few days we have become quite Oriental. To confess the +truth, there are some things here in the East that are not at all +disagreeable to the natural man, especially the devices for coolness +and comfort, and the extreme deference to Europeans, which we begin to +accept as naturally belonging to us. + +At first I was surprised and amused at the manners of the people. It +was a new sensation to be in this Asiatic atmosphere, to be surrounded +and waited upon by soft-footed Hindoos, who glided about noiselessly +like cats, watching every look, eager to anticipate every wish before +they heard the word of command. I was never the object of such +reverence before. Every one addressed me as "Sahib." I did not know at +first what this meant, but took it for granted that it was a title of +respect--an impression confirmed by the deferential manner of the +attendants. I could not walk through the corridor of the hotel without +a dozen servants rising to their feet, who remained standing till I +had passed. I was a little taken aback when a turbaned Oriental, in +flowing robe, approached me with an air of profound reverence, bending +low, as if he would prostrate himself at my feet. If he desired to +present a petition to my august majesty (which was, probably, that I +would buy a cashmere shawl), he bowed himself almost to the ground, +and reached down his hand very low, and then raising it, touched his +forehead, as if he would take up the dust of the earth and cast it on +his head, in token that he was unworthy to enter into such an awful +presence. I never knew before how great a being I was. There is +nothing like going far away from home, to the other side of the world, +among Hindoos or Hottentots, to be fully appreciated. + +After a little experience, one learns to accept these Hindoo salaams +and obeisances. Now, when I walk down the passages of the hotel, and +snowy turbans rise on either side in token of homage, I bow in +acknowledgment, though very slightly, so as not to concede a particle +of my dignity, or encourage any familiarity. When I open my door in +the morning, I find half a dozen coolies in the passage, who have +curled up on mats and slept there all night, as Napoleon's Mameluke +slept before his master's door. It gives one a sense of dignity and +importance to be thus served and guarded and defended! I suspect all +of us have a little (or a good deal) of the Asiatic in our +composition, and could easily play the pasha and drop into these soft +Eastern ways, and find it not unpleasant to recline on a divan, and be +waited on by dusky slaves! + +We find that we are in a tropical climate by the heat that oppresses +us. Although it is midwinter, we find it prudent as well as pleasant +to remain indoors in the middle of the day (time which is very +precious for writing), and make our excursions in the morning or +evening. + +Morning in the tropics is delightful. There is a dewy freshness in the +air. Rising at daylight we take a small open carriage--a kind of "one +horse shay"--for our ride. It has but one seat, but the Hindoo driver, +nimble as a cat, crouches at our feet, with his legs dangling over the +side in front of the wheels, and thus mounted we gallop off gayly. + +One of our morning excursions was to the Flower Market, where the +fruits and flowers of the country are displayed with truly tropical +profusion. The building, designed with English taste, is of great +extent, surrounding a spacious court, which is laid out like a +garden, with fountains and ferns, and flowering shrubs and creepers +growing luxuriantly. Here are offered for sale all kinds of poultry +and birds, parrots, and even monkeys. The Flower Market is especially +brilliant, as flowers are the customary offerings at temples. They are +very cheap. Five cents bought a large bunch of roses. White jessamines +and yellow marigolds are wrought into wreaths and garlands for their +festivities. The fruits we liked less than the flowers. They were very +tempting to the eye, but too rich for our appetite. The famous mango +cloyed us with its sweetness. Indeed, I made the observation here, +which I had to repeat afterwards in Java, that the tropical fruits, +though large and luscious, had not the delicate flavor of our Northern +fruits. A good New Jersey peach would have been far sweeter to my +taste than the ripest orange or mango, or the longest string of +bananas. + +In the evening we ride out to Malabar Hill, or go to the public +gardens which English taste has laid out in different parts of the +city. Although Bombay is a city of Hindoos, yet the stamp of English +rule is everywhere impressed upon it. Like the cities of Great +Britain, it is thoroughly governed. The hand of a master is seen in +its perfect police, its well ordered and well lighted streets. There +are signs of its being gained by conquest and held by military power. +The English quarter is still called the Fort, being on the site of an +old fortress, the ramparts of which are all swept away, and in their +place are wide streets (indeed too wide for shade), and a number of +public buildings--Government offices, the Postoffice, and the +Telegraph Building, and the University--which would be an ornament to +any city in England. Here English taste comes in to add to its natural +beauty in the laying out of open squares. Our windows at the Hotel +look out upon the Esplanade, a large parade ground, the very spot +where the Sepoys were shot away from the guns after the mutiny, and +upon the sea, from which comes at evening a soft, delicious air from +the Indian ocean. It is a pretty sight to go here at sunset, when the +band is playing and there is a great turnout of carriages, bringing +the fashion and wealth of Bombay to listen to the music and inhale the +fresh breezes from the sea, that no doubt are sweeter to many in that +they seem to come from their beloved England. In the crowd of well +dressed people wealthy Parsees (distinguished by their high hats), and +Hindoos by their turbans, mingle with English officers, and the +children of all run about together on the lawn. My companion noticed +particularly the Parsee children, whose dresses were gay with many +colors--little fellows shining in pink trousers, blue shirts, green +vests, and scarlet caps! Others had satin trousers and vests of some +bright color, and over all white muslin or lace trimmings. The effect +of such a variety of colors was as if parterres of flowers were laid +out on the smooth shaven lawn. In another part of the city the +Victoria Gardens are set out like a Botanical Garden, with all manner +of plants and trees, especially with an endless variety of palms, +under which crowds saunter along the avenues, admiring the wonders of +tropical vegetation, and listening to the music that fills the evening +air. + +The environs of Bombay are very beautiful. Few cities have a more +delightful suburb than Malabar Hill, where the English merchant, after +the business of the day is over, retreats from the city to enjoy a +home which, though Indian without, is English within. Hundreds of +bungalows are clustered on these eminences, shaded with palms and +embowered in tropical foliage, with steep roofs, always thatched as a +better protection from the sun. Here the occupants sit at evening on +the broad verandahs, stretched in their long bamboo chairs, enjoying +the cool air that comes in from the sea, and talk of England or of +America. + +There are not many Americans in Bombay, although in one way the city +is, or was, closely connected with our country. Nowhere was the +effect of our civil war more felt than in India, as it gave a great +impetus to its cotton production. Under the sudden and powerful +stimulus, Bombay started up into an artificial prosperity. Fortunes +were made rapidly. The close of the war brought a panic from which it +has not yet recovered. But the impulse given has remained, and I am +told that there is at this moment more cotton grown in India than ever +before, although the fall in prices has cut off the great profits. But +the cost of transportation is much less, as the railroads constructed +within a few years afford the means of bringing it to market, where +before it had to be drawn slowly over the mountains in ox-carts. This +flow of cotton to the seaports has been turned to account by the +erection of cotton mills (several of which have been started here in +Bombay), which, under the direction of Englishmen, and having the +double advantage of native cotton and native labor, may yet supplant +English fabrics in the markets of India. + +Though there are few Americans (except the missionaries) here, yet +there is one who has all the enterprise of his countrymen, Mr. +Kittredge, who came out to India many years ago, and is now the head +of the old house of Stearns, Hobart & Co. He has introduced that +peculiarly American institution, the street railway--or tramway, as it +is called here--which is a great comfort in moving about the city, +where transportation before was chiefly by little ox-carts. The cars +run smoothly, and as they are open at the sides are delightfully cool. +The Hindoos, though slow in adopting new ideas or new ways, take to +these as an immense convenience. Not the least good effect is the +pressure which they bring to bear on caste, by forcing those of +different castes to sit side by side! + +A very singular people, found in Bombay, and nowhere else in India, +are the Parsees, who differ from the Hindoos both in race and +religion. They are followers of Zoroaster, the philosopher of Persia, +from which they were driven out centuries ago by the merciless +followers of the Prophet, and took refuge in Western India, and being, +as a class, of superior intelligence and education, they have risen to +a high position. They are largely the merchants of Bombay, and among +them are some of its wealthiest citizens, whose beautiful houses, +surrounded with gardens, line the road to Parell, the residence of the +Governor. They are fire-worshippers, adoring it as the principle of +life. Morning and evening they may be seen uncovering their heads, and +turning reverently to the rising or the setting sun, and offering +their adoration to the great luminary, which they regard as the source +of all life on earth. As I have seen them on the seashore, turning +their faces to the setting sun, and lifting their hands as if in +prayer, I have thought, that if this be idolatry, it is at least not +so degrading as that of the Hindoos around them, for if they bow to a +material object, it is at least the most glorious which they see in +nature. The more intelligent of them, however, explain that it is not +the sun itself they worship, but only regard it as the brightest +symbol and manifestation of the Invisible Deity. But they seem to have +an idolatrous reverence for fire, and keep a lamp always burning in +their houses. It is never suffered to go out day nor night, from year +to year. The same respect which they show to fire, they show also to +the other elements--earth, air, and water. + +A revolting application of their principles is seen in their mode of +disposing of the dead. They cannot burn them, as do the Hindoos, lest +the touch of death should pollute the flames; nor can they bury them +in the earth, nor in the sea, for earth and water and air are all +alike sacred. They therefore expose the bodies of their dead to be +devoured by birds of the air. Outside of Bombay, on Malabar Hill, are +three or four circular towers--called The Towers of Silence, which are +enclosed by a high wall to keep observers at a distance. When a Parsee +dies, his body is conveyed to the gates, and there received by the +priests, by whom it is exposed on gratings constructed for the +purpose. + +Near at hand, perched in groves of palms, are the vultures. We saw +them there in great numbers. As soon as a funeral procession +approaches, they scent their prey, and begin to circle in the air; and +no sooner is a body uncovered, and left by the attendants, than a +cloud of black wings settles down upon it, and a hundred horned beaks +are tearing at the flesh. Such are their numbers and voracity, that in +a few minutes--so we are told--every particle is stripped from the +bones, which are then slid down an inclined plane into a deep pit, +where they mingle with common clay. + +Compared with this, the Hindoo mode of disposing of the dead, by +burning, seems almost like Christian burial. Yet it is done in a mode +which is very offensive. In returning from Malabar Hill one evening, +along the beautiful drive around the bay, we noticed a number of +furnace-like openings, where fires were burning, from which proceeded +a sickening smell, and were told that this was the burning of the +bodies of the Hindoos! + +This mode of disposing of the dead may be defended on grounds of +health, especially in great cities. But, at any rate, I wish there was +nothing worse to be said of the Hindoos than their mode of treating +the forms from which life has departed. But their religion is far more +cruel to the living than to the dead. + +To one who has never been in a Pagan country, that which is most new +and strange is its idolatry. Bombay is full of temples, which at +certain hours are crowded with worshippers. Here they flock every +morning to perform their devotions. There is nothing like the orderly +congregation gathered in a Christian house of worship, sitting quietly +in their places, and listening to a sermon. The people come and go at +will, attending to their devotions, as they would to any matter of +business. A large part of their "worship" consists in washing +themselves. With the Hindoos as with the Mohammedans, bathing is a +part of their religion. The temple grounds generally enclose a large +tank, into which they plunge every morning, and come up, as they +believe, clean from the washing. At the temple of Momba Davi (the god +who gives name to Bombay), we watched these purifications and other +acts of worship. Within the enclosure, beside the temple filled with +hideous idols, there was the sacred cow (which the people would +consider it a far greater crime to kill than to kill a Christian) +which chewed her cud undisturbed, though not with half so much content +as if she had been in a field of sweet-scented clover; and there stood +the peepul tree, the sacred tree of India (a species of banyan), round +which men and women were walking repeating their prayers, and leaving +flowers as offerings at its foot. This latter custom is not peculiar +to Pagan countries. In Christian as well as in heathen lands flowers +are laid on the altar, as if their beauty were grateful to the Unseen +Eye, and their perfume a kind of incense to the object of devotion. +Inside the enclosure men were being washed and shaved (on their heads +as well as on their faces), and painted on their foreheads (as +Catholics might be with the sign of the cross) to mark the god they +worship. And not only in the temples, but along the streets, in the +houses, which were open to the view of passers-by, people were taking +plentiful ablutions, almost a full bath, and making their toilet, +quite unembarrassed by the presence of strangers. + +These observances (if divested of any religious value) are not to be +altogether condemned. The habit of frequent bathing is very useful in +a sanitary point of view, especially in this hot climate. But that +which most excites our admiration is the scrupulous regularity of the +Hindoos in their worship. They have to "do their pooja" (that is, make +their offerings and perform their devotions) before they go to their +work, or even partake of food! Here is an example of religious +fidelity worthy of Christian imitation. + +The religious ideas of the Hindoos show themselves in other ways, +which at least challenge our respect for their consistency. In their +eyes all life is sacred, the life of beast and bird, nay, of reptile +and insect, as well as of man. To carry out this idea they have +established a Hospital for Animals, which is one of the institutions +of Bombay. It is on a very extensive scale, and presents a spectacle +such as I do not believe can be seen anywhere else in the world. Here, +in an enclosure covering many acres, in sheds, or stables, or in the +open grounds, as may best promote their recovery, are gathered the +lame, the halt, and the blind, not of the human species, but of the +animal world--cattle and horses, sheep and goats, dogs and cats, +rabbits and monkeys, and beasts and birds of every description. Even +poor little monkeys forgot to be merry, and looked very solemn as they +sat on their perch. The cows, sacred as they were, were yet not beyond +the power of disease, and had a most woe-begone look. Long rows of +stables were filled with broken-down horses, spavined and ring-boned, +with ribs sticking out of their sides, or huge sores on their flanks, +dripping with blood. In one pen were a number of kittens, that mewed +and cried for their mothers, though they had a plentiful supply of +milk for their poor little emaciated bodies. The Hindoos send out +carts at night and pick them up wherever they have been cast into the +street. Rabbits, whom no man would own, have here a snug warren made +for them, and creep in and out with a feeling of safety and comfort. +In a large enclosure were some hundred dogs, more wretched-looking +than the dogs of Constantinople--"whelps and curs of low degree." +These poor creatures had been so long the companions of man that, +ill-treated as they were, starved and kicked, they still apparently +longed for human society, and as soon as they saw us they seemed to +recognize us as their deliverers, and set up a howling and yelping, +and leaped against the bars of their prison house, as if imploring us +to give them liberty. + +And here is a collection of birds to fill an extensive aviary, though +in their present condition they do not look exactly like birds of +Paradise. There are not only "four black crows," but more than any +farmer would like to see in his wheat field (for India is the land of +crows). Tall cranes, that had been wont to step with long legs by the +marshy brink of rivers, here were bandaged and splintered till they +could walk once more. Broken-winged seagulls, that could no more sweep +over the boundless sea, free as its own waves, were nursed till they +could fly again. + +The spectacle thus presented was half touching and half ludicrous. One +cannot but respect the Hindoo's regard for life, as a thing not to be +lightly and wantonly destroyed. And yet they carry it to an extent +that is absurd. They will not take the life of animals for food, nor +even of creatures that are annoying or dangerous to themselves. Many +will not crush the insects that buzz around them and sting them, nor +kill a cobra that crawls into their houses, even when it threatens to +bite them or their children. It has been said that they even nurse +serpents, and when recovered, turn them loose into the jungle; but of +this we saw no evidence. But certainly many wretched creatures, whose +existence is not worth keeping, which it were a mercy to let die, are +here rescued and brought back to life. + +While walking through these grounds in company with a couple of +missionaries, I thought how much better these animals were cared for +than some men. I was thinking of some of our broken-down ministers at +home, who, after serving their people faithfully for a whole +generation, are at last sent adrift without ceremony, like an old +horse turned out by the roadside to die! What lives of drudgery and +toil do such ministers lead! They are "beasts of burden," more than +any beast of the field. And when their working days are over, can +they not be cared for as well as the Hindoos care for old horses and +camels? If only these shattered wrecks (and magnificent wrecks some of +them are) were towed into port and allowed to rest in tranquil waters; +or (to change the figure) if these old veterans were housed and warmed +and fed and nursed as carefully as the Hindoos nurse their broken-down +animals, we should have fewer of those instances of cruel neglect +which we sometimes hear of to our sorrow and shame! + +Of the antiquities of India, one of the most notable is found here in +the Caves of Elephanta, which are on an island lying off the harbor. +We set apart a day to this visit, which we made with a couple of +Americans and a couple of Englishmen, the latter of whom we met first +in Bombay, but who were to keep us company a large part of our journey +around the world. We were to embark at the Apollo Bunder, and while +waiting here for our boat (a steam launch which is used for this +purpose), a snake-charmer desired to entertain us with the dexterous +manner in which he handled cobras, taking them up like kittens, +coiling them round his neck, and tossing them about in a very playful +and affectionate manner. No doubt their fangs had been completely +extracted before he indulged in these endearments. A very cruel form +of sport was to throw one on the ground, and let it be set upon by a +mangoose, a small animal like a weasel, that is not poisoned by the +bite of serpents, and attacks them without hesitation. One of these +the man carried in a bag for the purpose. As soon as let loose, the +little creature flew at the snake spitefully, as a terrier dog would +at a rat, and seized it by the head, and bit it again and again with +its sharp teeth, and left it covered with blood. As we expressed our +disgust at this cruelty, the juggler assured us that the deceitful +reptile was not dead (in fact as soon as laid on the ground it began +to wriggle), and that he would take it by the tail and hold it up, +and pour water on its head, and it would come all right again. He did +not say, but no doubt thought, "and will be all ready for torture when +the next American or Englishman comes along." + +By this time the steam launch had come round to the Bunder, and we got +on board. It was a little mite of a vessel, just big enough for the +half dozen of us, with a steam boiler not much larger than a teapot, +that wheezed as if it had the asthma. But it did its work well, and +away we shot swiftly across the beautiful bay. The island of Elephanta +is seven miles from the city, and takes its name from a gigantic +statue of an elephant that once stood upon its shore. Landing here, we +found ourselves at the foot of a rocky hill, which we mounted by +several hundred steps, and stood at the entrance of a gigantic cave or +cavern cut into the hill-side, with a lofty ceiling, pillared like a +temple. The main hall, as it might be called, runs back a hundred and +thirty feet into the solid rock. + +The first thing that struck me on entering was the resemblance to the +temples of Egypt. Though in size and extent it does not approach the +ruins of Karnak, yet one recognizes the same massive architecture in +this temple, which is literally "cut out of a mountain," its roof the +overhanging cliff, supported by rows of heavy columns. + +The resemblance to Egypt appears also in the symbol of divinity and +the objects of worship; the sacred bull in one country answering to +the sacred cow in the other; and the serpent, the same hooded cobra, +rearing its head on the front of the Temples of Thebes, and in the +Caves of Elephanta. + +At the end of the great hall are the objects of worship in three +colossal images of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This is the Hindoo +Trinity, and the constant recurrence of these figures in their +mythology shows how the idea of a Trinity pervaded other ancient +religions besides our own. It is a question for scholars, whence came +the original conception of this threefold personality in the Divine +Being, whether from revelation, or from a tradition as old as the +human race. + +The faces are Egyptian--immobile like the Sphinx, with no expression +of eagerness or desire, but only of calm and eternal repose. Such was +the blessedness of the gods, and such the beatitude sought by their +worshippers. + +The age of the Caves of Elephanta is not known, but they must be of a +great antiquity. For many centuries this rock-temple has been the +resort of millions of worshippers. Generation after generation have +the poor people of India crossed these waters to this sacred island, +and climbed wearily up this hill as if they were climbing towards +heaven. + +That such a religion should have lived for thousands of years, and be +living still (for the worship of Brahma and Vishnu and Shiva is still +the religion of India), is a reflection that gives one but little hope +for the future of the human race. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +LEAVING BOMBAY--TRAVELLING IN INDIA--ALLAHABAD--THE MELA. + + +We had been in Bombay a week, and began to feel quite at home, when we +had to leave. A man who undertakes to go around the world, must not +stop too long in the soft places. He must be always on the march, or +ready to start at the tap of the drum. We had a long journey before +us, to the North of India, and could not linger by the way. So we set +out just at evening. Much of the travelling in India is at night, to +avoid the heat of the day. The sun was setting over the waters as we +moved slowly out of the station at Bombay, and sweeping around the +shores, caught our last glimpse of the Western sea, and then rushed +off for the mountains. + +"You'll need to take beds with you," said our friends, foreseeing that +we might have to lie down in rough places. So we procured for each of +us what is called a resai, a well-stuffed coverlet, which answered the +purpose of a light mattress. There are no sleeping-cars in India; but +the first-class carriages have generally a sofa on either side, which +may be turned into a sort of couch. On these sofas, having first +secured a whole compartment, we spread our resais, with pillows on +which to rest our weary heads, and stretch ourselves "to +sleep--perchance to dream." But the imagination is so busy that sleep +comes but slowly. I often lie awake for hours, and find a great peace +in this constant wakefulness. + +It was quite dark when we found ourselves climbing the Ghauts (what in +California would be called the Coast Range), a chain of mountains not +very high, but which separates the coast from the table-land of the +interior. As the train moved more slowly, we perceived that we were +drawing up a heavy incline. This slow motion soothes one to slumber, +and at length we closed our eyes, and when the morning broke, found +that we had passed the summit, and were rushing on over an open +country, not unlike our Western prairies. These were the Plains of +India--a vast plateau, broken here and there, but preserving its +general character across the whole peninsula from Bombay to Calcutta, +and North to the Himalayas. + +In this month of January, these plains are without verdure to give +them beauty. The trees keep their foliage, and here and there is a +broad-spreading banyan, or a mango grove, with its deep shade. But we +miss the fresh green grass and the flowers that come only with the +Spring. Landscapes which are not diversified in surface by hills and +valleys are only relieved from monotony by varieties of color. These +are wanting now, and hence the vast plain is but "a gray and +melancholy waste" like the sea. We visit India in winter because the +summer would be too oppressive. But in choosing this season, we have +to sacrifice that full glory when nature comes forth in all the +richness of tropical vegetation. It is in the rainy season that the +earth bursts suddenly into bloom. Then the dead plain, so bleak and +bare, in a few days is covered with a carpet of green, and decked with +innumerable flowers. But there are drawbacks to that gorgeous time and +that prodigality of nature. With the bursting into light of the +vegetable world, the insect world also comes forth. All the insects +that buzz and sting, fill the summer air; and then the reptile world +creeps abroad. Out of millions of holes, where they have slept all +winter long, crawl cobras and other deadly serpents, and all slimy +things. On the whole, therefore, I am content to see India in its +sombre dress, and be spared some other attendants of this tropical +world. + +Nor is there much animal life to give animation to the scene. A few +cattle are grazing here and there. Now a deer startled looks up, as we +go by, or a monkey goes leaping across the fields, but not a wild +beast of any kind is seen--not even a wild-cat or a jackal. As for +birds, storks are at home in India as much as in Holland. Red +flamingoes haunt + + "The plashy brink, or marge of river wide," + +while on the broad open plain the birds most seen are crows! They are +very tame, and quite familiar with the rest of the animal creation, a +favorite perch being the backs of cows or buffaloes, where they light +without resistance, and make themselves at home. They are said to be +very useful as scavengers. That is quite possible; but however useful, +they are certainly not beautiful. + +In these long stretches of course we pass hundreds of villages, but +these do not attract the eye nor form a feature in the landscape, for +the low mud hovels of which they are composed hardly rise above the +level of the plain. There is no church spire to be seen, as from a New +England village, nor even the dome or minaret of a mosque, for we are +not yet in the Mohammedan part of India. + +One feature there is which relieves the monotony--the railway stations +are the prettiest I have seen out of England. Simply but tastefully +built, they are covered with vines and flowers, which with irrigation +easily grow in this climate in the open air at all seasons of the +year. The railway administration has offered prizes for the +embellishment of stations, so that the natives, who are fond of +flowers, and who are thus tempted by the hope of reward, plant roses +and trail vines everywhere, so that the eye is relieved from the +glare of the barren plain by resting on a mass of flowers and +verdure. + +In their internal arrangements, too, these stations are models of +comfort, which might furnish an example to us in America. Wherever we +are to breakfast or lunch ("take tiffin") or dine, we find a table +neatly spread, with soft-footed Hindoos gliding about to serve us, and +with plenty of time to eat in peace, without that rushing which makes +travel in America such a hurry and fatigue. I am often asked about the +difficulty of travelling in India, to which I answer that there is no +difficulty, except from the climate, and that is to be guarded against +by going in the cold season. There are railroads all over the country, +and if Mr. Pullman would only introduce his sleeping-cars, made more +open to give more ventilation in this hot climate, one might travel in +India with as perfect comfort as in any part of Europe or America. + +But with all these comforts, and all that there is to divert the eye, +the way seems long. It is not till one reaches India that he +comprehends how vast a country it is--not only in density of +population, but in extent of territory. In "magnificent distances" it +is almost equal to America itself: all small ideas are dispelled as +soon as one leaves the coast, and penetrates into the interior. Our +first stage from Bombay to Allahabad was 845 miles, which took us not +only the first night and the day after, but the second night also, so +that it was not till the morning of the third day that we found +ourselves crossing the long bridge over the Jumna into the city which +is the great railroad centre in India--a sort of half-way station, +both on the "trunk line" from Bombay to Calcutta, and on the line to +the North of India. + +By this time we were glad of rest, and willingly exchanged our railway +carriage for a hotel, where we found the luxury of baths, which +refreshed us so that in an hour or two we were able to come forth +"clad in fine linen, white and clean," and ride about to see the +sights of the town. + +Allahabad is not a city of so much historical interest as many others, +but it has grown very much within a few years. The railroads have +given such an impulse to its business, and increase to its population, +that it has now 130,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the +Northwest Provinces, and thus has a political as well as a commercial +importance. Owing to its position, it has been chosen as a convenient +centre for missionary operations, and is the seat of one of the best +organized missions of our Presbyterian Board. Here we met some +excellent countrymen, who at once took us to their hearts and homes: +and though reluctant to accept hospitality, or to trespass on their +kindness, yet it was impossible to refuse an invitation so cordially +given, which took us from a great barrack of a hotel to a refined +American home. Our Board is fortunate in owning for its mission +premises a large "compound," an enclosure of many acres, on the banks +of the Jumna--obtained years ago at a nominal price, and which costs +now only the small tax of fifty rupees (twenty-five dollars) a year. +Here under one broad roof were Rev. Mr. Kellogg and his family--a wife +and four children--and Mr. Wynkoop, and Mr. Heyl: Dr. Brodhead had +just left for America. In the compound stands a neat chapel, in which +met three years ago the great conference of missionaries of different +denominations from all parts of India, the most memorable gathering of +the kind ever held in this country. Here there is a service in +Hindostanee every Sabbath. In another building is a school of 300 +pupils, under charge of Mr. Heyl. He has also, to give sufficient +variety to his occupation, to look after an asylum for the blind, and +another for lepers. Rev. Messrs. Holcomb and Johnson live in other +parts of the city, where there is a Printing-press and a large +Depository for the sale of Bibles and Tracts in the different +languages of India. All of these missionaries, besides preaching in +churches, preach in the streets and bazaars, and spend some months of +the year in itinerating through the villages in a large circuit of +country, living in tents, and speaking to the people by the roadside, +or in groves, or in their houses, wherever they can find them--a work +which they enjoy greatly. Thus with preaching in city and country, and +keeping up their schools, and looking after printing presses, writing +and publishing books and tracts, they have their hands full. + +Nor can I overlook our countrywomen in Allahabad. There is here a +"Zenana Mission," supported by the society of the good Mrs. Doremus, +and also two ladies connected with the Presbyterian Board, one of +whom, Miss Wilson, devotes herself to visiting in the Zenanas, while +the other, Miss Seward, is a physician, practising with great success +in many of the best native families, thus rendering a physical as well +as a spiritual service. She is a niece of the late Secretary of State, +William H. Seward, who when in India paid her a visit, and was so +impressed with what she was doing so quietly and yet so effectively; +with the access which her medical skill and her feminine tact gave her +to the interior life of the people; that on his return to America he +summed up the result of all his observations of missions in this brief +counsel: "Make all your missionaries women, and give them all a +medical education." + +Allahabad has a proud name--the City of God; but one sees not much to +render it worthy of that exalted title. It is however, in the +estimation of the Hindoos a sacred city, as it stands at the junction +of the Jumna and the Ganges, the two sacred rivers of India, which +issuing out of the glaciers of the Himalayas, hundreds of miles to the +north, here unite, and flow on in a broader stream, and with an +increased volume of sanctity. The point of junction is of course a +very holy place--one of the most sacred in India--and draws to it more +pilgrims than Mecca. Every year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, +come from all parts of India to bathe in these holy waters. This is +the Mela--or great religious festival--which was now in progress. The +missionaries congratulated us that we had arrived at such an opportune +moment, as we had thus an opportunity of witnessing a spectacle which +would show more of Hindooism than any other that we could see in +India, unless it might be in the holy city of Benares. + +On a Saturday evening we rode down to the place of the encampment, +which we found covering a wide sandy plain at the junction of two +rivers. It was a camp-meeting of magnificent dimensions. The tents or +booths were laid out in streets, and sometimes grouped in a hollow +square, which for the time being was a compact and populous city. As +the evening was not the hour for bathing, we did not go down to the +river bank, but strolled among the camps to see the people. At every +tent fires were burning, and they were cooking their food. + +Our friends led the way to the camp of the Sikhs, the famous warrior +race of the Punjaub, who form a sect by themselves, and, strange to +say, are not idolators. They follow the teachings of a prophet of +their own, and like the Mohammedans, make it a special virtue, that +they do not worship idols. But the old instinct is too strong for +them, and while they do not bow to images, they pay a reverence to +their sacred book--the writings of their teacher--which is little +short of idolatry. At several places in their camp was something like +an altar, a raised platform which was too holy for us to ascend, where +sat a priest reading from this volume, before which all knelt as at +the shrine of a saint, while they scattered flowers around it as a +kind of incense or adoration. + +In other parts of the camp men were blowing horns and making all sorts +of hideous noise, as an intense way of offering devotions. This mockery +of religion moved the indignation of our friends, who opened their +mouths boldly in exposure of such folly and superstition, but they +found that those whom they addressed did not shrink from the encounter. +Some of them were very keen in argument. They have a subtle philosophy +at the bottom of their worship, which they explained with a good deal +of ingenuity, and tried to illumine by apt analogies and illustrations. +Like all Hindoos, they were most liberal in their tolerance of other +religions--much more so than the Mohammedans--generously conceding +that our religion was best _for us_, while claiming that theirs was +best _for them_. They did not try to convert us, and saw no reason why +we should try to convert them. This was the Broad Church indeed, large +enough for "all sorts and conditions of men." They even went further, +and paid us not only the respect due to men, but to gods. One of the +fakirs said to us in so many words: "You are God and I am God!" This +tells the whole story in a sentence. Their creed is the baldest +Pantheism: that God is in everything, and therefore everything is God. +As all life comes from Him, He is in everything that lives--not only +in man, but in beasts, and birds, and reptiles. All alike are +incarnations of a Divine life, and hence all alike are fit objects of +adoration. Man can adore himself. He need not carry any burden of +sorrow or guilt; he need not know repentance or shame; for how can he +mourn for impulses which are but the inspirations of the God in him, +or for acts which are but the manifestations of the Universal Soul? + +This was our first close contest with Hindooism, but still we had not +seen the Mela till we had seen the bathing of the pilgrims in the +Ganges, which was still in reserve. The Festival lasts a month--like +the Ramadan of the Mohammedans--and is regulated by the changes of the +moon. The day of the new moon, which was last Wednesday, was the great +day of the feast. On that day there was a grand procession to the +river, in which there were twenty-five elephants, mounted by their +_mahants_ (a sort of chief priests), with hundreds of fakirs on foot, +and a vast crowd in all the frenzy of devotion. On Monday, as the moon +was approaching her first quarter, there was likely to be a large +concourse, though not equal to the first, and we made arrangements to +be on hand to witness a spectacle such as we had never seen before, +and should probably never see again. Rev. Mr. Holcomb came very early +in the morning with his carriage, to take us to the riverside. As we +drove along the roads, we passed thousands who were flocking to the +place of bathing. Some rode in ox-carts, which carried whole families; +now and then a mounted horseman dashed by; while a long row of camels +told of a caravan that had toiled wearily over a great distance, +perhaps from the foot of the Himalayas or the Vale of Cashmere, to +reach the sacred spot. But the greater part of those who came were on +foot, and looked like pilgrims indeed. Most of them carried on their +shoulders a couple of baskets, in one of which was their food, and in +the other the ashes of their dead, which they had brought from their +homes, sometimes hundreds of miles, to cast into the sacred waters of +the Ganges. + +The carriage brought us only to the Bund, near the Fort--a huge +embankment of earth raised to keep out the waters at the time of the +annual risings, and which during the past year had saved the city from +inundation. Here our friends had provided an elephant to take us +through the crowd. The huge creature was waiting for us. The mahout +who stood at his head now mounted in an extraordinary manner. He +merely stepped in front of the elephant, and took hold of the flaps of +his ears, and put up a foot on his trunk, which the beast raised as +lightly as if the man had been a feather, and thus tossed his rider +upon his head. A word of command then brought him to his knees, when a +ladder was placed against his side, and we climbed to the top, and as +he rose up, were lifted into the air. An elephant's back is a capital +lookout for observation. It raises one on high, from which he can +look down upon what is passing below; and the mighty creature has not +much difficulty in making his way through even the densest crowd. He +moved down the embankment a little slowly at first, but once on level +ground, he strode along with rapid strides; while we, sitting aloft, +regarded with amazement the scene before us. + +Indeed it was a marvellous spectacle. Here was a vast camp, extending +from river to river. Far as the eye could reach, the plain was covered +with tents and booths. We had no means of estimating the number of +people present. Mr. Kellogg made a rough calculation, as he stood in +his preaching tent, and saw the crowd pouring by. Fixing his eye on +the tent-pole, with watch in hand, he counted the number that passed +in a minute, and found it to be a hundred and fifty, which would make +nine thousand in an hour. If this steady flow were kept up for four +hours (as it began at daylight, and was continued, though with varying +volume, through the forenoon), it would make thirty-six thousand; and +reckoning those encamped on the ground at twenty thousand, the whole +number would be over fifty thousand. + +This is a very small number, compared with that present at some times. +Last Wednesday it was twice as great, and some years the +multitude--which overflows the country for miles, like an inundation +of the Ganges--has been estimated at hundreds of thousands, and even +millions. Every twelve years there is a greater Mela than at other +times, and the concourse assumes extraordinary proportions. This came +six years ago, in 1870. That year it was said that there were present +75,000 fakirs alone, and on the great day of the feast it was +estimated that a million of people bathed in the Ganges. So fearful +was the crush that they had to be marshalled by the police, and +marched down to the river by ten or twenty thousand at a time, and +then across a bridge of boats to the other side, returning by another +way, so as to prevent a collision of the entering and returning mass, +that might have occasioned a fearful loss of life. That year it was +estimated that not less than two millions of pilgrims visited the +Mela. Allowing for the common exaggeration in estimating multitudes, +there is no doubt whatever that the host of pilgrims here has often +been "an exceeding great army." + +I could not but look with pity at the ignorant creatures flocking by, +but the feeling of pity changed to disgust at the sight of the priests +by whom they were misled. Everywhere were fakirs sitting on the +ground, receiving the reverence of the people. More disgusting objects +I never looked upon, not even in an asylum for the insane. They were +almost naked; their hair, which they suffer to grow long, had become +tangled and knotted, and was matted like swamp grass, and often bound +round with thick ropes; and their faces smeared with filth. The +meagerness of their clothing is one of the tokens of their sanctity. +They are so holy that they do not need to observe the ordinary rules +of decency. Yet these filthy creatures are regarded not only with +reverence, but almost worshipped. Men--and women also--stoop down and +kiss their feet. On Wednesday some three hundred of these fakirs +marched in procession _absolutely naked_, while crowds of women +prostrated themselves before them, and kissed the very ground over +which they had passed. One is amazed that such a disgusting exhibition +was not prevented by the police. Yet it took place under the guns of +an English fort, and--greatest shame of all--instead of being +suppressed, was accompanied and protected by the police, which, though +composed of natives, wore the uniform, and obeyed the orders, of +Christian England! There are not many sights which make one ashamed of +the English government in India, but surely this is one of them.[1] + +How such "brute beasts" can have any respect or influence, is one of +the mysteries of Hindooism. But the common people, ignorant and +superstitious, think these men have a power that is more than human, +and fear to incur their displeasure. They dread their curses: for +these holy men have a fearful power of imprecation. Wherever they +stroll through the country, no man dares to refuse them food or +shelter, lest one of their awful curses should light upon his head, +and immediately his child should die, or disaster should overtake his +house. + +But let us pass on to the banks of the river, where the crowd is +already becoming very great. To go among them, we get down from our +elephant and walk about. Was there ever such a scene--men, women, and +children, by tens of thousands, in all stages of nakedness, pressing +towards the sacred river? The men are closely shaved, as for every +hair of their heads they gain a million of years in Paradise! Some had +come in boats, and were out in the middle of the stream, from which +they could bathe. But the greater part were along the shore. The water +was shallow, so that they could wade in without danger; but to afford +greater security, lines of boats were drawn around the places of +bathing, to keep them from drowning and from suicide. + +It would not have been easy to make our way through such a crowd, had +not the native police, with that respect for Englishmen which is seen +everywhere in India, cleared the way for us. Thus we came down to the +water's edge, passing through hundreds that were coming up dripping +from the water, and other hundreds that were pressing in. They were of +all ages and sexes. It was hard to repress our disgust at the +voluntary debasement of men who might know better, but with these +there were some wretched objects, who could only excite our +pity--poor, haggard old women, who had dragged themselves to this +spot, and children borne on their mothers' shoulders! In former times +many infants were thrown into the Ganges. This was the most common +form of infanticide. But this practice has been stopped by the strong +hand of the government. And now they are brought here only to "wash +and be cleansed." Even the sick were carried in palanquins, to be +dipped in the healing waters; and here and there one who seemed ready +to die was brought, that he might breathe his last in sight of the +sacred river. + +I observed a great number of flags flying from tall poles in different +parts of the ground, which made the place look like a military +encampment. These marked the headquarters of the men who get up these +Melas, and in so doing contrive to unite business with religion. +During the year they perambulate the country, drumming up pilgrims. A +reputation for sanctity is a stock in trade, and they are not too +modest to set forth their own peculiar gifts, and invite those who +come to the holy water to repair to their shop, where they can be "put +through" in the shortest time, and for the least money. This +money-making feature is apparent in all the arrangements of these +pious pilgrimages. + +In keeping with these coarser features of the scene, was the presence +of dancing girls, who gathered a group around them close to the +bathing places, and displayed their indecent gestures on the banks of +the holy river, to those who had just engaged in what they considered +an act of moral purification. + +In other parts of the camp, retired from the river, was carried on the +business of "religious instruction." Here and there pundits, or +learned Brahmins, surrounded by large companies, chiefly of women, +were reading from the Shasters, which, considering that they got over +the ground with great velocity, could hardly be very edifying to their +hearers. This mattered little, however, as these sacred books are in +Sanscrit, which to the people is an unknown tongue. + +I was glad to see that these blind leaders of the blind did not have +it all their own way. Near by were the preaching-tents of several +missionaries, who also drew crowds, to whom they spoke of a better +religion. Among them was Rev. Mr. Macombie, who is a famous preacher. +He is a native of India, and is not only master of their language, but +familiar with their ideas. He knows all their arguments and their +objections, and if a hearer interrupts him, whether a Hindoo, or a +Mohammedan, he is very apt to get a shot which makes him sink back in +the crowd, glad to escape without further notice. Whether this +preaching converts many to Christianity, there can be no doubt that it +diffuses a widespread sense of the folly of these Melas, and to this +as one cause may be ascribed the falling-off in the concourse of +pilgrims, who were formerly counted by millions and are now only by +hundreds of thousands. + +While "religion" thus went on vigorously, business was not forgotten. +In the remoter parts of the camp it was turned into a market-place. A +festival which brings together hundreds of thousands of people, is an +occasion not to be lost for traffic and barter. So the camp becomes a +huge bazaar (a vast fair, such as one may see in America at a cattle +show or a militia muster), with streets of shops, so that, after one +has performed his religious duties, as he comes up from the holy +waters and returns to "the world," he can gratify his pride and vanity +by purchasing any quantity of cheap jewelry. + +There are shops for the sale of idols. We could have bought a lovely +little beast for a few pence. They are as "cheap as dirt;" in fact, +they are often made of dirt. As we stood in front of one of the shops, +we saw a group rolling up a little ball of mud, as children make mud +pies; who requested a lady of our party to step one side, as her +shadow, falling on this holy object, polluted it! + +It is hard to believe that even the most ignorant and degraded of men +can connect such objects with any idea of sacredness or religion. And +yet the wretched-looking creatures seemed infatuated with their +idolatries. To bathe in the Ganges washes away their sins. It opens to +them the gates of paradise. Such value do they attach to it that even +death in its sacred waters is a privilege. Formerly suicides were very +frequent here, till they were stopped by the Government. Fanaticism +seems to destroy the common sympathies of life. Last Wednesday, while +the great procession was in progress, a fire broke out in one of the +booths. As they are made of the lightest material it caught like +tinder, and spread so rapidly that in a few minutes a whole camp was +in a blaze. But for the presence of mind and energy of a few English +soldiers from the Fort who were on the ground, and who seized an +engine, and played upon the burning wood and thatch, the entire +encampment might have been destroyed, involving an appalling loss of +life. As it was, some thirty perished, almost all women. Mr. Kellogg +came up in time to see their charred and blackened remains. Yet this +terrible disaster awakened no feeling of compassion for its victims. +They were accounted rather favored beings to have perished in such a +holy spot. Thus does the blindness of superstition extinguish the +ordinary feelings of humanity. + +Weary and heart-sick at such exhibitions of human folly, we mounted +our elephant to leave the ground. The noble beast, who had waited +patiently for us (and was duly rewarded), now seemed as if he could +stand it no longer, and taking us on his back, strode off as if +disgusted with the whole performance, and disdaining the society of +such debased human creatures. + +This Mela, with other things which I have seen, has quite destroyed +any illusions which I may have had in regard to Hindooism. In coming +to India, one chief object was to study its religion. I had read much +of "the mild Hindoo" and "the learned Brahmin," and I asked myself, +May not their religion have some elements of good? Is it not better at +least than no religion? But the more I study it the worse it seems. I +cannot understand the secret of its power. I can see a fascination in +Romanism, and even in Mohammedanism. The mythology of the Greeks had +in it many beautiful creations of the imagination. But the gods of the +Hindoos are but deified beasts, and their worship, instead of +elevating men intellectually or morally, is an unspeakable +degradation. + +Hindooism is a mountain of lies. It is a vast and monstrous system of +falsehood, kept in existence mainly for the sake of keeping up the +power of the Brahmins. Their capacity for deceit is boundless, as is +that of the lower castes for being deceived. Of this I have just had a +specimen. In the fort here at Allahabad is a subterranean passage +which is held in the highest veneration, as it is believed that here a +river flows darkly underground to join the sacred waters of the Jumna +and the Ganges, and here--prodigy of nature--is a sacred tree, which +has been here (they tell us) for hundreds of years, and though buried +in the heart of the earth, still it lives. It is true it does show +some signs of sap and greenness. But the mystery is explained when the +fact comes out that the tree is changed every year. The +sergeant-major, who has been here four years, told me that he had +himself given the order three times, which admitted the party into the +Fort at midnight to take away the old stump and put in a fresh tree! +He said it was done in the month of February, so that with the first +opening of spring it was ready to bloom afresh! How English officers +can reconcile it with their honor to connive at such a deception--even +though it be to please the Brahmins--I leave them to explain. But the +fact, thus attested, is sufficient to show the unfathomable lying of +this ruling caste of India, and the immeasurable credulity of their +disciples. + +A religion that is founded on imposture, and supported by falsehood, +cannot bear the fruits of righteousness. In the essence of things +truth is allied to moral purity. Its very nature is "sweetness and +light." But craft and deceit in sacred things breed a vicious habit of +defending by false reasoning what an uncorrupted conscience would +reject; and the holy name of religion, instead of being a sacrament of +good, becomes a sacrament of evil, which is used to cover and +consecrate loathsome immoralities. Thus falsehood works like poison in +the blood, and runs through every vein till the whole moral being is +spotted with leprosy. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] That we may not do injustice, we add the excuse which is given, +which is, that such attendance of the police is necessary to prevent a +general melee and bloodshed. It seems that these fakirs, holy as they +are, belong to different sects, between which there are deadly feuds, +and if left to themselves unrestrained, when brought into close +contact in a procession, they might tear each other in pieces. But +this would be no great loss to the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +AGRA--VISIT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES--PALACE OF THE GREAT MOGUL--THE +TAJ. + + +We left Allahabad at midnight, and by noon of the next day were at +Agra, in the heart of the old Mogul Empire. As we approached from the +other side of the Jumna, we saw before us what seemed a royal castle, +of imposing dimensions, strongly fortified, with walls and moat, like +one of the strongholds of the Middle Ages, a castle on the Rhine, +built for a double purpose, half palace and half fortress. As we +crossed the long bridge flags were flying in honor of the Prince of +Wales, who had arrived the week before. His entry into this old Mogul +capital was attended with a display of magnificence worthy of the days +of Aurungzebe. At the station he was met by a great number of Rajahs, +mounted on elephants richly caparisoned, of which there were nearly +two hundred in the procession, with long suites of retainers, who +escorted him to his camp outside of the city. Rev. Mr. Wynkoop (who +came on a few days before to witness the fetes, and was staying with a +friend who had a tent quite near to that of the Prince), met us at the +station and took us out to the Royal camp. It was indeed a beautiful +sight. The tents, many of which were very large, were laid off in an +oblong square, with the marquee of the Prince at the end, in front of +which floated the royal standard of England. The rest of the camp was +laid off in streets. On the outskirts of the Maidan (or parade ground) +were the military selected from different corps of the Indian army. +Some of the native troops in drill and discipline were equal to the +English. The Punjaubees especially were magnificent fellows. Tall and +athletic in figure, they are splendid horsemen, so that a regiment of +Punjaubee (or Sikh) cavalry is one of the sights of India. English +artillery manned the guns with which they saluted the native princes +according to their rank, as they came to pay their respects. Here, on +the Saturday before, the Prince had held a grand Durbar, to which the +Rajahs came riding on elephants, and each with a body-guard of +cavalry, mounted sometimes on horses and sometimes on camels, making +altogether such a scene of barbaric splendor as could not be witnessed +in any country in the world but India. + +The Prince was absent from the camp, having gone off a day or two +before to pay a visit to the Maharajah of Gwalior, but an hour later, +while we were making a first visit to the Taj, we heard the guns which +announced his return. A day or two after we saw him starting for +Jeypore, when, although he drove off in a carriage very quietly, the +camels and elephants that went rolling along the different roads, as +we drove out once more to the camp, told of the brilliant pageant that +was ended. + +This visit of the Prince of Wales is a great event. It has excited a +prodigious interest in official and military circles. His progress +through the country has been in a blaze of processions and +illuminations. To himself it must have been very gratifying. As he +said, "It had been the dream of his life to visit India." It was a +matter of political wisdom that he should know it, not only through +others but by personal observation. Mr. Disraeli, in proposing it in +Parliament, said justly that "travel was the best education for +princes." It was well that the future King of England, should make +himself acquainted with the great Empire that he was one day to rule. +But whether this royal visit will result in any real benefit to India +to correspond with the enormous expense it has involved, is a question +which I hear a good deal discussed among Englishmen. In some ways it +cannot fail to do good. It has presented to the people of India an +impersonation of sovereignty, a visible representative of that mighty +power, the British Empire. It has conciliated the native princes, who +have been greatly pleased by the frank and manly courtesy of their +future sovereign. In the art of courtesy he is a master. History will +give him this rank among princes, that he was not great, but gracious. +This is a kingly virtue which it was well to have exhibited in the +person of one of such exalted rank, the more as English officials in +India are charged with showing, often in the most offensive way, the +insolence of power. Perhaps it was on this very account that he took +such pains to show a generous and even chivalrous courtesy to natives +of rank, even while he did not hesitate, so I was told by Englishmen, +to "snub" his own countrymen. Such a bearing has certainly commanded +respect, and given him a personal popularity. But it has not converted +the people to loyalty any more than to Christianity. They run to see +the parades, the Rajahs, and the elephants. But as to its exciting any +deeper feeling in them, no Englishman who has lived long in the +country will trust to that for a moment. Even though English rule be +for their own safety and protection, yet their prejudices of race and +religion are stronger than even considerations of interest. It is a +curious illustration of the power of caste that the very Rajahs who +entertain the Prince of Wales with such lavish hospitality, who build +palaces to receive him, and spread before him sumptuous banquets, +still do not themselves sit down at the table; they will not even eat +with their Royal guest; and count his touch of food, and even his +shadow falling upon it, a pollution! Such a people are not to be +trusted very far beyond the range of English guns. The security of +English rule in India is not to be found in any fancied sentiment of +loyalty, which does not exist, but in the overwhelming proof of +English power. British possession is secured by the well-armed +fortresses which overlook every great city, and which could lay it in +ruins in twenty-four hours. The rule that was obtained by the sword, +must be held by the sword. + +But the interest of Agra is not in the present, but in the past. There +are few chapters in history more interesting than that of the +Mohammedan invasion of India--a history dating back to the Middle +Ages, but culminating about the time that Columbus discovered the New +World. Those fierce warriors, who had ravaged Central Asia, had long +made occasional incursions into India, but it was not till the +beginning of the sixteenth century that they became complete masters +of the country, and the throne was occupied by a descendant of the +house of Tamerlane. + +The dominion thus introduced into India was an exotic, but like other +products of the North, transplanted into a tropical clime, it +blossomed and flowered anew. The Moguls (a corruption of Mongols) had +all the wealth of Ormus and of Ind at their feet, and they lavished it +with Oriental prodigality, displaying a royal state which surpassed +the grandeur of European courts. + +The Great Mogul! What power there is in a name! Ever since I was a +child, I had read about the Great Mogul, until there was a magic in +the very word. To be sure, I had not much idea who or what he was; but +perhaps this vagueness itself added to the charm in my imagination. He +was an Oriental potentate, living somewhere in the heart of Asia, in a +pomp and glory quite unknown among barbarians of the West. He was a +sort of Haroun al Raschid, whose magnificence recalled the scenes of +the Arabian Nights. Even more, he was like the Grand Lama, almost an +object of worship. To keep up the illusion, he withdrew from +observation into his Palace, where he sat like a god, rarely seen by +mortal eyes, except by his court, and dwelling in unapproachable +splendor. + +And now here I was in the very Palace of the Great Mogul, walking +through the glittering halls where he held his gorgeous revelries, +entering the private apartments of his harem, and looking out of the +very windows from which they looked down upon the valley of the Jumna. + +The Palace is in the Citadel of Agra, for those old Emperors took good +care to draw fortified walls around their palaces. The river front +presents a wall sixty feet high, perhaps half a mile long, of red +sandstone, which heightens by contrast the effect of the white marble +pavilions, so graceful and airy-like, that rise above it. The Fort is +of great extent, but it is the mere casket of the jewels within, the +Palace and the Mosque, in which one may see the infinite beauty of +that Saracenic architecture, which is found nowhere in Europe in such +perfection, except in the Alhambra. The Mohammedan conquerors of +India, like the same conquerors of Spain, had gorgeous tastes in +architecture. Both aimed at the grandeur of effect produced by great +size and massive construction, combined with a certain lightness and +airiness of detail, which give it a peculiar delicacy and grace. Here +the imagination flowers in stone. The solid marble is made to bend in +vines and wreaths that run along the walls. The spirit of Oriental +luxury finds expression in cool marble halls, and open courts, with +plashing fountains, where the monarch could dally with the beauties of +his court. In all these things the life of the Great Mogul did not +differ from that of the Moorish Kings of Spain. + +The glory of Agra dates from the reign of Akbar the Great who made it +the capital of the Mogul Empire. He built the Fort, with its long line +of castellated walls, rising above the river, and commanding the +country around. Within this enclosure were buildings like a city, and +open spaces with canals, among which were laid out gardens, blooming +with flowers. On the river side of the Fort was a lofty terrace, on +which stood the Palace, built of the purest marble. It was divided +into a number of pavilions whose white walls and gilded domes +glittered in the sun. Passing from one pavilion to another over +tessellated pavements, we enter apartments rich in mosaics and all +manner of precious stones. Along the walls are little kiosks or +balconies, the windows of which are half closed by screens of marble, +which yet are so exquisitely carved and pierced as to seem like veils +of lace, drawn before the flashing eyes that looked out from behind +them. Straying through these rich halls, one cannot but reproduce the +scenes of three centuries ago, when Akbar ruled here in the midst of +his court; when the beauties of his seraglio, gathered from all the +East, sported in these gardens, and looked out from these latticed +windows. + +Of equal beauty with the palace is the mosque. It is called the Pearl +Mosque, and a pearl indeed it is, such is the simplicity of outline, +and such the exquisite and almost tender grace in every arch and +column. Said Bishop Heber: "This spotless sanctuary, showing such a +pure spirit of adoration, made me, a Christian, feel humbled when I +considered that no architect of our religion had ever been able to +produce anything equal to this temple of Allah." + +But these costly buildings have but little use now. The Mosque is +still here, but few are the Moslems who come to pray; and the palace +is tenantless. The great Moguls are departed. Their last descendant +was the late King of Delhi, who was compromised in the Great Mutiny, +and passed the rest of his life as a state prisoner. Not a trace +remains here nor at Delhi of the old Imperial grandeur. Yet once in a +long while these old palaces serve a purpose to entertain some royal +guest. Last week they were fitted up for a fete given to the Prince of +Wales, when the stately apartments were turned into reception rooms +and banqueting halls. It was a very brilliant spectacle, as the +British officers in their uniforms mingled with the native princes +glittering with diamonds. But it would seem as if the old Moguls must +turn in their coffins to hear this sound of revelry in their vacant +palaces, and to see the places where the Mohammedan ruled so long now +filled by unbelievers. + +Perhaps one gets a yet stronger impression of the magnificence of the +Great Mogul in a visit to the Summer Palace of Akbar at +Futtehpore-Sikri, so called from two villages embraced in the royal +retreat. This was the Versailles of the old Moguls. It is over twenty +miles from Agra, but starting early we were able to drive there and +return the same day. The site is a rocky hill, which might have been +chosen for a fortress. The outer wall enclosing it, with the two +villages at its foot, is nine miles in extent. The buildings were on a +scale to suit the wants of an Imperial Court--the plateau of the hill +being laid off in a vast quadrangle, surrounded by palaces, and +zenanas for the women of the Imperial household, and mosques and +tombs. Perhaps the most exquisite building of all is a tomb in white +marble--the resting place of Selim, a Moslem saint, a very holy shrine +to the true believers; although the Mosque is far more imposing, since +before it stands the loftiest gateway in the world. Around the hill +are distributed barracks for troops, and stables for horses and camels +and elephants. The open court in the centre of all these buildings is +an esplanade large enough to draw up an army. Here they show the spot +where Akbar used to mount his elephant, and here his troops filed +before him, or subject princes came with long processions to pay him +homage. + +As this palace was built for a summer retreat, everything is designed +for coolness; pavilions, covered overhead, screen from the sun, while +open at the sides, they catch whatever summer air may be stirring. In +studying the architecture of the Moors or the Moguls, one cannot but +perceive, that in its first inception it has been modelled after forms +familiar to their nomadic ancestors. The tribes of Central Asia first +dwelt in tents, and when they came to have more fixed habitations +built of wood or stone, they reproduced the same form, so that the +canvas tent became the marble pavilion--just as the builders of the +Gothic cathedrals caught the lines of their mighty arches from the +interlacing branches of trees which made the lofty aisles of the +forest. So the tribes of the desert, accustomed to live in tents, when +endowed with empire, falling heir to the riches of the Indies, still +preserved the style of their former life, and when they could no +longer dwell in tents, dwelt in tabernacles. These palaces are almost +all constructed on this type. There is one building of singular +structure, five stories high, which is a series of terraces, all open +at the side. + +If we believe the tales of travellers and historians, nothing since +the days of Babylon has equalled the magnificence of the Great Mogul. +But magnificence in a sovereign generally means misery in his +subjects. The wealth that is lavished on the court is wrung from the +people. So it is said to have been with some of the successors of +Akbar. The latest historian of Mussulman India[2] says: "They were the +most shameless tyrants that ever disgraced a throne. Mogul +administration ... was a monstrous system of oppression and extortion, +which none but Asiatics could have practised or endured. Justice was a +mockery. Magistrates could always be bribed; false witnesses could +always be bought.... The Hindoos were always in the hands of grinding +task-masters, foreigners who knew not how to pity or to spare." + +But Akbar was not merely a magnificent Oriental potentate--he was +truly a great king. A Mohammedan himself, he was free from Moslem +fanaticism and bigotry. Those conquerors of India had a difficult task +(which has vexed their English successors after two centuries), to +rule a people of a different race and a different religion. It was +harder for the Moslem than for the Christian, because his creed was +more intolerant; it made it his duty to destroy those whom he could +not convert. The first law of the Koran was the extermination of +idolatry, but the Hindoos were the grossest of idolaters. How then +could a Mohammedan ruler establish his throne without exterminating +the inhabitants? But the Moslems--like many other conquerors--learned +to bear the ills which they could not remove. Necessity taught them +the wisdom of toleration. In this humane policy they were led by the +example of Akbar, who, though a Mussulman, was not a bigot, and +thought it a pity that subtle questions of belief should divide +inhabitants of the same country. He admitted Hindoos to a share in his +government, and endeavored by complete tolerance to extinguish +religious hatreds. He had even the ambition to be a religious +reformer, and tried to blend the old faith with the new, and to make +an eclectic religion by putting together the systems of Zoroaster, of +the Brahmins, and of Christianity, while retaining some of the +Mohammedan forms. But he could not convert even his own Hindoo wives, +of whom he had one or two, and built a house for each, in Hindoo +architecture, with altars for idol worship. What impression then could +he make outside of the circle of his court? + +But greatness commands our homage, even though it sometimes undertakes +tasks beyond human power. Akbar, though he could not inspire others +with his own spirit of justice and toleration, deserves a place in +history as the greatest sovereign that ever sat in the seat of the +Great Mogul. And therefore, when in the Fort at Agra I stood beside +the large slab of black marble, on which he was wont to sit to +administer justice to his people, it was with the same feeling that +one would seek out the oak of Vincennes, under which St. Louis sat for +the same purpose; and at Secundra, a few miles from Agra, we visited +his tomb, as on another continent we had visited the tomb of Frederick +the Great, and of Napoleon. + +But the jewel of India--the Koh-i-noor of its beauty--is the TAJ, the +tomb built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, the grandson of Akbar, for his +wife, whom he loved with an idolatrous affection, and on her deathbed +promised to rear to her memory such a mausoleum as had never been +erected before. To carry out his purpose he gathered architects from +all countries, who rivalled each other in the extravagance and +costliness of their designs. The result was a structure which cost +fabulous sums of money (the whole empire being placed under +contribution for it, as were the Jews for the Temple of Solomon), and +employed twenty thousand workmen for seventeen years. The building +thus erected is one of the most famous in the world--like the Alhambra +or St. Peter's--and of which enthusiastic travellers are apt to say +that it is worth going around the world to see. This would almost +discourage the attempt to describe it, but I will try and give some +faint idea of its marvellous beauty. + +But how can I convey to others what is but a picture in my memory? +Descriptions of architecture are apt to be vague unless aided by +pictorial illustrations. Mere figures and measurements are dry and +cold. The most I shall aim at will be to give a general (but I hope +not indistinct) _impression_ of it. For this let us approach it +gradually. + +It stands on the banks of the Jumna, a mile below the Fort at Agra. As +you approach it, it is not exposed abruptly to view, but is surrounded +by a garden. You enter under a lofty gateway, and before you is an +avenue of cypresses a third of a mile long, whose dark foliage is a +setting for a form of dazzling whiteness at the end. That is the TAJ. +It stands, not on the level of your eye, but on a double terrace; the +first, of red sandstone, twenty feet high, and a thousand feet broad; +at the extremities of which stand two mosques, of the same dark stone, +facing each other. Midway between rises the second terrace, of +marble, fifteen feet high, and three hundred feet square, on the +corners of which stand four marble minarets. In the centre of all, +thus "reared in air," stands the Taj. It is built of marble--no other +material than this of pure and stainless white were fit for a purpose +so sacred. It is a hundred and fifty feet square (or rather it is +eight-sided, since the corners are truncated), and surmounted by a +dome, which rises nearly two hundred feet above the pavement below. + +These figures rather belittle the Taj, or at least disappoint those +who looked for great size. There are many larger buildings in the +world. But that which distinguishes it from all others, and gives it a +rare and ideal beauty, is the union of majesty and grace. This is the +peculiar effect of Saracenic architecture. The slender columns, the +springing arches, the swelling domes, the tall minarets, all combine +to give an impression of airy lightness, which is not destroyed even +when the foundations are laid with massive solidity. But it is in the +finish of their structures that they excelled all the world. Bishop +Heber said truly: "They built like Titans and finished like +jewellers." This union of two opposite features makes the beauty of +the Taj. While its walls are thick and strong, they are pierced by +high arched windows which relieve their heaviness. Vines and +arabesques running over the stone work give it the lightness of +foliage, of trees blossoming with flowers. In the interior there is an +extreme and almost feminine grace, as if here the strength of man +would pay homage to the delicacy of woman. Enclosing the sacred spot +is a screen of marble, carved into a kind of fretwork, and so pure and +white that light shines through it as through alabaster, falling +softly on that which is within. The Emperor, bereaved of his wife, +lavished riches on her very dust, casting precious stones upon her +tomb, as if he were placing a string of pearls around her neck. It is +overrun with vines and flowers, cut in stone, and set with onyx and +jasper and lapis lazuli, carnelians and turquoises, and chalcedonies +and sapphires. + +But the body rests in the crypt below. We descend a few steps and +stand by the very sarcophagus in which all that loveliness is +enshrined. Another sarcophagus contains the body of her husband. Their +tombs were covered with fresh flowers, a perpetual tribute to that +love which was so strong even on the throne; to those who were thus +united in life, and in death are not divided. + +Here sentiment comes in to affect our sense of the beauty of the +place. If it were not for the touching history connected with it, I +could not agree with those who pronounce the Taj the most beautiful +building in the world. Merely as a building, it does not "overcome" me +so much as another marble structure--the Cathedral of Milan. I could +not say with Bishop Heber that the mosques of Islam are more +beautiful, or more in harmony with the spirit of devotion, than +Christian churches or cathedrals. But the Taj is not a mosque, it is a +tomb--a monument to the dead. And that gives it a tender interest, +which spiritualizes the cold marble, and makes it more than a +building--a poem and a dream. + +This impression grew upon us the more we saw it. On our last night in +Agra we drove there to take our last view by moonlight. All slept +peacefully on the banks of the Jumna. Slowly we walked through the +long avenue of dark cypresses, that stood like ranks of mourners +waiting for the dead to pass, their tops waving gently in the night +wind, as if breathing a soft requiem over the departed. Mounting the +terrace we stood again before the Taj, rising into the calm blue +heavens. A few nights before the Prince of Wales had been here, and +the interior had been illuminated. As we had not seen it then, we had +engaged attendants with blue lights, who gave us an illumination of +our own. It was a weird scene as these swarthy natives, with naked +arms, held aloft their torches, whose blue flames, flaring and +flickering, cast a spectral light upward into the dim vault above. + +To add to the ghostly effect, we heard whispers above us, as if there +were unseen witnesses. It was the echo of our own voices, but one +starts to hear himself in such a place. The dome is a whispering +gallery; and as we stood beside the tomb, and spoke in a low voice +(not to disturb the sleep of the dead), our words seemed to be +repeated. Any sound at the tomb--a sigh of pity, or a plaintive +melody--rising upward, comes back again,--faintly indeed, yet +distinctly and sweetly--as if the very air trembled in sympathy, +repeating the accents of love and of despair, or as if unseen spirits +were floating above, and singing the departing soul to its rest. + +Then we went down once more into the crypt below, where sleeps the +form of the beautiful empress, and of Shah Jehan, who built this +monument for her, at her side. The place was dark, and the lights in +the hands of the attendants cast but a feeble glimmer, but this deep +shadow and silence suited the tenor of our thoughts, and we lingered, +reluctant to depart from the resting-place of one so much beloved. + +As we came out the moon was riding high overhead, flooding the marble +pile with beauty. Round and round we walked, looking up at arch and +dome and minaret. At such an hour the Taj was so pale and ghostlike, +that it did not seem like a building reared by human hands, but to +have grown where it stood--like a night-blooming Cereus, rising slowly +in the moonlight--lifting its domes and pinnacles (like branches +growing heavenward) towards that world which is the home of the love +which it was to preserve in perpetual memory. + +With such thoughts we kept our eyes fixed on that glittering vision, +as if we feared that even as we gazed it might vanish out of our +sight. Below us the Jumna, flowing silently, seemed like an image of +human life as it glided by. And so at last we turned to depart, and +bade farewell to the Taj, feeling that we should never look on it +again; but hoping that it might stand for ages to tell its history of +faithful love to future generations. Flow on, sweet Jumna, by the +marble walls, reflecting the moonbeams in thy placid breast; and in +thy gentle murmurs whispering evermore of Love and Death, and Love +that cannot die! + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Mr. Talboys Wheeler. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +DELHI--A MOHAMMEDAN FESTIVAL--SCENES IN THE MUTINY. + + +Delhi is the Rome of the old Mogul Empire. Agra was the capital in the +time of Akbar, but Delhi is an older city. It had a history before the +Moguls. It is said to have been destroyed and rebuilt seven times, and +thus is overspread with the ashes of many civilizations. Its very +ruins attest its ancient greatness. The plain around Delhi is like the +Campagna around Rome--covered with the remains of palaces and mosques, +towers and tombs, which give credit to the historical statement that +the city was once thirty miles in circuit, and had two millions of +inhabitants. This greatness tempted the spoiler. In 1398 it was +plundered by Tamerlane; in 1525 it was taken by his descendant, Baber, +the founder of the Mogul dynasty. Akbar made Agra, 112 miles to the +south, his capital; but Shah Jehan, the monarch of magnificent tastes, +who built the Taj, attracted by the mighty memories of this Rome of +Asia, returned to Delhi, and here laid the foundations of a city that +was to exceed all the capitals that had gone before it, if not in +size, at least in splendor. + +That distinction it still retains among the cities of India. Though +not a tenth of old Delhi in size, it has to-day over 160,000 +inhabitants. It is surrounded by walls seven miles in extent. We enter +under lofty arched gateways, and find ourselves in the midst of a +picturesque population, representing all the races of Southern and +Central Asia. The city is much gayer than Agra. Its streets are full +of people of all colors and costumes. Its shops are rich in Indian +jewelry, which is manufactured here, and in Cashmere shawls and other +Oriental fabrics; and in walking through the Chandney Chook, the +Broadway of Delhi, one might imagine himself in the bazaars of Cairo +or Constantinople. + +The Fort is very like that of Agra, being built of the same red +sandstone, but much larger, and encloses a Palace which Bishop Heber +thought superior to the Kremlin. In the Hall of Audience, which still +remains, stood the famous Peacock Throne, which is estimated to have +been worth thirty millions of dollars. Here the Great Mogul lived in a +magnificence till then unknown even in Oriental courts. At the time +that Louis XIV. was on the throne of France, a French traveller, +Tavernier, made his way to the East, and though he had seen all the +glory of Versailles, he was dazzled by this greater Eastern splendor. +But what a comment on the vanity of all earthly power, that the +monarch who built this Palace was not permitted to live in it! He was +dethroned by his son, the wily Aurungzebe, who imprisoned his father +and murdered his brother, to get possession of the throne. Shah Jehan +was taken back to Agra, and confined in the Fort, where he passed the +last years of his life. But as it is only a mile from the Taj, the +dethroned King, as he sat in his high tower, could see from his +windows the costly mausoleum he had reared. Death came at last to his +relief, as it comes alike to kings and captives, and he was laid in +his marble tomb, beside the wife he had so much loved. + +This story of crime is relieved by one of the most touching instances +of fidelity recorded in history. When all others deserted the fallen +monarch, there was one true heart that was faithful still. He had a +daughter, the favorite sister of that murdered brother, who shared her +father's captivity. She was famous throughout the East for her wit and +beauty, but sorrow brought out the nobler traits of her character. She +clung to her father, and thus comforted the living while she mourned +for the dead. She became very religious, and spent her life in deeds +of charity. She is not buried in the Taj Mahal, but at Delhi in a +humble grave. Lowly in spirit and broken in heart, she shrank from +display even in her tomb. She desired to be buried in the common +earth, with only the green turf above her. There she sleeps beneath a +lowly mound (though surrounded by costly marble shrines), and near the +head is a plain tablet, with an inscription in Persian, which reads: +"Let no rich canopy cover my grave. This grass is the best covering +for the tomb of one who was poor in spirit--the humble, the transitory +Jehanara, the disciple of the holy men of Cheest, the daughter of the +Emperor Shah Jehan." Was there ever a more touching inscription? As I +stood by this grave, on which the green grass was growing, and read +these simple words, I was more moved than even when standing by the +marble sarcophagus under the dome of the Taj. That covered an +Emperor's wife, and was the monument of a royal husband's affection; +this recalled a daughter's fidelity--broken in heart, yet loving and +faithful, and devoted to the last. + +But humiliations were to come to the house of Aurungzebe. As Louis +XIV. on his deathbed had to mourn his haughty policy, which had ended +in disaster and defeat, so Aurungzebe was hardly in his grave when +troubles gathered round his house.[3] About thirty years after, a +conqueror from Persia, Nadir Shah, came down from the passes of the +Himalayas, ravaged the North of India to the gates of Delhi, plundered +the city and the palace, and carried off the Peacock Throne--putting +out the eyes of the Great Mogul, telling him in bitter mockery that +he had no more need of his throne, since he had no longer eyes to see +it! + +Other sorrows followed hard after. The kingdom was overrun by the +terrible Mahrattas, whose horses' hoofs had so often trampled the +plains of India. Then came the English, who took Delhi at the +beginning of this century. But still the phantom of the old Empire +lived, and there was an Indian Rajah, who bore the sounding name of +the Great Mogul. The phantom continued till the Mutiny twenty years +ago, when this "King of Delhi" was set up by the Sepoys as their +rallying cry. The overthrow of the Rebellion was the end of his house. +His sons were put to death, and he was sent into exile, and the Great +Mogul ceased to reign. + +But though he no longer reigns in Delhi, yet it is one of the chief +centres of Islam in the world. Queen Victoria has more Mohammedan +subjects than the Sultan. There are forty millions of Moslems in +India. Delhi is their Mecca. It has some forty mosques, whose tall +minarets and gilded domes produce a very brilliant effect. One +especially, the Jumma Musjid, is the most magnificent in India. It +stands on a high terrace, mounted by long flights of steps, which give +it an imposing effect. Huge bronze doors open into a large court, with +a fountain in the centre, and surrounded by arched passages, like +cloisters. Here are preserved with religious care some very ancient +copies of the Koran, and the footprint of Mohammed in black marble (!), +and (holiest relic of all) a coarse red hair, which is said to have +been plucked from the beard of the prophet! + +Nor is Mohammedanism in India a dead faith, whose fire has died out, +its forms only being still preserved. The recurrence of one of their +festivals arouses their religious zeal to the highest pitch of +fanaticism. We were in Delhi at the time of the Mohurrim, the Moslem +"Feast of Martyrs," designed to commemorate the bloody deaths of the +grandsons of Mohammed. Macaulay, in his review of the Life of Lord +Clive, gives an instance in which this day was chosen for a military +assault because of the frenzy with which it kindled all true +Mussulmans. He says: + + "It was the great Mohammedan festival, which is sacred to + the memory of Hosein, the son of Ali. The history of Islam + contains nothing more touching than the event which gave + rise to that solemnity. The mournful legend relates how the + chief of the Fatimites, when all his brave followers had + perished round him, drank his latest draught of water and + uttered his latest prayer; how the assassins carried his + head in triumph; how the tyrant smote the lifeless lips with + his staff; and how a few old men recollected with tears that + they had seen those lips pressed to the lips of the Prophet + of God. After the lapse of twelve centuries, the recurrence + of this solemn season excites the fiercest and saddest + emotions in the bosoms of the devout Moslems of India. They + work themselves up to such agonies of rage and lamentation, + that some, it is said, have given up the ghost from the mere + effect of mental excitement." + +Such was the celebration that we witnessed in Delhi. The martyrdom of +these Moslem saints is commemorated by little shrines in their houses, +made of paper and tinsel, and on the great day of the feast they go in +procession out of the city to a cemetery five miles distant, and there +bury them in hundreds of newly-opened graves. As we drove out of +Delhi, we found the procession on its march; men, women, and children +by tens of thousands on foot, and others in bullock-carts, or mounted +on horses, camels, and elephants. Immense crowds gathered by the +roadside, mounting the steps of old palaces, or climbing to the tops +of houses, to see this mighty procession pass, as it went rolling +forward in a wild frenzy to its Golgotha--its place of a skull. There +they lay down these images of their saints as they would bury their +dead. We went into the cemetery, and saw the open graves, and the +little shrines garlanded with flowers, that were laid in the earth, +not (so far as we saw) with weeping and wailing, but rather with a +feeling of triumph and victory. + +Leaving this scene of wild fanaticism, we rode on a few miles farther +to the Kootub Minar, the loftiest isolated tower in the world, that +has stood there six hundred years, looking down on all the strange +scenes that have passed within its horizon, since watchers from its +summit saw the armies of Tamerlane march by. We rode back through a +succession of ruins, stopping at several royal tombs, but most +interested in one where the sons of the aged king of Delhi took refuge +after the fall of the city, and from which they were taken out by +Captain Hodson, and shot in the presence of their deluded followers, +and their bodies exposed in the Chandney Chook, to the terror of the +wretched people, who had seen the cruelty of these young princes, and +were awed to see the retribution that overtook those who had stained +their hands with blood. + +This tragedy took place less than twenty years ago, and recalls that +recent history from which fresh interest gathers round the walls of +Delhi. This city played a great part in the Mutiny of 1857. Indeed it +broke out at Meerut, thirty miles from here, where the Sepoys rose +upon their officers, and massacred the Europeans of both sexes, and +then rushed along the road to Delhi, to rouse the natives here to +mutiny. Had those in command anticipated such a blow, they might have +rallied their little force, and shut themselves up in the Fort (as was +done at Agra), with provisions and ammunition for a siege, and there +kept the tigers at bay. But they could not believe that the native +troops, that had been obedient till now, could "turn and rend them." +They were undeceived when they saw these Sepoys drunk with blood, +rushing into the town, calling on their fellow-soldiers to rise and +kill. Many perished on the spot. But they fell not ingloriously. A +brave officer shut himself up in the Arsenal, and when the mutineers +had gathered around, ready to burst in, applied the torch, and blew +himself and a thousand natives into the air. The little handful of +troops fled from the town, and were scarcely able to rally enough to +be safe even at a distance. But then rose the unconquerable English +spirit. With this small nucleus of an army, and such reinforcements as +could be brought from the Punjaub, they held out through the long, +dreadful Summer, till in September they had mustered all together +seven thousand men (half of whom were natives), with which they +proposed to assault a walled city held by sixty thousand native +troops! Planting their guns on the Ridge, a mile or two distant, they +threw shells into the town, and as their fire took effect, they +advanced their lines nearer and nearer. But they did not advance +unopposed. Many of the Sepoys were practised artillerists (since the +Mutiny all the artillery regiments in India are English), and answered +back with fatal aim. Still, though the English ranks were thinned, +they kept pushing on; they came nearer and nearer, and the roar of +their guns was louder and louder. Approaching the walls at one point, +they wished to blow up the Cashmere Gate. It was a desperate +undertaking. But when was English courage known to fail? A dozen men +were detailed for the attempt. Four natives carried bags of powder on +their shoulders, but as they drew within rifle range, English soldiers +stepped up to take their places, for they would not expose their +native allies to a danger which they were ready to encounter +themselves. The very daring of the movement for an instant bewildered +the enemy. The Sepoys within saw these men coming up to the gate, but +thinking perhaps that they were deserters, did not fire upon them, and +it was not till they darted back again that they saw the design. Then +came the moment of danger, when the mine was to be fired. A sergeant +advanced quickly, but fell mortally wounded; a second sprang to the +post, but was shot dead; the third succeeded, but fell wounded; the +fourth rushed forward, and seeing the train lighted sprang into the +moat, the bullets whizzed over him, and the next instant a tremendous +explosion threw the heavy wall into the air. + +Such are the tales of courage still told by the camp-fires of the +regiments here. More than once did we walk out to the Cashmere Gate, +and from that point followed the track of the English troops as they +stormed the city, pausing at the spot where the brave General +Nicholson fell. With mingled pride and sadness, we visited his grave, +and those of others who fell in the siege. The English church is +surrounded with them, and many a tablet on its walls tells of the +heroic dead. Such memories are a legacy to the living. We attended +service there, and as we saw the soldiers filing into the church, and +heard the swords of their officers ringing on the pavement, we felt +that the future of India was safe when committed to such brave +defenders! + +This church was standing during the siege, and above it rose a gilded +ball, supporting a cross, which was an object of hatred to both +Mohammedan and Hindoo, who wished to see this symbol of our religion +brought to the ground. Again and again they aimed their guns at it, +and the globe was riddled with balls, but still _the cross stood_, +until the city was completely subdued, when it was reverently taken +down by English hands, and carried to the Historical Museum, to be +kept as a sacred relic. May we not take this as a sign of the way in +which the Christian faith will stand against all the false religions +of India? + +But I turn from battles and sieges to a lighter picture. One may find +great amusement in the street scenes of Delhi, which will relieve +these "dun clouds of war." In the Mohammedan procession we had seen +hundreds of the drollest little carts, drawn by oxen, on which the +natives were stuck like pins, the sight of which, with the loads of +happy life they bore, excited our envy. Before leaving Delhi, we +thought it would be very "nice" to take a turn around the town in one +of these extraordinary vehicles. We had tried almost every kind of +locomotion; we had ridden on horses and donkeys, on camels and +elephants, and had been borne in palanquins; but one more glory +awaited us--to ride in a "bali,"--and so we commanded one to attend +us for our royal pleasure. But when it drew up in the yard of the +hotel, we looked at it in amazement. There stood the oxen, as ready to +draw us as a load of hay; but what a "chariot" was this behind! It was +a kind of baby-house on cart-wheels--a cushion and a canopy--one seat, +with a sort of umbrella over it, under which a native "lady" sits in +state, with her feet curled up between her. How we were to get into it +was the question. There were three of us, for the surgeon of the +Peshawur had joined us. C. of course had the place of honor, while the +Doctor and I sat on the edge of the seat, with our lower limbs +extended at right angles. The "bali" is rigged somewhat like an Irish +jaunting-car, in which one sits sidewise, hanging over the wheels; +only in a jaunting-car there is a board for the feet to rest upon, +whereas here the feet are literally "nowhere." In the East there is no +provision for the lower part of a man. Legs are very much in the way. +A Turk or Hindoo curls them up under him, and has done with them. But +if an impracticable European will dangle them about where they ought +not to be, he must take the consequences. I find that the only way is +to look out for the main chance--to see that the body is safe, and let +the legs take care of themselves. Then if an accident happens, I am +not responsible; I have done my duty. So we now "faced the situation," +and while the central personage reposed like a Sultana on a soft +divan, her attendants faced in either direction, with their +extremities flying all abroad. We felt as if sitting on the edge of a +rickety chair, that might break any moment and pitch us into the +street. But we held fast to the slender bamboo reeds that supported +the canopy, and, thrusting our feet into the air, bade the chariot +proceed. + +The driver sits astride the tongue of the cart, and sets the thing +going by giving the animals a kick in the rear, or seizing the tails +and giving them a twist, which sets the beasts into an awkward, +lumbering gallop. He was proud of his team, and wished to show us +their mettle, and now gave the tails a Herculean twist, which sent +them tearing like mad bulls along the street. Everybody turned to look +at us, while we laughed at the absurdity of our appearance, and wished +that we could have our photograph taken to send home. Thus we rode to +the great Mosque of the city, and through the Chandney Chook, the +street of the bazaars, and back to our hotel, having had glory enough +for one day. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] There are many parallels between Louis XIV. and Aurungzebe. They +were contemporaries--and both had long reigns, the former a little +over, and the latter a little less than, half a century. They were the +most splendid sovereigns of their time--one in Europe, and the other +in Asia, and with both the extravagance and prodigality of the +monarchs prepared the way for revolution after their deaths. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FROM DELHI TO LAHORE. + + +Times have changed since twenty years ago, when Delhi was the head and +front of the Rebellion. It is now as tranquil and loyal as any city in +India. As we rode out to the Ridge, where the English planted their +guns during the siege, we found it surmounted by a lofty Memorial +Tower, reared to mark the spot where the courage of a few thousand men +saved India. So completely is the English power re-established, that +Delhi was lately chosen over all Indian cities as the one where should +be gathered the most imposing display of troops to do honor to their +future sovereign, the Prince of Wales. Some forty regiments, native +and English, were mustered here to form a grand Camp of Exercise. +Never before had India witnessed such a military display. Here were +native regiments in the picturesque costumes of the East--the superb +Sikh cavalry; a corps of guides mounted on camels; and heavy artillery +drawn by elephants, which, as they came before the Prince, threw up +their trunks and trumpeted a salute to the Majesty of England. Two +weeks passed in military manoeuvres, and the nights in a constant +round of festivities. The Fort was brilliantly illuminated, and the +Palace was thronged with "fair women and brave men," but they were +those of another race, and speaking another language, from any known +to the Great Mogul. Manly English forms took the place of the dusky +Hindoos, and bright English eyes shone where once the beauties of the +Seraglio "looked out from the lattice." As we walked through these +marble halls that had just witnessed these splendid festivities, I +could but think, What would the old fanatical Mohammedan Aurungzebe +have said, if he could have seen, less than two hundred years after +his day, a Christian prince from that distant island of which he had +perhaps scarcely heard, received in his palace, the heir of a power +ten thousand miles away, that from its seat on the banks of the Thames +stretches out its hand across the seas to grasp and hold the vast +empire of the house of Tamerlane? + +The change has been from darkness to light. If England has not done as +much for Delhi as the Great Mogul to give it architectural beauty, it +has done far more for the people. It has given them good government +for their protection, just laws rigidly enforced against the rich as +well as the poor, a police which preserves perfect order; and it even +cares for the material comfort of its subjects, giving them good +roads, clean and well-lighted streets, and public gardens; thus +providing for ornament and pleasure as well as for utility. + +The Camp of Exercise was breaking up as we left Delhi, and the troops +were marching home. We saw them filing out of the gates of the city, +and drew up by the roadside to see the gallant warriors pass. Among +them was the corps of Sikh guides, or couriers, mounted on "swift +dromedaries." As they were scattered along the road, our guide asked +some of them to show us how they could go. In an instant they dashed +their feet against the sides of their "coursers," and set them off at +full speed. I cannot say that they were very beautiful objects. The +camel with his long strides, and with the legs of his rider outspread +like the wings of a bird, looked like an enormous ostrich flying at +once with legs and wings in swift chase over the desert. But certainly +it was a picturesque sight. The infantry marched in column. The +spectacle was very gay, as the morning sun shone on the waving banners +and gleaming bayonets, and the sound of their bugles died away in the +distance. Regiments had been leaving for days, and were scattered at +intervals far to the North. As we travelled at night, we saw their +camp-fires for a hundred miles. Indeed the whole country seemed to be +a camp. Once or twice we came upon a regiment at sunset, just as they +had pitched their tents. They had parked their guns, and picketed +their horses, and the men were cooking their evening meal. It was a +busy scene for an hour or two, till suddenly all became quiet, and the +silence of night was broken only by the sentinel's tramp and the +jackal's cry. + +At Gazeeabad we met Sir Bartle Frere, the chief of the suite of the +Prince of Wales, and Canon Duckworth, his chaplain, who were going +North on the same train, and found them extremely courteous. The +former, I think, must be of French descent from his name (although his +family has been settled in England for generations), and from his +manners, which seemed to me more French than English, or rather to +have the good qualities of both. When French courtesy is united with +English sincerity, it makes the finest gentleman in the world. He is +an "old Indian," having been many years in the Indian service, and at +one time Governor of Bombay. I could but share the wish (which I heard +often expressed) that in the change which was just taking place, he +were to be the new Governor-General of India. + +Canon Duckworth seemed to me also a very "manly man." Though coming to +India in the train of royalty, he is much less interested in the fetes +which are setting the country ablaze, than in studying missions, +visiting native churches and schools and orphanages. Our American +missionaries like his bearing, and wish that he might be appointed the +new Bishop of Bombay. One fact should be mentioned to his credit--that +he is one of the strongest temperance men in England, carrying his +principles and his practice to the point of rigid total abstinence, +which, for one travelling in such company, and sitting at such +entertainments, shows a firmness in resisting temptation, greatly to +his honor. It is a good sign when such men are chosen to accompany +the future King of England on his visit to this great dependency, over +which he is one day to rule. + +That night we had our first sight of the Himalayas. Just at evening we +saw on the horizon a fire spreading on the side of a mountain. It was +kindled by the natives, as fires are sometimes lighted in our forests +or on our prairies. There were the Himalayas! + +We now entered the most Northwestern Province of India, the Punjaub, +which signifies in Persian "the land of the five streams," which +coming together like the fingers of a hand, make the Indus. About +midnight we crossed the Sutlej, which was the limit of the conquests +of Alexander the Great. + +Morning brought us to Umritzur, the holy city of the Sikhs--a sect of +reformed Hindoos, who began their "reforms" by rejecting idolatry, but +have found the fascination of the old worship too strong for them, and +have gradually fallen back into their old superstitions. Their most +holy place is a temple standing in the centre of a large tank of +water, which they call the Lake of Immortality, and with its pure +white marble, and its roof made of plates of copper, richly gilded, +merits the title of the Golden Temple. This is a very holy place, and +they would not let us even cross the causeway to it without taking off +our shoes; and when we put on slippers, and shuffled about, still they +followed, watching us with sharp eyes, lest by any unguarded step we +should profane their sanctuary. They are as fanatical as Mussulmans, +and glared at us with such fierce looks that the ladies of our party +were almost frightened. In the centre of the temple sat two priests, +on raised mats, to whom the rest were making offerings, while half a +dozen musicians kept up a hideous noise, to which the people responded +in a way that reminded us of the Howling Dervishes of Constantinople. + +A pleasant change from this disgusting scene was a visit to the +bazaars, and to the places where Cashmere shawls are manufactured. Of +the latter I must say that (as a visit to a dirty kitchen does not +quicken one's appetite for the steaming dinner that comes from it), if +our fine ladies could see the dens in which these shawls are woven, +they might not wear them with quite so much pride. They are close, +narrow rooms, in which twenty or thirty men are crowded together, +working almost without light or air. The only poetical thing about it +is that the patterns are written out _in rhyme_, which they read or +sing as they weave, and thus keep the patterns so regular. But the +rooms themselves seem like breeding places for the cholera and the +plague. But out of this filth comes beauty, as a flower shoots up from +the damp, black soil. Some of the shawls were indeed exquisite in +pattern and fabric. One was offered to us for eight hundred rupees +(four hundred dollars), which the dealer said had taken two years and +a half in its manufacture! + +We left Umritzur at five o'clock, and in a couple of hours rolled into +the station at Lahore. As the train stopped a friendly voice called +our name, and we were greeted most heartily by Dr. Newton, the father +of the Mission. Coolies were waiting to carry our baggage, and in a +few minutes we were in an American home, sitting before a blazing +fire, and receiving a welcome most grateful to strangers on the other +side of the world. Dr. Newton is the head of a missionary family, his +four sons being engaged in the same work, while his only daughter is +the wife of Mr. Forman, another missionary. Very beautiful it was to +see how they all gathered round their father, so revered and beloved, +happy to devote their lives to that form of Christian activity to +which he had led them both by instruction and example. Here we spent +four happy days in one of the most pleasant homes in India. + +Lahore, like Delhi, has a historical interest. It was a great city a +thousand years ago. In 1241 it was taken and plundered by Genghis +Khan; a century and a half later came Tamerlane, who did not spoil it +only because it was too poor to reward his rapacity. But as it +recovered a little of its prosperity, Baber, in 1524, plundered it and +partially burnt it. But again it rose from its ashes, and became a +great city. The period of its glory was during the time of the Moguls, +when it covered a space eighteen miles in circumference, and this vast +extent is still strewn with the ruins of its former greatness. Huge +mounds, like those which Layard laid open at Nineveh, cover the mighty +wreck of former cities. + +But though the modern city bears no comparison to the ancient, still +it has a political and commercial importance. It is the capital of the +Punjaub, and a place of commerce with Central Asia. The people are the +finest race we have seen in India. They are not at all like the +effeminate Bengalees. They are the Highlanders of India. Tall and +athletic, they seem born to be warriors. Their last great ruler, old +Runjeet Sing, was himself a soldier, and knew how to lead them to +victory. Uniting policy with valor, he kept peace with the English, +against whom his successors dashed themselves and were destroyed. All +readers of Indian history will remember the Sikh war, and how +desperate was the struggle before the Punjaub was subdued. But English +prowess conquered at last, and the very province that had fought so +bravely became the most loyal part of the Indian empire. It was +fortunate that at the breaking out of the mutiny the Governor of the +Punjaub was Sir John Lawrence, who had a great ascendancy over the +natives, and by his courage and prompt measures he succeeded not only +in keeping them quiet, but in mustering here a considerable force to +restore English authority in the rest of India. The Punjaubees took +part in the siege of Delhi. From that day they have been the most +trusted of natives for their courage and their fidelity. They are +chosen for police duty in the cities of India, and three months later +we were much pleased to recognize our old friends keeping guard and +preserving order in the streets of Hong Kong. + +Old Runjeet Sing is dead--and well dead, as I can testify, having seen +his tomb, where his four wives and seven concubines, that were burnt +on his funeral pile, are buried with him. His son too sleeps in a tomb +near by, but only seven widowed women were sacrificed for him, and for +a grandson only four! Thus there was a falling off in the glory of the +old suttee, and then the light of these fires went out altogether. +These were the last widows burnt on the funeral pile, and to-day the +old Lion of the Punjaub is represented by his son Maharajah Dhuleep +Sing, of whose marriage we heard such a romantic story in Cairo, and +who now lives with his Christian wife in Christian England. + +We had now reached almost the frontier of India. Two hundred and fifty +miles farther we should have come to Peshawur, the last military post, +on the border of Afghanistan, which no man crosses but at the peril of +his life. We find how far North we have come by the race and the +language of the people. Persian begins to be mingled with Hindostanee. +In the streets of Lahore we meet not only the stalwart Punjaubees, but +the hill tribes, that have come out of the fastnesses of the +Himalayas; the men of Cabul--Afghans and Beloochees--who have a +striking resemblance to the Circassians, who crossed the Mediterranean +with us on their pilgrimage to Mecca, the long dresses of coarse, +dirty flannel, looking not unlike the sheepskin robes of the wild +mountaineers of the Caucasus. + +One cannot be so near the border line of British India without having +suggested the possibility of a Russian invasion, the fear of which has +been for the last twenty years (since the Mutiny and since the Crimean +War) the bugbear of certain writers who are justly jealous of the +integrity of the English Empire in the East. Russia has been steadily +pushing Eastward, and establishing her outposts in Central Asia. These +gradual advances, it is supposed, are all to the end of finally +passing through Afghanistan, and attacking the English power in India. +The appearance of Russian soldiers in the passes of the Hindoo Koosh, +it is taken for granted, will be the signal for a general insurrection +in India; the country will be in a state of revolution; and at the end +of a struggle in which Russians and Hindoos will fight together +against the English, the British power will have departed never to +return. Or even should the Russians be held back from actual invasion, +their approach in a threatening attitude would be such a menace to the +Indian Empire, as would compel England to remain passive, while Russia +carried out her designs in Europe by taking possession of +Constantinople. + +This is a terrible prospect, and no one can say that it is impossible +that all this should yet come to pass. India has been invaded again +and again from the time of Alexander the Great. Even the mighty wall +of the Himalayas has not proved an effectual barrier against invasion. +Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, with their Tartar hordes, crossed the +mountains and swept over the plains of Northern India. A King of +Persia captured Delhi, and put out the eyes of the Great Mogul, and +carried off the Peacock Throne of Aurungzebe. What has been, may be; +what Persia has done, Russia may do. + +But while no one can say that it is impossible, all can see that the +difficulties are enormous. The distance to be traversed, the deserts +and the mountains to be crossed, are so many obstacles set up by +nature itself. An army from the Caspian Sea must march thousands of +miles over great deserts, where even a small caravan can hardly +subsist, and then only by carrying both food to eat and water to +drink. Many a caravan is buried by the sands of the desert. What then +must be the difficulty of passing a whole army over such a distance +and such a desert, with food for men and horses, and carrying guns and +all the munitions of war! Five years ago, Russia attempted a campaign +against Khiva, and sent out three separate expeditions, one of which +was forced to turn back, not by hostile armies, but by the natural +obstacles in its path, while the main column, under Gen. Kaufman, came +very near succumbing to heat and thirst before reaching its +destination. But if the deserts are crossed, then the army is at the +foot of the loftiest mountains on the globe, in the passes of which it +may have to fight against savage enemies. It is assumed that Russia +will have the support of Afghanistan, which will give them free access +to the country, and aid them in their march on India; though how a +government and people, which are fanatically Mussulman, should aid +Russia, which in Europe is the bitterest enemy of Turkey, the great +Mohammedan power, is a point which these alarmists seem not to +consider. + +But suppose all difficulties vanquished--the deserts crossed and the +mountains scaled, and the Russians descending the passes of the +Himalayas--what an army must they meet at its foot! Not a feeble race, +like that which fled before Nadir Shah or Tamerlane. With the railways +traversing all India, almost the whole Anglo-Indian army could be +transported to the Punjaub in a few days, and ready to receive the +invaders. + +With these defences in the country itself, add another supreme fact, +that England is absolute master of the sea, and that Russia has no +means of approach except over the deserts and the mountains, and it +will be seen that the difficulties in the way of a Russian invasion +render it practically impossible, at least for a long time to come. +What may come to pass in another century, no man can foresee; but of +this I feel well assured, that there will be no Russian invasion +within the lifetime of this generation. + +We had now reached the limit of our journey to the North, though we +would have gladly gone farther. Dr. Newton had spent the last summer +in Cashmere, and told us much of its beauty. We longed to cross the +mountains, but it was too early in the year. The passes were still +blocked up with snow. It would be months before we could make our way +over into the Vale of Cashmere. And so, though we "lifted up our eyes +unto the hills," we had to turn back from seeing the glory beyond. +Might we not comfort ourselves by saying with Mohammed, as he looked +down upon Damascus, "There is but one Paradise for man, and I will +turn away my eyes from this, lest I lose that which is to come." + +And so we turned away our eyes from beholding Paradise. But we had +seen enough. So we thought as on Saturday evening we rode out to the +Shalamir gardens, where an emperor had made a retreat, and laid out +gardens with fountains, and every possible accompaniment of luxury and +pride. All remains as he left it, but silent and deserted. Emperor and +court are gone, and as we walked through the gardens, our own footfall +on the marble pavement was the only sound that broke the stillness of +the place. But the beauty is as great as ever under the clear, full +moon, which, as we rode back, recalled the lines of Scott on Melrose: + + "And home returning, sooth declare, + Was ever scene so sad and fair?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A WEEK IN THE HIMALAYAS. + + +Ever since we landed in India my chief desire has been to see the +Himalayas. I had seen Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, and +now wished to look upon the highest mountains in Asia, or the world. +To reach them we had travelled nearly fifteen hundred miles. We had +already had a distant view of them at night, lighted up by fires +blazing along their sides; but to come into their presence one must +leave the railway and cross the country some forty miles. + +We left Lahore Monday morning, and at noon were at Lodiana, a place +with sacred missionary associations; which we left at midnight, and in +the morning reached Saharanpur, where also is one of our Presbyterian +missions. Rev. Mr. Calderwood met us at the station, and made us +welcome to his home, and sped us on our way to the Hills. + +Saharanpur is forty-two miles distant from Dehra Doon, the beautiful +valley which lies at the foot of the Himalayas. A mail wagon runs +daily, but as it suited our convenience better, we chartered a vehicle +not unlike an omnibus, and which the natives, improving on the +English, call an _omnibukus_. It is a long covered _gharri_, that +looks more like a prison van than anything else to which I can compare +it, and reminded me of the Black Maria that halts before the Tombs in +New York to convey prisoners to Blackwell's Island. There are only two +seats running lengthwise, as they are made to lie down upon in case of +necessity. Much of the travelling is at night, and "old Indians," who +are used to the ways of the country, will spread their "resais" and +sleep soundly over all the joltings of the road. But we could sleep +about as well inside of a bass drum. So we gave up the idea of repose, +and preferred to travel by day to see the country, for which this sort +of conveyance is very well contrived. The canvas top keeps off the +sun, while the latticed slides (which are regular green blinds), drawn +back, give a fine view of the country as we go rolling over the road. +Our charioteer, excited by the promise of a liberal backsheesh if he +should get us into Dehra Doon before nightfall, drove at full speed. +Every five or six miles the blast of his horn told those at the next +stage that somebody was coming, and that a relay of fresh horses must +be ready. As we approached the hills he put on an extra horse, and +then two, so that we were driving four-in-hand. Then as the hills grew +steeper, he took two mules, with a horse in front as a leader, mounted +by a postilion, who, with his white dress and turbaned head, made a +very picturesque appearance. How gallantly he rode! He struck his +heels into the spirited little pony and set him into a gallop, which +the mules could but follow, and so we went tearing up hill and down +dale at a furious rate; while the coachman blew his horn louder still +to warn common folks to get out of the way, and the natives drew to +the roadside, wondering what great man it was who thus dashed by. + +But horses and mules were not enough to sustain such a load of +dignity, and at the last stage the driver took a pair of the beautiful +white hump-backed oxen of the country, which drew us to the top of the +pass. The hills which we thus cross are known as the Sewalic range. +The top once attained, two horses were quite enough to take us down, +and we descended rapidly. And now rose before us a vision of beauty +such as we had not seen in all India. The vale of Dehra Doon is +enclosed between two walls of mountains--the Sewalic range on one +side, and the first range of the Himalayas on the other. It is fifteen +miles wide, and about sixty miles long, extending from the Jumna to +the Ganges. Thus it lies between two mountains and two rivers, and +has a temperature and a moisture which keep it in perpetual green. +Nothing can be more graceful than the tall feathery bamboos, which +here grow to a great height. Here are fine specimens of the peepul +tree--the sacred tree of India, massive as an English oak--and groves +of mangoes. Everything seems to grow here--tea, coffee, tobacco, +cinnamon, cloves. The appearance of this rich valley, thus covered +with groves and gardens, to us coming from the burnt plains of India, +was like that of a garden of Paradise. Riding on through this mass of +foliage, we rattled into the town, but were not obliged to "find our +warmest welcome at an inn." Rev. Mr. Herron had kindly invited us to +accept his hospitality, and so we inquired for "Herron-sahib," and +were driven along a smooth road, embowered in bamboos, to the +Missionary Compound, where a large building has been erected for a +Female Seminary, chiefly by the labors of Messrs. Woodside and Herron, +the latter of whom is in charge of the institution, one of the most +complete in India. Here we were most cordially received, and found how +welcome, in the farthest part of the world, is the atmosphere of an +American home. + +But once in presence of the great mountains, we were impatient to +climb the first range, to get a view of the snows. Mr. Herron offered +to keep us company. We rose at four the next morning, while the stars +were still shining, and set out, but could ride only five miles in a +carriage, when we came to the foot of the hills, and were obliged to +take to the saddle. Our "syces" had led three horses alongside, which +we mounted just as the starlight faded, and the gray light of day +began to show over the mountain-tops, while our attendants, light of +foot, kept by our side in case their services were needed. + +And now we begin the ascent, turning hither and thither, as the road +winds along the sides of the mountain. The slope of the Himalayas is +not a smooth and even one, rising gently through an unbroken forest. +The mountain side has been torn by the storms of thousands of years. +In the spring, when the snows melt and the rains come, every torrent +whose rocky bed is now bare, becomes a foaming flood, rushing down the +hills, and tearing its way through the lowlands, till lost in the +Jumna or the Ganges. Thus the mountain is broken into innumerable +spurs and ridges that shoot out into the valley. Where the scanty +herbage can gather like moss on the rocks, there is grazing for sheep +and goats and cattle; and these upland pastures, like those of the +Alps or the Tyrol, are musical with the tinkling of bells. High up on +the mountains they are dark with pines; while on the inner ranges of +the Himalayas the mighty cedars "shake like Lebanon." + +One can imagine how lovely must be the Vale of Dehra Doon, with its +mass of verdure, set in the midst of such rugged mountains. Although +we were climbing upward, we could but stop, as we came to turning +points in the road, to look back into the valley. Sometimes a +projecting ledge of rock offered a fine point of view, on which we +reined up our horses; or an old oak, bending its gnarled limbs over +us, made a frame to the picture, through which we looked down into the +fairest of Indian vales, unless it be the Vale of Cashmere. From such +a point the landscape seemed to combine every element of +beauty--plains, and woods, and streams and mountains. Across the +valley rises the long serrated ridge of the Sewalic range. Within this +space is enclosed a great variety of surface--undulating in hill and +valley, with green meadows, and villages, and gardens, while here and +there, along the banks of the streams, whose beds are now dry, are +belts of virgin forest. + +The industry of the people, which turns every foot of soil to account, +is shown by the way in which the spurs of the mountains are terraced +to admit of cultivation. Wherever there is an acre of level ground, +there is a patch of green, for the wheat fields are just springing +up; and even spaces of but a few rods are planted with potatoes. Thus +the sides of the Himalayas are belted with lines of green, like the +sides of the Alps as one descends into Italy. The view is especially +beautiful at this morning hour as the sun rises, causing the dews to +lift from the valley, while here and there a curl of smoke, rising +through the mist, marks the place of human habitation. + +But we must prick up our horses, for the sun is up, and we are not yet +at the top. It is a good ride of two hours (we took three) to the +ridge on which are built the two "hill stations" of Mussoorie and +Landour--which are great resorts of the English during the summer +months. These "stations" do not deserve the name of towns; they are +merely straggling Alpine villages. Indeed nowhere in the Alps is there +such a cluster of houses at such a height, or in such a spot. There is +no "site" for a regular village, no place for a "main street." One +might as well think of "laying out" a village along the spine of a +sharp-backed whale, as on this narrow mountain ridge. There is hardly +an acre of level ground, only the jagged ends of hills, or points of +rocks, from which the torrents have swept away the earth on either +side, leaving only the bare surface. Yet on these points and +edges--wherever there is a shelf of rock to furnish a foundation, the +English have built their pretty bungalows, which thus perched in air, +7,500 feet high, look like mountain eyries, and might be the home of +the eagles that we see sailing over the valley below. From such a +height do they look over the very top of the Sewalic range to the +great plains of India. + +But we did not stop at this mountain to look back. Dashing through the +little straggling bazaar of Landour, we spurred on to the highest +point, "Lal Tiba"; from which we hoped for the great view of "the +snows." We reached the spot at nine o'clock, but as yet we saw "only +in part." Our final vision was to come three days later. Away to the +North and East the horizon was filled with mountains, whose summits +the foot of man had never trod, but the intervening distance was +covered with clouds, out of which rose the snowy domes, like islands +in a sea. + +My first impression of the Himalayas was one of disappointment, partly +because we "could not come nigh unto" them. We saw their summits, but +at such a distance that they did not look so high as Mont Blanc, where +we could come "even to his feet" in the Vale of Chamouni. But the +Himalayas were seventy miles off,[4] filling the whole horizon. Nor +did they rise up in one mighty chain, like the Cordilleras of Mexico, +standing like a wall of rock and snow against the sky; but seemed +rather a sea of mountains, boundless and billowy, rising range on +range, one overtopping the other, and rolling away to the heart of +Asia; or, to change the figure, the mountains appeared as an ice +continent, like that of the Polar regions, tossed up here and there +into higher and still higher summits, but around which, stretching +away to infinity, was the wild and interminable sea. + +Thus the view, though different from what I expected, was very grand, +and though we had not yet the full, clear vision, yet the sight was +sublime and awful, perhaps even more so from the partial obscurity, as +great clouds came rolling along the snowy heights, as if the heavenly +host uprose at the coming of the day, and were moving rank on rank +along the shining battlements. + +We had hoped by waiting a few hours to get an unobstructed view, but +the clouds seemed to gather rather than disperse, warning us to hasten +our descent. + +In going up the mountain, C---- had kept along with us on horseback, +but the long ride to one not used to the saddle had fatigued her so +that on the return she was glad to accept Mr. Herron's offer of a +_dandi_, a chair borne by two men, which two others accompanied as +relays, while we, mounted as before, followed as outriders. Thus +mustering our little force, we began to descend the mountain. + +A mile or so from the top we turned aside at the house of a gentleman +who was a famous hunter, and who had a large collection of living +birds, pheasants and manauls, while the veranda was covered with tiger +and leopard skins. He was absent, but his wife (who has the spirit and +courage of a huntress, and had often brought down a deer with her own +hand) was there, and bade us welcome. She showed us her birds, both +living and stuffed, the number of which made her house look like an +ornithological museum. To our inquiry she said, "The woods were full +of game. Two deer had been shot the evening before." + +We asked about higher game. She said that tigers were not common up on +the mountain as in the valley. She had two enormous skins, but "the +brutes" her husband had shot over in Nepaul. But leopards seemed to be +her special pets. When I asked, "Have you many leopards about here?" +she laughed as she answered, "I should think so." She often saw them +just across a ravine a few rods in front of her house, chasing goats +or sheep. "It was great fun." Of late they had become rather +troublesome in killing dogs. And so they had been obliged to set traps +for them. They framed a kind of cage, with two compartments, in one of +which they tied a dog, whose yelpings at night attracted the leopard, +who, creeping round and round, to get at his prey, at length dashed in +to seize the poor creature, but found bars between them, while the +trap closed upon him, and Mr. Leopard was a prisoner. In this way they +had caught four the last summer. Then this Highland lady came out from +her cottage, and with a rifle put an end to the leopard's career in +devouring dogs. The number of skins on the veranda told of their skill +and success. + +Pursuing my inquiry into the character of her neighbors, I asked, +"Have you any snakes about here?" "Oh no," she replied carelessly; +"that is to say not many. The cobras do not come up so high on the +mountain. But there is a serpent in the woods, a kind of python, but +he is a large, lazy creature, that doesn't do any mischief. One day +that my husband was out with his gun, he shot one that was eighteen +feet long. It was as big around as a log of wood, so that when I came +up I sat down and took my tiffin upon it." + +While listening to these tales, the clouds had been gathering, and now +they were piled in dark masses all around the horizon. The lightning +flashed, and we could hear the heavy though distant peals of thunder. +Presently the big drops began to fall. There was no time to be lost. +We could see that the rain was pouring in the valley, while heavy +peals came nearer and nearer, reverberating in the hollows of the +mountains. It was a grand spectacle of Nature, that of a storm in the +Himalayas. Thunder in front of us, thunder to the right of us, thunder +to the left of us! I never had a more exciting ride, except one like +it in the Rocky Mountains four years before. At our urgent request, +Mr. Herron spurred ahead, and galloped at full speed down the +mountain. I came more slowly with C---- in the _dandi_. But we did not +lose time, and after an hour's chase, in which we seemed to be running +the gauntlet of the storm, "dodging the rain," we were not a little +relieved, just as the scattered drops began to fall thicker and +faster, to come into the yard of the hotel at Rajpore. + +The brave fellows who had brought the dandi deserved a reward, +although Mr. Herron said they were his servants. I wanted to give them +a rupee each, but he would not hear of it, and when I insisted on +giving at least a couple of rupees for the four, which would be +twenty-five cents a piece, the poor fellows were so overcome with my +generosity that they bowed almost to the ground in acknowledgment, and +went off hugging each other with delight at the small fortune which +had fallen to them. + +At Rajpore the carriage was waiting for us, and under its cover from +the rain, we rode back, talking of the incidents of the day; and when +we got home and stretched ourselves before the blazing fire, the +subject was renewed. I have a boy's fondness for stories of wild +beasts, and listened with eager interest to all my host had to tell. +It was hard to realize that there were such creatures in such a lovely +spot. "Do you really mean to say," I asked, "that there are tigers +here in this valley?" "Yes," he answered, "within five miles of where +you are sitting now." He had seen one himself, and showed us the very +spot that morning as we rode out to the hills, when he pointed to a +ravine by the roadside, and said: "As I was riding along this road one +day with a lady, a magnificent Bengal tiger came up out of that +ravine, a few rods in front of us, and walked slowly across the road. +He turned to look at us, and we were greatly relieved when, after +taking a cool survey, he moved off into the jungle." + +But leopards are still more common and familiar. They have been in +this very dooryard, and on this veranda. One summer evening two years +ago, said Miss P., I was sitting on the gravelled walk to enjoy the +cool air, when an enormous creature brushed past but a step in front +between us and the house. At first we thought in the gloaming it might +be a dog of very unusual size, but as it glided past, and came into +the light of some cottages beyond, we perceived that it was a very +different beast. At another time a leopard crossed the veranda at +night, and brushed over the face of a native woman sleeping with her +child in her arms. It was well the beast was not hungry, or he would +have snatched the child, as they often do when playing in front of +native houses, and carried it off into the jungle. + +But we will rest to-night in sweet security in this missionary home, +without fear of wild beasts or thunder storms. The clouds broke away +at sunset, leaving a rich "after-glow" upon the mountains. It was the +clear shining after the rain. Just then I heard the voices of the +native children in the chapel, singing their hymns, and with these +sweet suggestions of home and heaven, "I will lay me down in peace and +sleep, for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety." + + * * * * * + +We had had a glimpse of the Himalayas, but the glimpse only made us +eager to get the full "beatific vision"; so, after resting a day, we +determined to try again, going up in the afternoon, and spending the +night, so as to have a double chance of seeing the snows--both at +sunset and at sunrise. This time we had also the company of Mr. +Woodside, beside whom I rode on horseback; while Mr. Herron gave his +escort to C----, who was "promoted" from a _dandi_ to a _jahnpan_, +which differs from the former only in that it is more spacious, and is +carried by four bearers instead of two. Thus mounted she was borne +aloft on men's shoulders. She said the motion was not unpleasant, +except that the men had a habit, when they came to some dangerous +point, turning a rock, or on the edge of a precipice, of changing +bearers, or swinging round the bamboo pole from one shoulder to +another, which made her a little giddy, as she was tossed about at +such a height, from which she could look down a gorge hundreds of feet +deep. However, she takes all dangers very lightly, and was enraptured +with the wildness and strangeness of the scene--to find herself, an +American girl, thus being transported over the mountains of Asia. + +So we took up our line of march for the hills, and soon found our +pulses beating faster. Why is it that we feel such exhilaration in +climbing mountains? Is it something in the air, that quickens the +blood, and reacts upon the brain? Or is it the sensation of rising +into a higher atmosphere, of "going up into heaven?" So it seemed that +afternoon, as we "left the earth" behind us, and went up steadily into +the clouds. + +I found that the Himalayas grew upon acquaintance. They looked more +grand the second time than the first. The landscape was changed by the +westering sun, which cast new lights and shadows across the valley, +and into the wooded bosom of the hills. To these natural beauties my +companion added the charm of historical associations. Few places in +India have more interest to the scholar. The Sewalic range was almost +the cradle of the Brahminical religion. Sewalic, or Sivalic, as it +might be written, means literally the hills of Shiva, or the hills of +the gods, where their worshippers built their shrines and worshipped +long before Christ was born in Bethlehem. The same ridge is a mine to +the naturalist. It is full of fossils, the bones of animals that +belonged to some earlier geological epoch. The valley has had a part +in the recent history of India. Here the Goorkas--one of the hill +tribes, which stood out longest against the English--fought their last +battle. It was on yonder wooded height which juts out like a +promontory into the plain, where the ruin of an old fort marks the +destruction of their power. Today the Goorkas, like the Punjaubees, +are among the most loyal defenders of English rule. + +At present the attraction of this valley for "old Indians" is not so +much in its historical or scientific associations, as the field which +it gives to the hunter. This belt of country, running about a hundred +miles along the foot of the Himalayas, is composed of forest and +jungle, and is a favorite habitat of wild beasts--tigers and leopards +and wild elephants. It was in this belt, called the Terai, though +further to the East, in Nepaul, that the Prince of Wales a few weeks +later made his great tiger-hunting expedition. He might perhaps have +found as good sport in the valley right under our eyes. "Do you see +that strip of woods yonder?" said Mr. Woodside, pointing to one four +or five miles distant. "That is full of wild elephants." An Indian +Rajah came here a year or two since for a grand hunt, and in two days +captured twenty-four. This is done by the help of tame elephants who +are trained for the purpose. A large tract of forest is enclosed, and +then by beating the woods, the herd is driven towards a corner, and +when once penned, the tame elephants go in among them, and by tender +caressing engage their attention, till the coolies slip under the huge +beasts and tie their feet with ropes to the trees. This done, they can +be left till subdued by hunger, when they are easily tamed for the +service of man. + +These creatures still have the range of the forests. In riding through +the woods one may often hear the breaking of trees, as wild elephants +crash through the dense thicket. I had supposed that all kinds of wild +beasts were very much reduced in India under English rule. The hunters +say they are so much so as to destroy the sport. But my companion +thinks not, for two reasons: the government has made stringent laws +against the destruction of forests; and since the mutiny the natives +are not allowed to carry fire-arms. + +We might have startled a leopard anywhere on the mountain side. A +young Scotchman whom we met with his rifle on his shoulder, said he +had shot two a fortnight ago, but that there was a very big one about, +which he had seen several times, but could never get a shot at, but he +hoped to bring him down before long. + +With such chat as this we trotted up the mountain road, till we came +to where it divides, where, leaving Mr. Herron and C---- to go on +straight to Landour, we turned to the left to make a flying visit to +the other hill station of Mussoorie. As we rode along, Mr. Woodside +pointed out to me the spot where, a few weeks before, his horse had +backed off a precipice, and been dashed to pieces. Fortunately he was +not on his back (he had alighted to make a call), or the horse and his +rider might have gone over together. As we wound up the road he +recalled another incident, which occurred several years ago: "I had +been to attend an evening reception at the Young Ladies' school (which +we had just left), and about eleven o'clock mounted to ride home. I +had a white horse, and it was a bright moonlight night, and as I rode +up the hill, just as I turned a corner in the road _there_ (pointing +to the spot) I saw a huge leopard crouching in the attitude of +preparing to spring. I rose up in the saddle (my friend is a man of +giant stature) and shouted at the top of my voice, and the beast, not +knowing what strange monster he had encountered, leaped over the bank +and disappeared." + +"The next day," he added, "I was telling the story to a gentleman, who +replied, 'You were very fortunate to escape so,' and then related an +incident of his own, in which a leopard sprang upon his horse, which +the fright caused to give such a bound that the brute fell off, and +the horse starting at full speed, they escaped. But he felt that the +escape was so providential that he had thanks returned in the church +the next Sabbath for his deliverance from a sudden death." + +Thus listening to my companion's adventures, we rode along the ridge +of Mussoorie to its highest point, which commands a grand view of the +Snowy Range. Here stands a convent, which educates hundreds of the +daughters of Protestant Englishmen, as well as those of its own faith. +Thus the Catholic Church plants its outposts on the very crests of the +mountains. + +At Landour is another Catholic institution (for boys) called St. +George's College, perhaps as a delicate flattery to Englishmen in +taking the name of their guardian saint. It has a chime of bells, +which at that height and that hour strikes the ear with singular and +touching effect. It may well stir up our Protestant friends, both to +admire and to imitate, as it furnishes a new proof of the omnipresence +of Rome, when the traveller finds its convents, and hears the chime of +its vesper bells, on the heights and amid the valleys of the +Himalayas. + +But the sun was sinking, and it was four miles from Mussoorie to +Landour, where we were to make our second attempt to see the snows. +Turning our horses, we rode at full speed along the ridge of the +mountain, and reached the top of Lal Tiba before sunset, but only to +be again disappointed. Northward and eastward the clouds hung upon the +great mountains. But if one part of the horizon was hidden, on the +other we looked over the top of the Sewalic range, to where the red +and fiery sun was sinking in a bank of cloud--not "clouds full of +rain," but merely clouds of dust, rolling upward "like the smoke of a +furnace" from the hot plains of India. In the foreground was the soft, +green valley of Dehra Doon, more beautiful from the contrast with the +burning plains beyond. It was a peaceful landscape, as the shadows of +evening were gathering over it. From this we turned to watch the light +as it crept up the sides of the mountains. The panorama was constantly +changing, and every instant took on some new feature of grandeur. As +daylight faded, another light flashed out behind us, for the mountains +were on fire. It is a custom of the people, who are herdsmen, to burn +off the low brush (as the Indians burned over the prairies), that the +grass may spring up fresh and green for their flocks and cattle; and +it was a fearful spectacle, that of these great belts of fire running +along the mountain side, and lighting up the black gorges below. + +Giving our horses to the guides to be led down the declivity, we +walked down a narrow path in the rocks that led to Woodstock, a female +seminary, built on a kind of terrace half a mile below--a most +picturesque spot (none the less romantic because a tiger had once +carried off a man from the foot of the ravine a few rods below the +house), and there, around a cheerful table, and before a roaring fire, +forgot the fatigues of the day, and hoped for sunshine on the morrow. + +It was not yet daylight when we awoke. The stars were shining when we +came out on the terrace, and the waning moon still hung its crescent +overhead. A faint light began to glimmer in the east. We were quickly +muffled up (for it was cold) and climbing up the steep path to Lal +Tiba, hoping yet trembling. I was soon out of breath, and had more +than once to sit down on the rocks to recover myself. But in a moment +I would rise and rush on again, so eager was I with hope, and yet so +fearful of disappointment. One more pull and we were on the top, and +behold the glory of God spread abroad upon the mountains! Our +perseverance was rewarded at last. There were the Himalayas--the great +mountains of India, of Asia, of the globe. The snowy range was in full +view for more than a hundred miles. The sun had not yet risen, but his +golden limb now touched the east, and as the great round orb rose +above the horizon, it seemed as if God himself were coming to illumine +the universe which he had created. One after another the distant peaks +caught the light upon their fields of snow, and sent it back as if +they were the shining gates of the heavenly city. One could almost +look up to them as Divine intelligences, and address them in the lines +of the old hymn: + + These glorious _minds_, how bright they shine, + Whence all their white array? + How came they to the happy seats + Of everlasting day? + +But restraining our enthusiasm for the moment, let us look at the +configuration of this Snowy Range, simply as a study in geography. We +are in presence of the highest mountains on the globe. We are on the +border of that table-land of Asia ("High Asia") which the Arabs in +their poetical language call "The Roof of the World." Yonder pass +leads over into Thibet. The trend of the mountains is from southeast +to northwest, almost belting the continent. Indeed, physical +geographers trace it much farther, following it down on one hand +through the Malayan Peninsula and on the other running it through the +Hindoo Koosh (or Caucasus) northwest to Mt. Ararat in Armenia; and +across into Europe, through Turkey and Greece, to the Alps and the +Pyrenees, forming what the Arabs call "The Stony Girdle of the Earth." +But the centre of that girdle, the clasp of that mighty zone, is here. + +It is difficult to form an idea of the altitude of mountains, when we +have no basis of comparison in those which are familiar. But nature +here is on another scale than we have seen it before. In Europe Mont +Blanc is "the monarch of mountains," but yonder peak, Nunda Davee, +which shows above the horizon at the distance of a hundred and ten +miles, is 25,600 feet high--that is, nearly two miles higher than Mont +Blanc! There are others still higher--Kinchinganga and Dwalaghiri--but +they are not in sight, as they are farther east in Nepaul. But from +Darjeeling, a hill station much frequented in the summer months by +residents of Calcutta, one may get an unobstructed view of Mount +Everest, 29,000 feet high, the loftiest summit on the globe. And here +before us are a number of peaks, twenty-two, twenty-three, and +twenty-four thousand feet high--higher than Chimborazo, or any peak of +the Andes. + +Perhaps the Himalayas are less impressive than the Alps _in +proportion_, because the snow line is so much higher. In Switzerland +we reach the line of perpetual snow at 8,900 feet, so that the +Jungfrau, which is less than 14,000 feet, has a full mile of snow +covering her virgin breast. But here the traveller must ascend 18,000 +feet, nearly two miles higher, before he comes to the line of +perpetual snow. It is considered a great achievement of the most +daring Alpine climbers to reach the top of the Jungfrau or the +Matterhorn, but here many of the _passes_ are higher than the summit +of either. Dr. Bellew, who accompanied the expedition of Sir Douglas +Forsyth three years since to Yarkund and Kashgar, told me they crossed +passes 19,000 feet high, nearly 4,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc. He +said they did not need a guide, for that the path was marked by bones +of men and beasts that had perished by the way; the bodies lying where +they fell, for no beast or bird lives at that far height, neither +vulture nor jackal, while the intense cold preserved the bodies from +decay. + +But the Himalayas are not all heights, but heights and depths. The +mountains are divided by valleys. From where we stand the eye sweeps +over the tops of nine or ten separate ranges, with valleys between, in +which are scattered hundreds of villages. The enterprising traveller +may descend into these deep places of the earth, and make his toilsome +way over one range after another, till he reaches the snows. But he +will find it a _fourteen days' march_. My companion had once spent six +weeks in a missionary tour among these villages. + +Wilson, the author of "The Abode of Snow,"[5] who spent months in +travelling through the Inner Himalayas, from Thibet to Cashmere, makes +a comparison of these mountains with the Alps. There are some +advantages to be claimed for the latter. Not only are they more +accessible, but combine in a smaller space more variety. Their sides +are more generally clothed with forests, which are mirrored in those +beautiful sheets of water that give such a charm both to Swiss and +Scottish scenery. But in the Himalayas there is hardly a lake to be +seen until one enters the Vale of Cashmere. Then the Alps have more of +the human element, in the picturesque Swiss villages. The traveller +looks down from snow-covered mountains into valleys with meadows and +houses and the spires of churches. But in the Himalayas there is not a +sign of civilization, and hardly of habitation. Occasionally a village +or a Buddhist monastery may stand out picturesquely on the top of a +hill, but generally the mountains are given up to utter desolation. + + "But," says Wilson, "when all these admissions in favor of + Switzerland are made, the Himalayas still remain + unsurpassed, and even unapproached, as regards all the + wilder and grander features of mountain scenery. There is + nothing in the Alps which can afford even a faint idea of + the savage desolation and appalling sublimity of many of the + Himalayan scenes. Nowhere have the faces of the rocks been + so scarred and riven by the nightly action of frost and the + midday floods from melting snow. In almost every valley we + see places where whole peaks or sides of great mountains + have very recently come shattering down." + +This constant action of the elements sometimes carves the sides of the +mountains into castellated forms, like the canyons of the Yellowstone +and the Colorado: + + "Gigantic mural precipices, bastions, towers, castles, + citadels, and spires rise up thousands of feet in height, + mocking in their immensity and grandeur the puny efforts of + human art; while yet higher the domes of pure white snow and + glittering spires of ice far surpass in perfection, as well + as in immensity, all the Moslem musjids and minars." + +But more impressive than the most fantastic or imposing forms are the +vast spaces of untrodden snow, and the awful solitudes and silences of +the upper air. No wonder that the Hindoos made this inaccessible +region the dwelling-place of their gods. It is their Kylas, or Heaven. +The peak of Badrinath, 24,000 feet high, is the abode of Vishnu; and +that of Kedarnath, 23,000, is the abode of Shiva--two of the Hindoo +Trinity. Nunda Davee (the goddess Nunda) is the wife of Shiva. Around +these summits gathers the whole Hindoo mythology. Yonder, where we see +a slight hollow in the mountains, is Gungootree, where the Ganges +takes its rise, issuing from a great glacier by a fissure, or icy +cavern, worn underneath, called the Cow's Mouth. Farther to the west +is Jumnootree, the source of the Jumna. Both these places are very +sacred in the eyes of the Hindoos, and as near to them as any +structure can be placed, are shrines, which are visited by hundreds of +thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India. + +Thus these snowy heights are to the Hindoo Mount Sinai and Calvary in +one. Here is not only the summit where God gave the law, but where God +dwells evermore, and out of which issue the sacred rivers, which are +like the rivers of the water of life flowing out of the throne of God; +or like the blood of atonement, to wash away the sins of the world. + +But the associations of this spot are not all of Hindooism and +idolatry. True, we are in a wintry region, but there is an Alpine +flower that grows at the foot of the snows. Close to Lal Tiba I +observed a large tree of rhododendrons, in full bloom, although it was +February, their scarlet blossoms contrasting with the snow which had +fallen on them the night before. But the fairest blossom on that +Alpine height is a Christian church. Lal Tiba itself belongs to the +Presbyterian mission, and adjoining it is the house of the +missionaries. On the ridge is a mission church, built chiefly by the +indefatigable efforts of Mr. Woodside. It is a modest, yet tasteful +building, standing on a point of rock, which is in full view of the +Snowy Range, and overlooks the whole mountain landscape. It was like a +banner in the sky--that white church--standing on such a height, as if +it were in the clouds, looking across at the mighty range beyond, and +smiling at the eternal snows! + +The hardest thing in going round the world, is to break away from +friends. Not the friends we have left in America, for those we may +hope to see again, but the friends made along the way. One meets so +many kind people, and enters so many hospitable homes, that to part +from them is an ever-renewing sorrow and regret. We have found many +such homes in India, but none in which we would linger more than in +this lovely Vale of Dehra Doon. + +One attraction is the Girls' School, which we might almost call the +missionary flower of India. The building, which would be a "Seminary" +at home, stands in the midst of ample grounds, where, in the intervals +of study, the inmates can find healthful exercise. The pupils are +mostly the daughters of native Christians--converted Hindoos or +Mohammedans. Some are orphans, or have been forsaken by their parents, +and have thus fallen to the care of an institution which is more to +them than their natural fathers and mothers. Many of these young girls +had very sweet faces, and all were as modest and well behaved as the +girls I have seen in any similar institution in our own country. Some +are adopted by friends in America, who engage to provide for their +education. Wishing to have a part in this good work, we looked about +the school till we picked out the veriest morsel of a creature, as +small as Dickens's Tiny Tim--but whose eyes were very bright, and her +mind as active as her body was frail, and C---- thereupon adopted her +and paid down a hundred rupees for a year's board and teaching. She is +by birth a Mohammedan, but will be trained up as a Christian. She is +very winning in her ways; and, dear me, when the little creature crept +up into my lap, and looked up into my face with her great black eyes, +it was such an appeal for love and protection as I could not resist; +and when she put her thin arms around my neck, I felt richer than if I +had been encircled with one of those necklaces of pearl, which the +Rajahs were just then throwing around the neck of the Prince of +Wales. + +Our last day was spent in a visit to the tea plantations. The culture +of tea has been introduced into India within a few years, and portions +of the country are found so favorable that the tea is thought by many +equal to that imported from China. Mr. Woodside took us out in a +carriage a few miles, when we left the road and crossed the fields on +the back of an elephant, which is a better "coigne of vantage" than +the back of a horse, as the rider is lifted up higher into the air, +and in passing under trees can stretch out his hand (as we did) and +pick blossoms and birds' nests from the branches; but there is a +rolling motion a little too much like "life on an ocean wave," and if +it were not for the glory of the thing I confess I should rather have +under me some steady old trotter, such as I have had at home, or even +one of the little donkeys with which we used to amble about the +streets of Cairo. But there are times when one would prefer the +elephant, as if he should chance to meet a tiger! The beast we were +riding this morning was an old tiger hunter, that had often been out +in the jungle, and as he marched off, seemed as if he would like +nothing better than to smell his old enemy. In a deadly combat the +tiger has the advantage in quickness of motion, and can spring upon +the elephant's neck, but if the latter can get his trunk around him he +is done for, for he is instantly dashed to the ground, and trampled to +death under the monster's feet. We had no occasion to test his +courage, though, if what we heard was true, he might have found game +not far off, for a native village through which we passed was just +then in terror because of a tiger who had lately come about and +carried off several bullocks only a few days before, and they had sent +to Mr. Bell, a tea planter whom we met later in the day, to come and +shoot him. He told me he would come willingly, but that the natives +were of a low caste, who had not the Hindoos' horror of touching such +food, and devoured the half eaten bullock. If, he said, they would +only let the carcass alone, the tiger always comes back, and he would +plant himself in some post of observation, and with a rifle which +never failed would soon relieve them of their terrible enemy. + +After an hour of this cross-country riding, our elephant drew up +before the door of a large house; a ladder was brought, and we +clambered down his sides. Just then we heard the sharp cracks of a +gun, and the planter came in, saying that he had been picking off +monkeys which were a little troublesome in his garden. This was Mr. +Nelson, one of the largest planters in the valley, with whom we had +engaged to take tiffin. He took us over his plantation, which is laid +out on a grand scale, many acres being set in rows with the tea plant, +which is a small shrub, about as large as a gooseberry bush, from +which the leaves are carefully picked. The green tea is not a +different plant from the black tea, but only differently prepared. +From the plantation we were taken to the roasting-house, where the tea +lay upon the floor in great heaps, like heaps of grain; and where it +is subjected to a variety of processes, to prepare it for use or for +exportation. It is first "wilted" in large copper pans or ovens; then +"rolled" on a table of stretched matting; then slightly dried, and put +back in the ovens; then rolled again; and finally subjected to a good +"roasting," by which time every drop of moisture is got out of it, and +it acquires the peculiar twist, or shrivelled look, so well known to +dainty lovers of the cup which cheers but not inebriates. How perfect +was the growing and the preparation appeared when we sat down at the +generous table, where we found the flavor as delicate as that of any +we had ever sipped that came from the Flowery Land. + +Leaving this kind and hospitable family, we rode on to the plantation +of Mr. Bell, who had the "engagement" to shoot the tiger. He is a +brave Scot, very fond of sport, and had a room full of stuffed birds, +which he was going to send off to Australia. Occasionally he had a +shot at other game. Once he had brought down a leopard, and, as he +said, thought the beast was "deed," and went up to him, when the brute +gave a spring, and tore open his leg, which laid him up for two +months. But such beasts are really less dangerous than the cobras, +which crawl among the rows of plants, and as the field-hands go among +them barefoot, some fall victims every year. But an Englishman is +protected by his boots, and Mr. Bell strolls about with his dog and +his gun, without the slightest sense of danger. + +We had now accomplished our visit to the Himalayas, and were to bid +adieu to the mountains and the valleys. But how were we to get back to +Saharanpur? There was the mail-wagon and the _omnibuckus_. But these +seemed very prosaic after our mountain raptures. Mr. Herron suggested +that we should try _dooleys_--long palanquins in which we could lie +down and sleep (perhaps), and thus be carried over the mountains at +night. As we were eager for new experiences, of course we were ready +for any novelty. But great bodies move slowly, and how great we were +we began to realize when we found what a force it took to move us. Mr. +Herron sent for the _chaudri_--a kind of public carrier whose office +it is to provide for such services--and an engagement was formally +entered into between the high contracting parties that for a certain +sum he was to provide two dooleys and a sufficient number of bearers, +to carry us over the mountains to Saharanpur, a distance of forty-two +miles. This was duly signed and sealed, and the money paid on the +spot, with promise of liberal backsheesh at the end if the agreement +was satisfactorily performed. + +Thus authorized and empowered to enter into negotiations with inferior +parties, the _chaudri_ sent forward a courier, or _sarbarah_, to go +ahead over the whole route a day in advance, and to secure the relays, +and thus prepare for our royal progress. + +This seemed very magnificent, but when our retinue filed into the +yard on the evening of our departure, and drew up before the veranda, +we were almost ashamed to see what a prodigious ado it took to get us +two poor mortals out of the valley. Our escort was as follows: Each +dooley had six bearers, or _kahars_--four to carry it, and two to be +ready as a reserve. Besides these twelve, there were two +_bahangi-wallas_ to carry our one trunk on a bamboo pole, making +fourteen persons in all. As there were five stages (for one set of men +could only go about eight miles), it took seventy men (besides the two +high officials) to carry our sacred persons these forty-two miles! Of +the reserve of four who walked beside us, two performed the function +of torch-bearers--no unimportant matter when traversing a forest so +full of wild beasts that the natives cannot be induced to cross it at +night without lights kept burning. + +The torch was made simply by winding a piece of cloth around the end +of a stick, and pouring oil upon it from a bottle carried for the +purpose (just the mode of the wise virgins in the parable). Our kind +friends had put a mattress in each dooley, with pillows and coverlet, +so that if we could not quite go to bed, we could make ourselves +comfortable for a night's journey. I took off my boots, and wrapping +my feet in the soft fur of the skin of the Himalayan goat, which I had +purchased in the mountains, stretched myself + + Like a warrior taking his rest, + With his martial cloak around him, + +and bade the cavalcade take up its march. They lighted their torches, +and like the wise virgins, "took oil in their vessels with their +lamps," and set out on our night journey. At first we wound our way +through the streets of the town, through bazaars and past temples, +till at last we emerged from all signs of human habitation, and were +alone with the forests and the stars. + +When we were fairly in the woods, all the stories I had heard of wild +beasts came back to me. For a week past I had been listening to +thrilling incidents, many of which occurred in this very mountain +pass. The Sewalic range is entirely uninhabited except along the +roads, and is thus given up to wild beasts, and nowhere is one more +likely to meet an adventure. That very morning, at breakfast, Mrs. +Woodside had given me her experience. She was once crossing this pass +at night, and as it came near the break of day she saw men running, +and heard the cry of "tiger," but thought little of it, as the natives +were apt to give false alarms; but presently the horses began to rear +and plunge, so that the driver loosed them and let them go, and just +then she heard a tremendous roar, which seemed close to the wagon, +where a couple of the brutes had come down to drink of a brook by the +roadside. She was so terrified that she did not dare to look out, but +shut at once the windows of the gharri. Presently some soldiers came +up the pass with elephants, who went in pursuit, but the monsters had +retreated into the forest. + +That was some years ago, but such incidents may still happen. Only a +few weeks since Mr. Woodside was riding through the pass at night in +the mail-wagon, and had dropped asleep, when his companion, a British +officer, awoke him, telling him he had just seen a couple of tigers +distinctly in the moonlight. + +One would suppose we were safe enough with more than a dozen +attendants, but the natives are very timid, and a tiger's roar will +set them flying. A lady at Dehra, the daughter of a missionary, told +us how she was once carried with her mother and one or two other +children in dooleys, when just at break of day a huge tiger walked out +of a wood, and came right towards them, when the brave coolies at once +dropped them and ran, leaving the mother and her children to their +fate. Fortunately she had presence of mind to light a piece of +matting, and throw it out to the brute, who either from that, or +perhaps because he was too noble a beast to attack a woman, after +eyeing them for some moments, deliberately walked away. + +Such associations with the road we were travelling, gave an excitement +to our night journey which was not the most composing to sleep. It is +very well to sit by the fireside and talk about tigers, but I do not +know of anybody who would care to meet one in the woods, unless well +armed and on an elephant's back. + +But what if a wild elephant should come out upon us? In general, I +believe these are quiet and peaceable beasts, but they are subject to +a kind of madness which makes them untamable. A "rogue elephant"--one +who has been tamed, and afterwards goes back to his savage state--is +one of the most dangerous of wild beasts. When the Prince of Wales was +hunting in the Terai with Sir Jung Bahadoor, an alarm was given that a +rogue elephant was coming, and they pushed the Prince up into a tree +as quickly as possible, for the monster has no respect to majesty. +Mrs. Woodside told me that they once had a servant who asked to go +home to visit his friends. On his way he lay down at the foot of a +tree, and fell asleep, when a rogue elephant came along, and took him +up like a kitten, and crushed him in an instant, and threw him on the +roadside. + +The possibility of such an adventure was quite enough to keep our +imagination in lively exercise. Our friends had told us that there was +no danger with flaming torches, although we might perhaps hear a +distant roar on the mountains, or an elephant breaking through the +trees. We listened intently. When the men were moving on in silence, +we strained our ears to catch any sound that might break the stillness +of the forest. If a branch fell from a tree, it might be an elephant +coming through the wood. If we could not see, we imagined forms +gliding in the darkness. Even the shadows cast by the starlight took +the shapes that we dreaded. Hush! there is a stealthy step over the +fallen leaves. No, it is the wind whispering in the trees. Thus was it +all night long. If any wild beasts glared on us out of the covert, our +flaming torches kept them at a respectful distance. We did not hear +the tramp of an elephant, the growl of a tiger, or even the cry of a +jackal. + +But though we had not the excitement of an adventure, the scene itself +was wild and weird enough. We were entirely alone, with more than a +dozen men, with not one of whom we could exchange a single word, +traversing a mountain pass, with miles of forest and jungle separating +us from any habitation. Our attendants were men of powerful physique, +whose swarthy limbs and strange faces looked more strange than ever by +the torchlight. Once in seven or eight miles they set down their +burden. We halted at a camp fire by the roadside, where a fresh relay +was waiting. There our fourteen men were swelled to twenty-eight. Then +the curtain of my couch was gently drawn aside, a black head was +thrust in, and a voice whispered in the softest of tones "Sahib, +backsheesh!" Then the new bearers took up their load, and jogged on +their way. + +I must say they did very well. The motion was not unpleasant. The +dooley rested not on two poles, but on one long bamboo, three or four +inches in diameter, at each end of which two men braced themselves +against each other, and moved forward with a swinging gait, a kind of +dog trot, which they accompanied with a low grunt, which seemed to +relieve them, and be a way of keeping time. Their burdens did not +fatigue them much--at least they did not groan under the load, but +talked and laughed by the way. Nor were luxuries forgotten. One of the +men carried a hooka, which served for the whole party, being passed +from mouth to mouth, with which the men, when off duty, refreshed +themselves with many a puff of the fragrant weed. + +Thus refreshed they kept up a steady gait of about three miles an +hour through the night. At length the day began to break. As we +approached the end of our journey the men picked up speed, and I +thought they would come in on a run. Glad were we to come in sight of +Saharanpur. At ten o'clock we entered the Mission Compound, and drew +up before the door of "Calderwood Padre," who, as he saw me stretched +out at full length, "like a warrior taking his rest," if not "with his +martial cloak around him," yet with his Scotch plaid shawl covering +"his manly breast," declared that I was "an old Indian!" + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] This is given as an average distance in an air line. The nearest +peak, Boonderpunch (Monkey's Tail), is forty-five miles as the crow +flies, though by the nearest accessible route, it is a hundred and +forty! Nunda Davee is a hundred and ten in an air line, but by the +paths over the mountains, must be over two hundred. + +[5] A very fascinating book, especially to Alpine tourists, or those +fond of climbing mountains. The title, "The Abode of Snow," is a +translation of the word Himalaya. The writer is a son of the late Dr. +Wilson, of Bombay. Taking a new field, he has produced a story of +travel and adventure, which will be apt to tempt others to follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE TRAGEDY OF CAWNPORE. + + +The interest of India is not wholly in the far historic past. Within +our own times it has been the theatre of stirring events. In coming +down from Upper India, we passed over the "dark and bloody ground" of +the Mutiny--one of the most terrible struggles of modern times--a +struggle unrelieved by any of the amenities of civilized warfare. On +the banks of the Ganges stands a dull old city, of which Bayard Taylor +once wrote: "Cawnpore is a pleasant spot, though it contains nothing +whatever to interest the traveller." That was true when he saw it, +twenty-four years ago. It was then a "sleepy" place. Everything had a +quiet and peaceful look. The river flowed peacefully along, and the +pretty bungalows of the English residents on its banks seemed like so +many castles of indolence, as they stood enclosed in spacious grounds, +under the shade of trees, whose leaves scarcely stirred in the sultry +air. But four years after that American traveller had passed, that +peaceful river ran with Christian blood, and that old Indian town +witnessed scenes of cruelty worse than that of the Black Hole of +Calcutta, committed by a monster more inhuman than Surajah Dowlah. The +memory of those scenes now gives a melancholy interest to the place, +such as belongs to no other in India. + +It was midnight when we reached Cawnpore (we had left Saharanpur in +the morning), and we were utter strangers; but as we stepped from the +railway carriage, a stalwart American (Rev. Mr. Mansell of the +Methodist Mission) came up, and calling us by name, took us to his +home, and "kindly entreated us," and the next morning rode about the +city with us to show the sadly memorable places. + +The outbreak of the Mutiny in India in 1857, took its English rulers +by surprise. They had held the country for a hundred years, and +thought they could hold it forever. So secure did they feel that they +had reduced their army to a minimum. In the Russian war, regiment +after regiment was called home to serve in the Crimea, till there were +left not more than twenty thousand British troops in all India--an +insignificant force to hold such a vast dependency; and weakened still +more by being scattered in small bodies over the country, with no +means of rapid concentration. There was hardly a railroad in India. +All movements of troops had to be made by long marches. Thus detached +and helpless, the military power was really in the hands of the +Sepoys, who garrisoned the towns, and whom the English had trained to +be good soldiers, with no suspicion that their skill and discipline +would ever be turned against themselves. + +This was the opportunity for smothered discontent to break out into +open rebellion. There had long been among the people an uneasy and +restless feeling, such as is the precursor of revolution--a ground +swell, which sometimes comes before as well as after a storm. It was +just a hundred years since the battle of Plassey (fought June, 1757), +which decided the fate of India, and it was whispered that when the +century was complete, the English yoke should be broken, and India +should be free. The Crimean war had aroused a spirit of fanaticism +among the Mohammedans, which extended across the whole of Asia, and +fierce Moslems believed that if the English were but driven out, there +might be a reconstruction of the splendid old Mogul Empire. This was, +therefore, a critical moment, in which the defenceless state of India +offered a temptation to rebellion. Some there were (like the +Lawrences--Sir John in the Punjaub, and Sir Henry in Lucknow) whose +eyes were opened to the danger, and who warned the government. But it +could not believe a rebellion was possible; so that when the storm +burst, it was like a peal of thunder from a clear sky. + +Thus taken by surprise, and off their guard, the English were at a +great disadvantage. But they quickly recovered themselves, and +prepared for a desperate defence. In towns where the garrisons were +chiefly of native troops, with only a small nucleus of English +officers and soldiers, the latter had no hope of safety, but to rally +all on whom they could rely, and retreat into the forts, and hold out +to the last. Such a quick movement saved Agra, where Sir William Muir +told me, he and hundreds of refugees with him, passed the whole time +of the mutiny, shut up in the fort. The same promptness saved +Allahabad. But in Delhi, where the rising took place a few days +before, the alarm was not taken quickly enough; the Sepoys rushed in, +shooting down their officers, and made themselves masters of the fort +and the city, which was not retaken till months after, at the close of +a long and terrible siege. + +At Cawnpore there was no fort. Sir Hugh Wheeler, who was in command, +had three or four thousand troops, but not one man in ten was an +English soldier. The rest were Sepoys, who caught the fever of +disaffection, and marched off with horses and guns. Mustering the +little remnant of his force, he threw up intrenchments on the +parade-ground, into which he gathered some two hundred and fifty men +of different regiments. Adding to these "civilians" and native +servants, and the sick in the hospital, there were about 300 more, +with 330 women and children. The latter, of course, added nothing to +the strength of the garrison, but were a constant subject of care and +anxiety. But with this little force he defended himself bravely for +several weeks, beating off every attack of the enemy. But he was in no +condition to sustain a siege; his force was becoming rapidly reduced, +while foes were swarming around him. In this extremity, uncertain when +an English army could come to his relief, he received a proposal to +surrender, with the promise that all--men, women, and children--should +be allowed to depart in safety, and be provided with boats to take +them down the Ganges to Allahabad. He did not listen to these smooth +promises without inward misgivings. He was suspicious of treachery; +but the case was desperate, and Nana Sahib, who up to the time of the +Mutiny had protested great friendship for the English, took a solemn +oath that they should be protected. Thus tempted, they yielded to the +fatal surrender. + +The next morning, June 27th, those who were left of the little +garrison marched out of their intrenchments, and were escorted by the +Sepoy army on their way to the boats. The women and children and +wounded were mounted on elephants, and thus conveyed down to the +river. With eagerness they embarked on the boats that were to carry +them to a place of safety, and pushed off into the stream. At that +moment a native officer who stood on the bank raised his sword, and a +masked battery opened on the boats with grape-shot. Instantly ensued a +scene of despair. Some of the boats sunk, others took fire, and men, +women, and children, were struggling in the water. The Mahratta +horsemen pushed into the stream, and cut down the men who tried to +save themselves (only four strong swimmers escaped), while the women +and children were spared to a worse fate. All the men who were brought +back to the shore were massacred on the spot, in the presence of this +human tiger, who feasted his eyes with their blood; and about two +hundred women and children were taken back into the town as prisoners, +in deeper wretchedness than before. They were kept in close +confinement nearly three weeks in dreadful uncertainty of their fate, +till the middle of July, when Havelock was approaching by forced +marches; and fearful that his prey should escape, Nana Sahib gave +orders that they should be put to death. No element of horror was +wanting in that fearful tragedy. Says one who saw the bodies the next +day, and whose wife and children were among those who perished: + + "The poor ladies were ordered to come out, but neither + threats nor persuasions could induce them to do so. They + laid hold of each other by dozens, and clung so close that + it was impossible to separate them, or drag them out of the + building. The troopers therefore brought muskets, and after + firing a great many shots from the doors and windows, rushed + in with swords and bayonets. [One account says that, as + Hindoos shrink from the touch of blood, five Mohammedan + _butchers_ were sent in to complete the work.] Some of the + helpless creatures, in their agony, fell down at the feet of + their murderers, clasped their legs, and begged in the most + pitiful manner to spare their lives, but to no purpose. The + fearful deed was done most deliberately, and in the midst of + the most dreadful shrieks and cries of the victims. From a + little before sunset till candlelight was occupied in + completing the dreadful deed. The doors of the building were + then locked up for the night, and the murderers went to + their homes. Next morning it was found, on opening the + doors, that some ten or fifteen women, with a few of the + children, had managed to escape from death by falling and + hiding under the murdered bodies of their fellow-prisoners. + A fresh order was therefore sent to murder them also; but + the survivors, not being able to bear the idea of being cut + down, rushed out into the compound, and seeing a well, threw + themselves into it without hesitation, thus putting a period + to lives which it was impossible for them to save. The dead + bodies of those murdered on the preceding evening were then + ordered to be thrown into the same well, and 'jullars' were + employed to drag them along like dogs."[6] + +The next day after the massacre, Havelock entered the city, and +officers and men rushed to the prison house, hoping to be in time to +save that unhappy company of English women and children. But what +horrors met their sight! Not one living remained. The place showed +traces of the late butchery. The floors were covered with blood. "Upon +the walls and pillars were the marks of bullets, and of cuts made by +sword-strokes, not high up as if men had fought with men, but low +down, and about the corners, where the poor crouching victims had been +cut to pieces." "Locks of long silky hair, torn shreds of dress, +little children's shoes and playthings, were strewn around." + +The sight of these things drove the soldiers to madness. "When they +entered the charnel house, and read the writing on the walls +[sentences of wretchedness and despair], and saw the still clotted +blood, their grief, their rage, their desire for vengeance, knew no +bounds. Stalwart, bearded men, the stern soldiers of the ranks, came +out of that house perfectly unmanned, utterly unable to repress their +emotions." Following the track of blood from the prison to the well, +they found the mangled remains of all that martyred company. There the +tender English mother had been cast with every indignity, and the +child still living thrown down to die upon its mother's breast. Thus +were they heaped together, the dying and the dead, in one writhing, +palpitating mass. + +Turning away from this ghastly sight, the soldiers asked only to meet +face to face the perpetrators of these horrible atrocities. But the +Sepoys, cowardly as they were cruel, fled at the approach of the +English. Those who were taken had to suffer for the whole. "All the +rebel Sepoys and troopers who were captured, were collectively tried +by a drumhead court-martial, and hanged." But for such a crime as the +cold-blooded murder of helpless women and children, death was not +enough--it should be death accompanied by shame and degradation. The +craven wretches were made to clean away the clotted blood--a task +peculiarly odious to a Hindoo. Says General Neill: + + "Whenever a rebel is caught, he is immediately tried, and + unless he can prove a defence, he is sentenced to be hanged + at once; but the chief rebels, or ringleaders, I make first + clear up a certain portion of the pool of blood, still two + inches deep in the shed where the fearful murder and + mutilation of women and children took place. To touch blood + is most abhorrent to the high-caste natives; they think by + doing so, they doom their souls to perdition. Let them think + so. My object is to inflict a fearful punishment for a + revolting, cowardly, and barbarous deed, and to strike + terror into these rebels. + + "The first I caught was a subahdar, or native officer--a + high-caste Brahmin, who tried to resist my order to clean up + the very blood he had helped to shed; but I made the + provost-marshal do his duty, and a few lashes made the + miscreant accomplish his task. When done, he was taken out + and immediately hanged, and after death, buried in a ditch + at the roadside. No one who has witnessed the scenes of + murder, mutilation, and massacre, can ever listen to the + word mercy, as applied to these fiends. + + "Among other wretches drawn from their skulking places, was + the man who gave Nana Sahib's orders for the massacre. After + this man's identity had been clearly established, and his + complicity in directing the massacre proved beyond all + doubt, he was compelled, upon his knees, to cleanse up a + portion of the blood yet scattered over the fatal yard, and + while yet foul from his sickening task, hung like a dog + before the gratified soldiers, one of whom writes: 'The + collector who gave the order for the murder of the poor + ladies, was taken prisoner day before yesterday, and now + hangs from a branch of a tree about two hundred yards off + the roadside.'" + +What became of Nana Sahib after the Mutiny, is a mystery that probably +will never be solved. If he lived he sought safety in flight. Many of +the Mutineers took refuge in the jungle. The Government kept up a hunt +for him for years. Several times it was thought that he was +discovered. Only a year or two ago a man was arrested, who was said to +be Nana Sahib, but it proved to be a case of mistaken identity. In +going up from Delhi we rode in the same railway carriage with an old +army surgeon, whose testimony saved the life of the suspected man. He +had lived in Cawnpore before the Mutiny, and knew Nana Sahib well, +indeed had been his physician, and gave me much information about the +bloody Mahratta chief. He said he was not so bad a man by nature, as +he became when he was put forward as a leader in a desperate +enterprise, and surrounded by men who urged him on to every crime. So +long as he was under the wholesome restraint of English power, he was +a fair specimen of the "mild Hindoo," "as mild a mannered man as ever +scuttled ship or cut a throat." His movement was as soft as that of a +cat or a tiger. But like the tiger, when once he tasted blood, it +roused the wild beast in him, and he took a delight in killing. And so +he who might have lived quietly, and died in his bed, with a +reputation not worse than that of other Indian rulers, has left a name +in history as the most execrable monster of modern times. It seems a +defeat of justice that he cannot be discovered and brought to the +scaffold. But perhaps the judgment of God is more severe than that of +man. If he still lives, he has suffered a thousand deaths in these +twenty years. + +My informant told me of the punishment that had come on many of these +men of blood. Retribution followed hard after their crimes. When the +rebellion was subdued, it was stamped out without mercy. The leaders +were shot away from guns. Others who were only less guilty had a short +trial and a swift punishment. In this work of meting out retribution, +this mild physician was himself obliged to be an instrument. Though +his profession was that of saving lives, and not of destroying them, +after the Mutiny he was appointed a Commissioner in the district of +Cawnpore, where he had lived, to try insurgents, with the power of +life and death, and with no appeal from his sentence! It was a +terrible responsibility, but he could not shrink from it, and he had +to execute many. Those especially who had been guilty of acts of +cruelty, could not ask for mercy which they had never shown. Among +those whom he captured was the native officer who had given the +signal, by raising his sword, to the masked battery to fire on the +boats. He said, "I took him to that very spot, and hung him there!" +All this sad history was in mind as we went down to the banks of the +Ganges, where that fearful tragedy took place not twenty years before. +The place still bears the name of the Slaughter Ghat, in memory of +that fearful deed. We imagined the scene that summer's morning, when +the stream was covered with the bodies of women and children, and the +air was filled with the shrieks of despair. With such bitter memories, +we recalled the swift retribution, and rejoiced that such a crime had +met with such a punishment. + +From the river we drove to "the well," but here nothing is painful but +its memories. It is holy ground, which pious hands have decked with +flowers, and consecrated as a shrine of martyrdom. Around it many +acres have been laid out as a garden, with all manner of tropical +plants, and well-kept paths winding between, along which the stranger +walks slowly and sadly, thinking of those who suffered so much in +life, and that now sleep peacefully beyond the reach of pain. In the +centre of the garden the place of the well is enclosed, and over the +sacred spot where the bodies of the dead were thrown, stands a figure +in marble, which might be that of the angel of Resignation or of +Peace, with folded wings and face slightly bended, and arms across her +breast, and in her hands palm-branches, the emblems of victory. + +The visit to these spots, consecrated by so much suffering, had an +added tenderness of interest, because some of our own countrymen and +countrywomen perished there. In those fearful scenes the blood of +Americans--men, women, and children--mingled with that of their +English kindred. One of the most terrible incidents of those weeks of +crime, was the massacre of a party from Futteghur that tried to escape +down the Ganges, hoping to reach Allahabad. As they approached +Cawnpore, they concealed themselves in the tall grass on an island, +but were discovered by the Sepoys, and made prisoners. Some of the +party were wealthy English residents, who offered a large ransom for +their lives. But their captors answered roughly: "What they wanted was +not money, but blood!" Brought before Nana Sahib, he ordered them +instantly to be put to death. Among them were four American +missionaries, with their wives, who showed in that hour of trial that +they knew how to suffer and to die. Of one of these I had heard a very +touching story but a few days before from my friend, Mr. Woodside. +When we were standing on the lower range of the Himalayas, looking off +to "the snows," he told me how he had once made an expedition with a +brother missionary among these mountains, which are full of villages, +like the hamlets in the High Alps. He pointed out in the distance the +very route they took, and even places on the sides of the successive +ranges where they pitched their tents. They started near the close of +September, and were out all October, and came in about the middle of +November, being gone six weeks. After long and weary marches for many +days, they came to a little village called Karsali near Jumnootree, +the source of the sacred river Jumna, near which rose a giant peak, +19,000 feet high (though we could but just see it on the horizon), +that till then had never been trodden by human foot, but which they, +like the daring Americans they were, determined to ascend. Their +guides shrank from the attempt, and refused to accompany them; but +they determined to make the ascent if they went alone, and at last, +rather than be left behind, their men followed, although one sank down +in the snow, and could not reach the summit. But the young +missionaries pressed on with fresh ardor, as they climbed higher and +higher. As they reached the upper altitudes, the summit, which to us +at a distance of ninety miles seemed but a peak or cone, broadened out +into a plateau of miles in extent; the snow was firm and hard; they +feared no crevasses, and strode on with fearless steps. But there was +something awful in the silence and the solitude. Not a living thing +could be seen on the face of earth or sky. Not a bird soared to such +heights; not an eagle or a vulture was abroad in search of prey; not a +bone on the waste of snow told where any adventurous explorer had +perished before them. Alone they marched over the fields of untrodden +snow, and started almost to hear their own voices in that upper air. +And yet such was their sense of freedom, that they could not contain +their joy. My companion, said Mr. Woodside, was very fond of a little +hymn in Hindostanee, a translation of the familiar lines: + + I'm a pilgrim, I'm a stranger, + And I tarry but a night, + +and as we went upward, he burst into singing, and sang joyously as he +strode over the fields of snow. Little he thought that the end of his +pilgrimage was so near! But six months later the Mutiny broke out, and +he was one of its first victims. He was of the party from Futteghur, +with a fate made more dreadful, because he had with him not only his +wife, but two children, and the monster spared neither age nor sex. +After the Mutiny, Mr. Woodside visited Cawnpore, and made diligent +inquiry for the particulars of his friend's death. It was difficult to +get the details, as the natives were very reticent, lest they should +be accused; but as near as he could learn, "Brother Campbell," as he +spoke of him, was led out with his wife--he holding one child in his +arms, and she leading another by the hand--and thus all together they +met their fate! Does this seem very hard? Yet was it not sweet that +they could thus die together, and could come up (like the family of +Christian in Pilgrim's Progress) in one group to the wicket gate? No +need had he to sing any more: + + I'm a pilgrim, I'm a stranger, + And I tarry but a night, +for on that summer morning he passed up a shining pathway, whiter than +the fields of snow on the crest of the Himalayas, that led him +straight to the gates of gold. Let no man complain of the sacrifice, +who would claim the reward; for so it is written, "It is through much +tribulation that we must enter into the Kingdom of God." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] "Narrative of Mr. Shepherd." He owed his escape to the fact that +before the surrender of the garrison he had made an attempt to pass +through the rebel lines and carry word to Allahabad to hasten the +march of troops to its relief, and had been taken and thrown into +prison, and was there at the time of the massacre. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE STORY OF LUCKNOW. + + +"You are going to Lucknow?" she said. It was a lady in black, who sat +in the corner of the railway carriage, as we came down from Upper +India. A cloud passed over her face. "I cannot go there; I was in the +Residency during the siege, and my husband and daughter were killed +there. I cannot revisit a place of such sad memories." It was nothing +to her that the long struggle had ended in victory, and that the story +of the siege was one of the most glorious in English history. Nothing +could efface the impression of those months of suffering. She told us +how day and night the storm of fire raged around them; how the women +took refuge in the cellars; how her daughter was killed before her +eyes by the bursting of a shell; and how, when they grew familiar with +this danger, there came another terrible fear--that of death by +famine; how strong men grew weak for want of food; how women wasted +away from very hunger, and children died because they could find no +nourishment on their mother's breasts. + +But amid those horrors there was one figure which she loved to +recall--that of Sir Henry Lawrence, the lion-hearted soldier, who kept +up all hearts by his courage and his iron will--till he too fell, and +left them almost in despair. + +Such memories might keep away one who had been a sufferer in these +fearful scenes, but they stimulated our desire to see a spot +associated with such courage and devotion, and led us from the scene +of the tragedy of Cawnpore to that of the siege of Lucknow. + +But how soon nature washes away the stain of blood! As we crossed the +Ganges, the gentle stream, rippling against the Slaughter Ghat, left +no red spots upon its stony steps. Near the station was a large +enclosure full of elephants, some of which perhaps had carried their +burden of prisoners down to the river's brink on that fatal day, but +were now "taking their ease," as beasts and men like to do. Familiar +as we are with the sight, it always gives us a fresh impression of our +Asiatic surroundings, to come suddenly upon a herd of these creatures +of such enormous bulk, with ears as large as umbrellas, which are kept +moving like punkas to keep off the flies; to see them drawing up water +into their trunks, as "Behemoth drinketh up Jordan," and spurting it +over their backs; or what is more ludicrous still, to see them at +play, which seems entirely out of character. We think of the elephant +as a grave and solemn creature, made to figure on grand occasions, to +march in triumphal processions, carrying the howdahs of great Rajahs, +covered with cloth of gold. But there is as much of "youth" in the +elephant as in any other beast. A baby elephant is like any other +baby. As little tigers play like kittens, so a little elephant is like +a colt, or like "Mary's little lamb." + +Lucknow is only forty miles from Cawnpore, with which it is connected +by railway. A vast plain stretches to the gates of the capital of +Oude. It was evening when we reached our destination, where another +American friend, Rev. Mr. Mudge of the Methodist Mission, was waiting +to receive us. A ride of perhaps a couple of miles through the streets +and bazaars gave us some idea of the extent of a city which ranks +among the first in India. Daylight showed us still more of its extent +and its magnificence. It spreads out many miles over the plain, and +has a population of three hundred thousand, while in splendor it is +the first of the native cities of India--by native I mean one not +taking its character, like Calcutta and Bombay, from the English +element. Lucknow is more purely an Indian city, and has more of the +Oriental style in its architecture--its domes and minarets reminding +us of Cairo and Constantinople. Bayard Taylor says: "The coup d'oeil +from one of the bridges over the Goomtee, resembles that of +Constantinople from the bridge over the Golden Horn, and is more +imposing, more picturesque, and more truly Oriental than any other +city in India." It is a Mohammedan city, as much as Delhi, the mosques +quite overshadowing the Hindoo temples; and the Mohurrim, the great +Moslem festival, is observed here with the same fanaticism. But it is +much larger than Delhi, and though no single palaces equal those of +the old Moguls, yet it has more the appearance of a modern capital, in +its busy and crowded streets. It is a great commercial city, with rich +merchants, with artificers in silver and gold and all the fabrics of +the East. + +But the interest of Lucknow, derived from the fact of its being one of +the most populous cities of India, and one of the most splendid, is +quite eclipsed by the thrilling events of its recent history. All its +palaces and mosques have not the attraction of one sacred spot. This +is the Residency, the scene of the siege, which will make the name of +Lucknow immortal. How the struggle came, we may see by recalling one +or two facts in the history of India. + +A quarter of a century ago, this was not a part of the British +possessions. It was the Kingdom of Oude, with a sovereign who still +lives in a palace near Calcutta, with large revenues wherewith to +indulge his royal pleasure, but without his kingdom, which the English +Government has taken from him. This occurred just before the Mutiny, +and has often been alleged as one of the causes, if not _the_ cause, +of the outbreak; and England has been loudly accused of perfidy and +treachery towards an Indian prince, and of having brought upon +herself the terrible events which followed. + +No doubt the English Government has often carried things with a high +hand in India, and done acts which cannot be defended, just as we must +confess that our own Government, in dealing with our Indian tribes, +has sometimes seemed to ignore both justice and mercy. But as to this +king of Oude, his "right" to his dominion (which is, being +interpreted, a right to torture his unhappy subjects) is about the +same as the right of a Bengal tiger to his jungle--a right which holds +good till some daring hunter can put an end to his career. + +When this king ruled in Oude he was such a father to his people, and +such was the affection felt for his paternal government, that he had +to collect his taxes by the military, and it is said that the poor +people in the country built their villages on the borders of the +jungle, and kept a watch out for the approach of the soldiers. As soon +as they were signalled as being in sight, the wretched peasants +gathered up whatever they could carry, and fled into the jungle, +preferring to face the wild beasts and the serpents rather than these +mercenaries of a tyrant. The troops came, seized what was left and set +fire to the village. After they were gone, the miserable people +returned and rebuilt their mud hovels, and tried by tilling the soil, +to gain a bare subsistence. Such was the patriarchal government of one +of the native princes of India. + +This king of Oude now finds his chief amusement in collecting a great +menagerie. He has a very large number of wild beasts. He has also a +"snakery," in which he has collected all the serpents of India. It +must be confessed that such a man seems more at home among his tigers +and cobras than in oppressing his wretched people. If Americans who +visit his palace near Calcutta are moved to sympathy with this deposed +king, let them remember what his government was, and they may feel a +little pity for his miserable subjects. + +To put such a monster off the throne, and thus put an end to his +tyrannies, was about as much of a "crime" as it would be to restrain +the king of Dahomey or of Ashantee from perpetuating his "Grand +Custom." I am out of patience with this mawkish sympathy. There is too +much real misery in the world that calls for pity and relief, to have +us waste our sensibilities on those who are the scourges of mankind. + +But once done, the deed could not be undone. Having seized the bull by +the horns, it was necessary to hold him, and this was not an easy +matter. It needed a strong hand, which was given it in Sir Henry +Lawrence, who had been thirty years in India. Hardly had he been made +governor before he felt that there was danger in the air. Neither he +nor his brother John, the Governor of the Punjaub, were taken by +surprise when the Mutiny broke out. Both expected it, and it did not +find them unprepared. Oude was indeed a centre of rebellion. The +partisans of the ex-king were of course very active, so that when the +Sepoys mutinied at Meerut, near Delhi, the whole kingdom of Oude was +in open revolt. Every place was taken except Lucknow, and that was +saved only by the wisdom and promptness of its new governor. + +His first work was to fortify the Residency (so called from having +been occupied by the former English residents), which had about as +much of a military character as an old English manor-house. The +grounds covered some acres, on which were scattered a few buildings, +official residences and guardhouses, with open spaces between, laid +out in lawns and gardens. But the quick eye of the governor saw its +capability of defence. It was a small plateau, raised a few feet above +the plain around, and by connecting the different buildings by walls, +which could be mounted with batteries and loopholed for musketry, the +whole could be constructed into a kind of fortress. Into this he +gathered the European residents with their women and children. And +behind such rude defences a few hundred English soldiers, with as many +natives who had proved faithful, kept a large army at bay for six +months. + +There was a fort in Lucknow well supplied with guns and ammunition, +but it was defended by only three hundred men, and was a source of +weakness rather than strength, since the English force was too small +to hold it, and if it should fall into the hands of the Sepoys with +all its stores, it would be the arsenal of the rebellion. At Delhi a +similar danger had been averted only by a brave officer blowing up the +arsenal with his own hand. It was a matter of the utmost moment to +destroy the fort and yet to save the soldiers in it. The only hope of +keeping up any defence was to unite the two feeble garrisons. But they +were more than half a mile apart, and each beleaguered by watchful +enemies. Sir Henry Lawrence signalled to the officer in command: "Blow +up the fort, and come to the Residency at twelve o'clock to-night. +Bring your treasure and guns, and destroy the remainder." This +movement could be executed only by the greatest secrecy. But the order +was promptly obeyed. At midnight the little band filed silently out of +the gates, and stole with muffled steps along a retired path, almost +within reach of the guns of the enemies, who discovered the movement +only when they were safe in the Residency, and the fuse which had been +lighted at the fort reached the magazine, and exploding two hundred +and fifty barrels of gunpowder, blew the massive walls into the air. + +But the siege was only just begun. Inside the Residency were collected +about two thousand two hundred souls, of whom over five hundred were +women and children. Only about six hundred were English soldiers, and +seven or eight hundred natives who had remained faithful, held to +their allegiance by the personal ascendancy of Sir Henry Lawrence.[7] +There were also some three hundred civilians, who, though unused to +arms, willingly took part in the defence. Thus all together the +garrison did not exceed seventeen hundred men, of whom many were +disabled by sickness and wounds. The force of the besiegers was twenty +to one. There is in the Indian nature a strange mixture of languor and +ferocity, and the latter was aroused by the prospect of vengeance on +the English, who were penned up where they could not escape, and where +their capture was certain; and every Sepoy wished to be in at the +death. Under the attraction of such a prospect it is said that the +besieging force rose to fifty thousand men. Many of the natives, who +had been in the English service, were practised artillerists, and +trained their guns on the slender defences with fatal effect. +Advancing over the level ground, they drew their lines nearer and +nearer, till their riflemen picked off the soldiers serving in the +batteries. Three times they made a breach by exploding mines under the +walls, and endeavored to carry the place by storm. But then rose high +the unconquerable English spirit. They expected to die, but they were +determined to sell their lives dearly. When the alarm of these attacks +reached the hospital, the sick and wounded crawled out of their beds +and threw away their crutches to take their place at the guns; or if +they could not stand, lay down flat on their faces and fired through +the holes made for musketry. + +But brave as were the defenders, the long endurance told upon them. +They were worn out with watching, and their ranks grew thinner day by +day. Those who were killed were carried off in the arms of their +companions, who gathered at midnight for their burial in some lonely +and retired spot, and while the chaplain in a low voice read the +service, the survivors stood around the grave, thinking how soon their +turn would come, the gloom of the night in fit harmony with the dark +thoughts that filled their breasts. + +But darker than any night was the day when Sir Henry Lawrence fell. He +was the beloved, the adored commander. "While he lived," said our +informant, "we all felt safe." But exposing himself too much, he was +struck by a shell. Those around him lifted him up tenderly and carried +him away to the house of the surgeon of the garrison, where two days +after he died. When all was over "they did not dare to let the +soldiers know that he was dead," lest they should give up the +struggle. But he lived long enough to inspire them with his +unconquerable spirit. + +He died on the 4th of July, and for nearly three months the siege went +on without change, the situation becoming every day more desperate. It +was the hottest season of the year, and the sun blazed down fiercely +into their little camp, aggravating the sickness and suffering, till +they longed for death, and were glad when they could find the grave. +"When my daughter was struck down by a fragment of a shell that fell +on the floor, she did not ask to live. She might have been saved if +she had been where she could have had careful nursing. But there was +no proper food to nourish the strength of the sick, and so she sunk +away, feeling that it was better to die than to live." + +But still they would not yield to despair. Havelock had taken +Cawnpore, though he came too late to save the English from massacre, +and was straining every nerve to collect a force sufficient to relieve +Lucknow. As soon as he could muster a thousand men he crossed the +Ganges, and began his march. The movement was known to the little +garrison, and kept up their hopes. A faithful native, who acted as a +spy throughout the siege, went to and fro, disguising himself, and +crept through the lines in the night, and got inside the Residency, +and told them relief was coming. "He had seen the general, and said he +was a little man with white hair," who could be no other than +Havelock. Word was sent back that, on approaching the city, rockets +should be sent up to notify the garrison. Night after night officers +and men gazed toward the west for the expected signal, till their +hearts grew sick as the night passed and there was no sign. +Deliverance was to come, but not yet. + +Havelock found that he had attempted the impossible. His force was but +a handful, compared with the hosts of his enemies. Even nature +appeared to be against him. It was the hot and rainy season, when it +seemed impossible to march over the plains of India. Cannon had to be +drawn by bullocks over roads and across fields, where they sank deep +in mud. Men had to march and fight now in the broiling sun, and now in +floods of rain. "In the full midday heat of the worst season of the +year, did our troops start. The sun struck down with frightful force. +At every step a man reeled out of the ranks, and threw himself +fainting by the side of the road; the calls for water were incessant +all along the line." "During the interval between the torrents of +rain, the sun's rays were so overpowering that numbers of the men were +smitten down and died." But the survivors closed up their ranks and +kept their face to the foe. Their spirit was magnificent. Death had +lost its terrors for them, and they made light of hardships and +dangers. When fainting with heat, if they found a little dirty water +by the roadside "it was like nectar." After marching all day in the +rain, they would lie down in the soaking mud, and grasp their guns, +and wrap their coats around them, and sleep soundly. Says an officer: + + "August 5th we marched toward Lucknow nine miles and then + encamped on a large plain for the night. You must bear in + mind that we had no tents with us, they are not allowed, so + every day we were exposed to the burning sun and to the rain + and dew by night. No baggage or beds were allowed; but the + soldier wrapped his cloak around him, grasped his musket and + went to sleep, and soundly we slept too. My Arab horse + served me as a pillow, I used to lie down alongside of him, + with my head on his neck, and he never moved with me except + now and then to lick my hand." But he adds, "We found that + it was impossible to proceed to Lucknow, for our force was + too small--for though we were a brave little band, and could + fight to Lucknow, yet we could not compel them to raise the + siege when we got there." + +Another enemy also had appeared. Cholera had broken out in the camp; +eleven men died in one day. The Rebels too were rising behind them. As +soon as Havelock crossed the Ganges they began to gather in his rear. +Nana Sahib was mustering a force and threatened Cawnpore. Thus beset +behind and before, Havelock turned and marched against the Mahratta +chief, and sent him flying towards Delhi. In reading the account of +these marches and battles, it is delightful to see the spirit between +the commander and his men. After this victory, as he rode along the +lines, they cheered him vehemently. He returned their salute, but +said, "Don't cheer me, my lads, you did it all yourselves." Such men, +fighting together, were invincible. + +In September Havelock had collected 2,700 men, and again set out for +Lucknow. Three days they marched "under a deluge of rain." But their +eyes were "steadfastly set" towards the spot where their countrymen +were in peril, and they cared not for hardships and dangers. The +garrison was apprised of their coming, and waited with feverish +anxiety. In the relieving force was a regiment of Highlanders, and if +no crazy woman could put her ears to the ground (according to the +romantic story so often told) and hear the pibroch, and shout "The +Campbells are coming," they knew that those brave Scots never turned +back. As they drew near the city over the Cawnpore road, they found +that it was mined to blow them up. Instantly they wheeled off, and +marched round the city, and came up on the other side. Capturing the +Alumbagh, one of the royal residences, which, surrounded by a wall, +was easily converted into a temporary fortress, Havelock left here his +heavy baggage and stores of ammunition, with an immense array of +elephants and camels and horses; and all his sick and wounded, and the +whole train of camp-followers; and three hundred men, with four guns +to defend it. Thus "stripped for the fight," he began his attack on +the city. It was two miles to the Residency, and every step the +English had to fight their way through the streets. The battle began +in the morning, and lasted all day. It was a desperate attempt to +force their way through a great city, where every man was an enemy, +and they were fired at from almost every house. "Our advance was +through streets of flat-roofed and loop-holed houses, each forming a +separate fortress." Our informant told us of the frenzy in the +Residency when they heard the sound of the guns. "The Campbells were +coming" indeed! Sometimes the firing lulled, and it seemed as if they +were driven back. Then it rose again, and came nearer and nearer. How +the tide of battle ebbed and flowed, is well told in the narratives of +those who were actors in the scenes: + + "Throughout the night of the 24th great agitation and alarm + had prevailed in the city; and, as morning advanced, + increased and rapid movements of men and horses, gave + evidence of the excited state of the rebel force. At noon, + increasing noise proclaimed that street fighting was growing + more fierce in the distance; but from the Residency nought + but the smoke from the fire of the combatants could be + discerned. As the afternoon advanced, the sounds came nearer + and nearer, and then we heard the sharp crack of rifles + mingled with the flash of musketry; the well-known uniforms + of British soldiers were next discerned." + +A lady who was in the Residency, and has written a Diary of the Siege, +thus describes the coming in of the English troops: + + "Never shall I forget the moment to the latest day I live. + We had no idea they were so near, and were breathing the air + in the portico as usual at that hour, speculating when they + might be in; when suddenly just at dusk, we heard a very + sharp fire of musketry close by, and then a tremendous + cheering. An instant after, the sound of bagpipes--then + soldiers running up the road--our compound and veranda + filled with our deliverers, and all of us shaking hands + frantically, and exchanging fervent 'God bless you's' with + the gallant men and officers of the 78th Highlanders. Sir + James Outram and staff were the next to come in, and the + state of joyful confusion and excitement was beyond all + description. The big, rough-bearded soldiers were seizing + the little children out of our arms, kissing them, with + tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanking God they had + come in time to save them from the fate of those at + Cawnpore. We were all rushing about to give the poor fellows + drinks of water, for they were perfectly exhausted; and tea + was made down in the Tye-khana, of which a large party of + tired, thirsty officers partook, without milk or sugar. We + had nothing to give them to eat. Every one's tongue seemed + going at once with so much to ask and to tell; and the faces + of utter strangers beamed upon each other like those of + dearest friends and brothers." + +It was indeed a great deliverance, but the danger was not over. Of all +that were in the Residency when the siege began, three months before, +more than half were gone. Out of twenty-two hundred but nine hundred +were left, and of these less than one-half were fighting men. Even +with the reinforcement of Havelock the garrison was still far too +small to hold such a position in the midst of a city of such a +population. The siege went on for two months longer. The final relief +did not come till Sir Colin Campbell, arriving with a larger force, +again fought his way through the city. The atrocities of the Sepoys +had produced such a feeling that he could hardly restrain his +soldiers. Remembering the murders and massacres of their countrymen +and countrywomen, they fought with a savage fury. In one walled +enclosure, which they carried by storm, were two thousand Sepoys, and +they killed every man! + +Even then the work was not completed. Scarcely had Sir Colin Campbell +entered the Residency before he decided upon its evacuation. Again the +movement was executed at midnight, in silence and in darkness. While +the watch-fires were kept burning to deceive the enemy, the men filed +out of the gates, with the women and children in the centre of the +column, and moving softly and quickly through a narrow lane, in the +morning they were several miles from the city, in a strong position, +which made them safe from attack. + +The joy of this hour of deliverance was saddened by the death of +Havelock. He had passed through all the dangers of battle and siege, +only to die at last of disease, brought on by the hardships and +exposures of the last few months. But his work was done. He had +nothing to do but to die. To his friend, Sir James Outram, who came to +see him, he stretched out his hand and said: "For more than forty +years I have so ruled my life, that when death came, I might face it +without fear." + +The garrison was saved, but the city was still in the hands of the +Rebels, who were as defiant as ever. It was some months before Sir +Colin Campbell gathered forces sufficient for the final and crushing +blow. Indeed it was not till winter that he had collected a really +formidable army. Then he moved on the city in force and carried it by +storm. Two days of terrible fighting gave him the mastery of Lucknow, +and the British flag was once more raised over the capital of Oude, +where it has floated in triumph unto this day. + +But the chief interest gathers about the earlier defence. The siege of +Lucknow is one of the most thrilling events in modern history, and may +well be remembered with pride by all who took part in it. A few weeks +before we were here the Prince of Wales had made his visit to Lucknow, +and requested that the survivors of the siege might be presented to +him. Mr. Mudge was present at the interview, and told me he had never +witnessed a more affecting scene than when these brave old soldiers, +the wrecks of the war, some of them bearing the marks of their wounds, +came up to the Prince, and received his warmest thanks for their +courage and fidelity. + +These heroic memories were fresh in mind as we took our morning walk +in Lucknow, along the very street by which Havelock had fought his way +through the city. The Residency is now a ruin, its walls shattered by +shot and shell. But the ruins are overrun with vines and creeping +plants, and are beautiful even in their decay. With sad interest we +visited the spot where Sir Henry Lawrence was struck by the fatal +shell, and the cemetery in which he is buried. He was a Christian +soldier and before his death received the communion. He asked that no +eulogy might be written on his tomb, but only these words: "Here lies +Henry Lawrence, who tried to do his duty. May God have mercy on his +soul." This dying utterance is inscribed on the plain slab of marble +that covers his dust. It is enough. No epitaph could say more. As I +stood there and read these simple words and thought of the noble dead, +my eyes were full of tears. With such a consciousness of duty done, +who could fear to die? How well do these words express that which +should be the highest end of human ambition. Happy will it be for any +man of whom, when he has passed from the world, it can with truth be +written above his grave, "Here lies one who tried to do his duty!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[7] As the historian of the mutiny has frequent occasion to speak of +the treachery of the Sepoys, it should not be forgotten that to this +there were splendid exceptions; that some were "found faithful among +the faithless." Even in the regiments that mutinied there were some +who were not carried away by the general madness; and, when the little +remnant of English soldiers retreated into the Residency, these loyal +natives went with them, and shared all the dangers and hardships of +the siege. Even after it was begun, they were exposed to every +temptation to seduce them from their allegiance; for as the lines of +the besiegers drew closer to the Residency and hemmed it in on every +side, the assailants were so near that they could talk with those +within over the palisades of the intrenchments, and the Sepoys +appealed to their late fellow-soldiers by threats, and taunts, and +promises; by pride of race and of caste; by their love of country and +of their religion, to betray the garrison. But not a man deserted his +post. Hundreds were killed in the siege, and their blood mingled with +that of their English companions-in-arms. History does not record a +more noble instance of fidelity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA. + + +In reviewing the terrible scenes of the Mutiny, one cannot help asking +whether such scenes are likely to occur again; whether there will ever +be another Rebellion; and if so, what may be the chance of its +success? Will the people of India wish to rise? How are they affected +towards the English government? Are they loyal? We can only answer +these questions by asking another: Who are meant by the people of +India? The population is divided into different classes, as into +different castes. The great mass of the people are passive. Accustomed +to being handed over from one native ruler to another, they care not +who holds the power. He is the best ruler who oppresses them the +least. But among the high caste Brahmins, and especially those who +have been educated (among whom alone there is anything like political +life in India), there is a deep-seated disaffection towards the +English rule. This is a natural result of an education which enlarges +their ideas and raises their ambition. Some of the Bengalees, for +example, are highly educated men, and it is but natural that, as they +increase in knowledge, they should think that they are quite competent +to govern themselves. Hence their dislike to the foreign power that is +imposed upon them. Not that they have any personal wrongs to avenge. +It may be that they are attached to English _men_, while they do not +like the English rule. Every man whose mind is elevated by knowledge +and reflection, wishes to be his own master; and if ruled at all, he +likes to be ruled by those of his own blood and race and language. +This class of men, whether Hindoos or Mohammedans, however courteous +they may be to the English in their personal or business relations, +are not thereby converted to loyalty, any more than they are converted +to Christianity. + +But however strong their dislike, it is not very probable that it +should take shape in organized rebellion, and still less likely that +any such movement should succeed. The English are now guarded against +it as never before. In the Mutiny they were taken at every possible +disadvantage. The country was almost stripped of English troops. Only +20,000 men were left, and these scattered far apart, and surrounded by +three times their number of Sepoys in open rebellion. Thus even the +military organization was in the hands of the enemy. If with all these +things against them, English skill and courage and discipline +triumphed at last, can it ever be put to such a test again? + +When the Mutiny was over, and the English had time to reflect on the +danger they had escaped, they set themselves to repair their defences, +so that they should never more be in such peril. The first thing was +to reorganize the army, to weed out the elements of disaffection and +rebellion, and to see that the power was henceforth in safe hands. The +English troops were tripled in force, till now, instead of twenty, +they number sixty thousand men. The native regiments were carefully +chosen from those only who had proved faithful, such as the Goorkas, +who fought so bravely at Delhi, and other hill tribes of the +Himalayas; and the Punjaubees, who are splendid horsemen, and make the +finest cavalry. But not even these, brave and loyal as they had been, +were mustered into any regiment except cavalry and infantry. Not a +single native soldier was left in the artillery. In the Mutiny, if the +Sepoys had not been practised gunners, they would not have been so +formidable at the siege of Lucknow and elsewhere. Now they are +stripped of this powerful arm, and in any future rising they could do +nothing against fortified places, nor against an army in the field, +equipped with modern artillery. In reserving this arm of the service +to themselves, the English have kept the decisive weapon in their own +hands. + +Then it is hardly too much to say that by the present complete system +of railroads, the English force is _quadrupled_, as this gives them +the means of concentrating rapidly at any exposed point. + +To these elements of military strength must be added the greater +organizing power of Englishmen. The natives make good soldiers. They +are brave, and freely expose themselves in battle. In the Sikh war the +Punjaubees fought desperately. So did the Sepoys in the Mutiny. But +the moment the plan of attack was disarranged, they were "all at sea." +Their leaders had no "head" for quick combinations in presence of an +enemy. As it has been, so it will be. In any future contests it will +be not only the English sword, English guns, and English discipline, +but more than all, the English brains, that will get them the victory. + +Such is the position of England in India. She holds a citadel girt +round with defences on every side, with strong walls without, and +brave hearts within. I have been round about her towers, and marked +well her bulwarks, and I see not why, so guarded and defended, she may +not hold her Indian Empire for generations to come. + +But there is a question back of all this. Might does not make right. A +government may be established in power that is not established in +justice. It may be that the English are to remain masters of India, +yet without any right to that splendid dominion. As we read the +thrilling stories of the Mutiny, it is almost with a guilty feeling +(as if it betrayed a want of sympathy with all that heroism), that we +admit any inquiry as to the cause of that fearful tragedy. But how +came all this blood to be shed? Has not England something to answer +for? If she has suffered terribly, did she not pay the penalty of her +own grasping ambition? Nations, like individuals, often bring curses +on themselves, the retribution of their oppressions and their crimes. +The fact that men fight bravely, is no proof that they fight in a just +cause. Nay, the very admiration that we feel for their courage in +danger and in death, but increases our horror at the "political +necessity" which requires them to be sacrificed. If England by her own +wicked policy provoked the Mutiny, is she not guilty of the blood of +her children? Thomas Jefferson, though a slaveholder himself, used to +say that in a war of races every attribute of Almighty God would take +part with the slave against his master; and Englishmen may well ask +whether in the conflict which has come once, and may come again, they +can be quite sure that Infinite Justice will always be on their side. + +In these sentences I have put the questions which occur to an American +travelling in India. Wherever he goes, he sees the English flag flying +on every fortress--the sign that India is a conquered country. The +people who inhabit the country are not those who govern it. With his +Republican ideas of the right of every nation to govern itself, he +cannot help asking: What business have the English in India? What +right have a handful of Englishmen, so far from their native island, +in another hemisphere, to claim dominion over two hundred millions of +men? + +As an American, I have not the bias of national feeling to lead me to +defend and justify the English rule in India; though I confess that +when, far off here in Asia, among these dusky natives, I see a white +face, and hear my own mother tongue, I feel that "blood is thicker +than water," and am ready to take part with my kindred against all +comers. Even Americans cannot but feel a pride in seeing men of their +own race masters of such a kingdom in the East. But this pride of +empire will not extinguish in any fair mind the sense of justice and +humanity. + +"Have the English any right in India?" If it be "a question of +titles," we may find it difficult to prove our own right in America, +from which we have crowded out the original inhabitants. None of us +can claim a title from the father of the human race. All new settlers +in a country are "invaders." But public interest and the common law of +the world demand that power, once established, should be recognized. + +According to the American principle, that "all just government derives +its authority from the consent of the governed," there never was a +just government in India, for the consent of the governed was never +obtained. The people of India were never asked to give their "consent" +to the government established over them. They were ruled by native +princes, who were as absolute, and in general as cruel tyrants, as +ever crushed a wretched population. + +No doubt in planting themselves in India, the English have often used +the rights of conquerors. No one has denounced their usurpations and +oppressions more than their own historians, such as Mill and Macaulay. +The latter, in his eloquent reviews of the lives of Clive and Warren +Hastings, has spoken with just severity of the crimes of those +extraordinary but unscrupulous men. For such acts no justification can +be pleaded whatever. But as between Clive and Surajah Dowlah, the rule +of the former was infinitely better. It would be carrying the doctrine +of self-government to an absurd extent, to imagine that the monster +who shut up English prisoners in the Black Hole had any right which +was to be held sacred. The question of right, therefore, is not +between the English and the people of India, but between the English +and the native princes. Indeed England comes in to protect the people +against the princes, when it gives them one strong master in place of +a hundred petty tyrants. The King of Oude collecting his taxes by +soldiers, is but an instance of that oppression and cruelty which +extended all over India, but which is now brought to an end. + +And how has England used her power? At first, we must confess, with +but little of the feeling of responsibility which should accompany the +possession of power. Nearly a hundred years ago, Burke (who was master +of all facts relating to the history of India, and to its political +condition, more than any other man of his time) bitterly arraigned the +English government for its cruel neglect of that great dependency. He +denounced his countrymen, the agents of the East India Company, as a +horde of plunderers, worse than the soldiers of Tamerlane, and held up +their greedy and rapacious administration to the scorn of mankind, +showing that they had left no beneficent monuments of their power to +compare with those of the splendid reigns of the old Moguls. In a +speech in Parliament in 1783, he said: + + "England has erected no churches, no palaces, no hospitals, + no schools; England has built no bridges, made no high + roads, cut no navigations, dug out no reservoirs. Every + other conqueror of every other description has left some + monument either of State or beneficence behind him. Were we + to be driven out of India this day, nothing would remain to + tell that it had been possessed, during the inglorious + period of our dominion, by anything better than the + orang-outang or the tiger." + +This is a fearful accusation. What answer can be made to it? Has there +been any change for the better since the great impeacher of Warren +Hastings went to his grave? How has England governed India since that +day? She has not undertaken to govern it like a Model Republic. If she +had, her rule would soon have come to an end. She has not given the +Hindoos universal suffrage, or representation in Parliament. But she +has given them something better--Peace and Order and Law, a trinity of +blessings that they never had before. When the native princes ruled in +India, they were constantly at war among themselves, and thus +overrunning and harassing the country. Now the English government +rules everywhere, and Peace reigns from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas. + +Strange to say, this quietness does not suit some of the natives, who +have a restless longing for the wild lawlessness of former times. A +missionary was one day explaining to a crowd the doctrine of original +sin, when he was roughly interrupted by one who said, "I know what is +original sin: it is the English rule in India." "You ought not to say +that," was the reply, "for if it were not for the English the people +of the next village would make a raid on your village, and carry off +five thousand sheep." But the other was not to be put down so, and +answered promptly, "_I should like that_, for then we would make a +raid on them and carry off ten thousand!" This was a blunt way of +putting it, but it expresses the feeling of many who would prefer that +kind of wild justice which prevails among the Tartar hordes of Central +Asia to a state of profound tranquility. They would rather have +Asiatic barbarism than European civilization. + +With peace between States, England has established order in every +community. It has given protection to life and property--a sense of +security which is the first condition of the existence of human +society. It has abolished heathen customs which were inhuman and +cruel. It has extirpated thuggism, and put an end to infanticide and +the burning of widows. This was a work of immense difficulty, because +these customs, horrid as they were, were supported by religious +fanaticism. Mothers cast their children into the Ganges as an offering +to the gods; and widows counted it a happy escape from the sufferings +of life to mount the funeral pile. Even to this day there are some who +think it hard that they cannot thus sacrifice themselves. + +So wedded are the people to their customs, that they are very jealous +of the interference of the government, when it prohibits any of their +practices on the ground of humanity. Dr. Newton, of Lahore, the +venerable missionary, told me that he knew a few years ago a fakir, a +priest of a temple, who had grown to be very friendly with him. One +day the poor man came, with his heart full of trouble, to tell his +griefs. He had a complaint against the government. He said that Sir +John Lawrence, then Governor of the Punjaub, was very arbitrary. And +why? Because he wanted to bury himself alive, and the Governor +wouldn't let him! He had got to be a very old man (almost a hundred), +and of course must soon leave this world. He had had a tomb prepared +in the grounds of the temple (he took Dr. Newton to see what a nice +place it was), and there he wished to lie down and breathe his last. +With the Hindoos it is an act of religious merit to bury one's self +alive, and on this the old man had set his heart. If he could do this, +he would go straight to Paradise, but the hard English Governor, +insensible to such considerations, would not permit it. Was it not too +bad that he could not be allowed to go to heaven in his own way? + +Breaking up these old barbarities--suicide, infanticide, and the +burning of widows--the government has steadily aimed to introduce a +better system for the administration of justice, in which, with due +regard to Hindoo customs and prejudices, shall be incorporated, as far +as possible, the principles of English law. For twenty years the +ablest men that could be found in India or in England, have been +engaged in perfecting an elaborate Indian Code, in which there is one +law for prince and pariah. What must be the effect on the Hindoo mind +of such a system, founded in justice, and enforced by a power which +they cannot resist? Such laws administered by English magistrates, +will educate the Hindoos to the idea of justice, which, outside of +English colonies, can hardly be said to exist in Asia. + +The English are the Romans of the modern world. Wherever the Roman +legions marched, they ruled with a strong hand, but they established +law and order, the first conditions of human society. So with the +English in all their Asiatic dependencies. Wherever they come, they +put an end to anarchy, and give to all men that sense of protection +and security, that feeling of personal safety--safety both to life and +property--without which there is no motive to human effort, and no +possibility of human progress. + +The English are like the Romans in another feature of their +administration, in the building of roads. The Romans were the great +road-builders of antiquity. Highways which began at Rome, and thus +radiated from a common centre, led to the most distant provinces. Not +only in Italy, but in Spain and Gaul and Germany, did the ancient +masters of the world leave these enduring monuments of their power. +Following this example, England, before the days of railroads, built a +broad macadamized road from Calcutta to Peshawur, over 1,500 miles. +This may have been for a military purpose; but no matter, it serves +the ends of peace more than of war. It becomes a great avenue of +commerce; it opens communication between distant parts of India, and +brings together men of different races, speaking different languages; +and thus, by promoting peaceful and friendly intercourse, it becomes a +highway of civilization. + +Nor is this the only great road in this country. Everywhere I have +found the public highways in excellent condition. Indeed I have not +found a bad road in India--not one which gave me such a "shaking up" +as I have sometimes had when riding over the "corduroys" through the +Western forests of America. Around the large towns the roads are +especially fine--broad and well paved, and often planted with trees. +The cities are embellished with parks, like cities in England, with +botanical and zoological gardens. The streets are kept clean, and +strict sanitary regulations are enforced--a matter of the utmost +moment in this hot climate, and in a dense population, where a sudden +outbreak of cholera would sweep off thousands in a few days or hours. +The streets are well lighted and well policed, so that one may go +about at any hour of day or night with as much safety as in London or +New York. If these are the effects of foreign rule, even the most +determined grumbler must confess that it has proved a material and +substantial benefit to the people of India. + +Less than twenty years ago the internal improvements of India received +a sudden and enormous development, when to the building of roads +succeeded that of railroads. Lord Dalhousie, when Governor-General, +had projected a great railroad system, but it was not till after the +Mutiny, and perhaps in consequence of the lessons learned by that +terrible experience, that the work was undertaken on a large scale. +The government guaranteed five per cent. interest for a term of years, +and the capital was supplied from England. Labor was abundant and +cheap, and the works were pushed on with unrelaxing energy, till India +was belted from Bombay to Calcutta, and trunk lines were running up +and down the country, with branches to every large city. Thus, to +English foresight and sagacity, to English wealth and engineering +skill, India owes that vast system of railroads which now spreads over +the whole peninsula. + +In no part of the world are railroads more used than in India. Of +course the first-class carriages are occupied chiefly by English +travellers, or natives of high rank; and the second-class by those +less wealthy. But there are trains for the people, run at very low +fares. There are huge cars, built with two stories, and carrying a +hundred passengers each, and these two-deckers are often very closely +packed. The Hindoos have even learned to make pilgrimages by steam, +and find it much cheaper, as well as easier, than to go afoot. When +one considers the long journeys they have been accustomed to undertake +under the burning sun of India, the amount of suffering relieved by a +mode of locomotion so cool and swift is beyond computation. + +Will anybody tell me that the people of India, if left alone, would +have built their own railways? Perhaps in the course of ages, but not +in our day. The Asiatic nature is torpid and slow to move, and cannot +rouse itself to great exertion. In the whole Empire of China there is +not a railroad, except at Shanghai, where a few months ago was opened +a little "one-horse concern," a dozen miles long, built by the +foreigners for the convenience of that English settlement. This may +show how rapid would have been the progress of railroads in India, if +left wholly to native "enterprise." It would have taken hundreds of +years to accomplish what the English have wrought in one generation. + +Nor does English engineering skill expend itself on railroads alone. +It has dug canals that are like rivers in their length. The Ganges +Canal in Upper India is a work equal to our Erie Canal. Other canals +have been opened, both for commerce and for irrigation. The latter is +a matter vital to India. The food of the Hindoos is rice, and rice +cannot be cultivated except in fields well watered. A drought in the +rice fields means a famine in the province. Such a calamity is now +averted in many places by this artificial irrigation. The overflow +from these streams, which are truly "fountains in the desert," has +kept whole districts from being burnt up, by which in former years +millions perished by famine. + +While thus caring for the material comfort and safety of the people of +India, England has also shown regard to their enlightenment in +providing a magnificent system of National Education. Every town in +India has its government school, while many a large city has its +college or its university. Indeed, so far has this matter of education +been carried, that I heard a fear expressed that it was being +overdone--at least the higher education--because the young men so +educated were unfitted for anything else than the employ of the +government. All minor places in India are filled by natives, and well +filled too. But there are not enough for all. And hence many, finding +no profession to enter, and educated above the ordinary occupations of +natives, are left stranded on the shore. + +These great changes in India, these schools and colleges, the better +administration of the laws, and these vast internal improvements, have +been almost wholly the work of the generation now living. In the first +century of its dominion the English rule perhaps deserved the bitter +censure of Burke, but + + "If 'twere so, it were a grievous fault, + And grievously hath Caesar answered it." + +England has paid for the misgovernment of India in the blood of her +children, and within the last few years she has striven nobly to +repair the errors of former times. Thus one generation makes atonement +for the wrongs of another. She has learned that justice is the highest +wisdom, and the truest political economy. The change is due in part to +the constant pressure of the Christian sentiment of England upon its +government, which has compelled justice to India, and wrought those +vast changes which we see with wonder and admiration. + +Thus stretching out her mighty arm over India, England rules the land +from sea to sea. I say not that she rules it in absolute +righteousness--that her government is one of ideal perfection, but it +is immeasurably better than that of the old native tyrants which it +displaced. It at least respects the forms of law, and while it +establishes peace, it endeavors also to maintain justice. The +railroads that pierce the vast interior quicken the internal commerce +of the country, while the waters that are caused to flow over the +rice-fields of Bengal abate the horrors of pestilence and famine. Thus +England gives to her Asiatic empire the substantial benefits of modern +civilization; while in her schools and colleges she brings the subtle +Hindoo mind into contact with the science and learning of the West. At +so many points does this foreign rule touch the very life of India, +and infuse the best blood of Europe into her languid veins. + +With such results of English rule, who would not wish that it might +continue? It is not that we love the Hindoo less, but the cause of +humanity more. The question of English rule in India is a question of +civilization against barbarism. These are the two forces now in +conflict for the mastery of Asia. India is the place where the two +seas meet. Shall she be left to herself, shut up between her seas and +her mountains? That would be an unspeakable calamity, not only to her +present inhabitants, but to unborn millions. I believe in modern +civilization, as I believe in Christianity. These are the great forces +which are to conquer the world. In conquering Asia, they will redeem +it and raise it to a new life. The only hope of Asia is from Europe: + + "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay;" + +and the only hope of India is from England. So whatever contests may +yet arise for the control of this vast peninsula, with its two hundred +millions of people, our sympathies must always be against Asiatic +barbarism, and on the side of European civilization. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MISSIONS IN INDIA--DO MISSIONARIES DO ANY GOOD? + + +"Is it not all a farce?" said a Major in the Bengal Staff Corps, as we +came down from Upper India. We were talking of Missions. He did not +speak of them with hatred, but only with contempt. The missionaries +"meant well," but they were engaged in an enterprise which was so +utterly hopeless, that no man in his senses could regard it as other +than supreme and almost incredible folly. In this he spoke the opinion +of half the military men of India. They have no personal dislike to +missionaries--indeed many an officer in an out-of-the-way district, +who has a missionary family for almost his only neighbors, will +acknowledge that they are "a great addition to the English society." +But as for their doing any good, as an officer once said to me: "They +might as well go and stand on the shore of the sea and preach to the +fishes, as to think to convert the Hindoos!" Their success, of which +so much is said in England and America, is "infinitesimally small." +Some even go so far as to say that the missionaries do great mischief; +that they stir up bad blood in the native population, and perpetuate +an animosity of races. Far better would it be to leave the "mild +Hindoo" to his gods; to let him worship his sacred cows, and monkeys +and serpents, and his hideous idols, so long as he is a quiet and +inoffensive subject of the government. + +If one were preaching a sermon to a Christian congregation, he might +disdain a reply to objections which seem to come out of the mouths of +unbelievers; it would be enough to repeat the words of Him who said, +"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." But I +am not preaching, but conversing with an intelligent gentleman, who +has lived long in India, and might well assume that he knows far more +about the actual situation than I do. Such men are not to be put down. +They represent a large part of the Anglo-Indian population. We may +therefore as well recognize the fact that Modern Missions, like any +other enterprise which is proposed in the interest of civilization, +are now on trial before the world. We may look upon them as too sacred +for criticism; but in this irreverent age nothing is too sacred; +everything that is holy has to be judged by reason, and by practical +results, and by these to be justified or to be condemned. I would not +therefore claim anything on the ground of authority, but speak of +missions as I would of national education, or even of the railroad +system of India. + +The question here raised I think deserves a larger and more candid +treatment than it commonly receives either from the advocates or the +opponents of missions. It is not to be settled merely by pious +feeling, by unreasoning sentiment on the one hand, nor by sneers on +the other. To convert a whole country from one religion to another, is +an undertaking so vast that it is not to be lightly entered upon. The +very attempt assumes a superior wisdom on the part of those who make +it, which is itself almost an offence. If it be not "a grand +impertinence," an intrusion into matters with which no stranger has a +right to intermeddle, it is at least taking a great liberty to thrust +upon a man our opinion in censure of his own. We may think him very +ignorant, and in need of being enlightened. But he may have a poor +opinion of our ability to enlighten him. We think him a fool, and he +returns the compliment. At any rate, right or wrong, he is entitled to +the freedom of his opinion as much as we are to ours. If a stranger +were to come to us day by day, to argue with us, and to force his +opinions upon us, either in politics or religion, we might listen +civilly and patiently at first, but we should end by turning him out +of doors. What right have we to pronounce on his opinions and conduct +any more than he upon ours? + +In the domain of religion, especially, a man's opinions are sacred. +They are between himself and God. There is no greater offence against +courtesy, against that mutual concession of perfect freedom, which is +the first law of all human intercourse, than to interfere wantonly +with the opinions--nay, if you please, with the false opinions, with +the errors and prejudices--of mankind. Nothing but the most imperative +call of humanity--a plea of "necessity or mercy"--can justify a +crusade against the ancestral faith of a whole people. + +I state the case as strongly as I can, that we may look upon it as an +English officer, or even an intelligent Hindoo, looks upon it, and I +admit frankly that we have no more right to force our religion upon +the people of India, than to force upon them a republican form of +government, unless we can give a reason for it, which shall be +recognized at the bar of the intelligent judgment of mankind. + +Is there then any good reason--any _raison d'etre_--for the +establishment of missions in India? If there be not some very solid +and substantial ground for their existence, they are not to be +justified merely because their motive is good. Is there then any +reason whatever which can justify any man, or body of men, in invading +this country with a new religion, and attacking the ancient faith of +the people? + +All students of history will acknowledge that there are certain great +revolutions in the opinions of mankind, which are epochs in history, +and turning points in the life of nations. India has had many such +revolutions, dating far back before the Christian era. Centuries +before Christ was born, Buddha preached his new faith on the banks of +the Ganges. For a time it conquered the country, driving out the old +Brahminism, which however came back and conquered in its turn, till +Buddhism, retiring slowly from the plains of India, planted its +pagodas on the shores of Burmah and among the mountains of Ceylon. + +Thus India is a land of missions, and has been from the very +beginnings of history. It was traversed by missionaries of its ancient +faith ages before Tamerlane descended the passes of the Himalayas with +the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other; or Francis Xavier, +the Apostle of the Indies, laid his bones in the Cathedral of Goa. If +then Buddhists and Brahmins, and Moslems and Romanists, have so long +disputed the land, there is certainly no reason why we should condemn +at the very outset the entrance of Protestant Christianity. + +Beside this great fact in the history of India place another: that +there is no country in the world where religion is such a power, such +an element in the life of the people. The Hindoos are not only +religious, they are intensely so. They have not indeed the fierce +fanaticism of the Moslems, for their creed tolerates all religions, +but what they believe they believe strongly. They have a subtle +philosophy which pervades all their thinking, which digs the very +channels in which their thoughts run, and cannot overflow; and this +philosophy, which is imbedded in their religious creed, fixes their +castes and customs, as rigidly as it does their forms of worship. +Religion is therefore the chief element in the national life. It has +more to do in moulding the ideas and habits, the manners and customs, +of the people, than laws or government, or any other human +institution. Thus India furnishes the most imposing illustration on +earth of the power of Religion to shape the destiny of a country or a +race. + +Whether there be anything to justify a friendly invasion of India, and +the attempt to convert its people to a better religion, may appear if +we ask, What is Hindooism? Is it a good or bad faith? Does it make men +better or worse--happy or unhappy? Does it promote the welfare of +human beings, or is it a system which is false in belief and deadly in +its effects, and against which we have a right to wage a holy war? + +Hindooism has a thousand shapes, spreading out its arms like a mighty +banyan tree, but its root is one--Pantheism. When an old fakir at the +Mela at Allahabad said to me, "You are God and I am God!" he did not +utter a wild rhapsody, but expressed the essence of Hindoo philosophy, +according to which all beings that exist are but One Being; all +thoughts are but the pulse-beats of One Infinite Mind; all acts are +but the manifestation of One Universal Life. + +Some may think this theory a mere abstraction, which has no practical +bearing. But carried out to its logical consequences, it overthrows +all morality. If all acts of men are God's acts, then they are all +equally good or bad; or rather, they are neither good nor bad. Thus +moral distinctions are destroyed, and vice and virtue are together +banished from the world. Hence Hindooism as a religion has nothing +whatever to do with morality or virtue, but is only a means of +propitiating angry deities. It is a religion of terror and fear. It is +also unspeakably vile. It is the worship of obscene gods by obscene +rites. Its very gods and goddesses commit adultery and incest. Thus +vice is deified. Such a mythology pollutes the imaginations of the +people, whereby their very mind and conscience are defiled. Not only +the heart, but even the intellect is depraved by the loathsome objects +set up in their temples. The most common object of worship in India is +an obscene image. Indeed, so well understood is this, that when a law +was passed by the Government against the exhibition of obscene images, +an express exception was made in favor of those exposed in temples, +and which were objects of religious worship. Thus Hindooism has the +privilege of indecency, and is allowed to break over all restraints. +It is the licensed harlot, that is permitted, in deference to its +religious pretensions, to disregard the common decencies of mankind. +The effect of this on public morals can be imagined. The stream cannot +rise higher than its source. How can a people be pure, when their very +religion is a fountain of pollution? But this is a subject on which we +cannot enlarge. It is an abyss into which no one would wish to look. +It is sufficient to indicate what we cannot for very loathing +undertake to describe. + +There is another element in the Hindoo religion, which cannot be +ignored, and which gives it a tremendous power for good or evil. It is +Caste. Every Hindoo child is born in a certain caste, out of which he +cannot escape. When I landed at Bombay I observed that every native +had upon his forehead a mark freshly made, as if with a stroke of the +finger, which indicated the god he worshipped or the caste to which he +belonged. Of these there are four principal ones--the Priest, or +Brahmin caste, which issued out of the mouth of Brahm; the Warrior +caste, which sprung from his arms and breast; the Merchant caste, from +his thighs; and the Shoodras, or Servile caste, which crawled out from +between his feet; beside the Pariahs, who are below all caste. These +divisions are absolute and unchangeable. To say that they are +maintained by the force of ancient custom is not enough: they are +fixed as by a law of nature. The strata of society are as immovable as +the strata of the rock-ribbed hills. No man can stir out of his place. +If he is up he stays up by no virtue of his own; and if he is down, he +stays down, beyond any power of man to deliver him. No gift of genius, +or height of virtue, can ever raise up one of a low caste into a +higher, for caste is a matter of birth. Upon these sub-strata this +fixity of caste rests with crushing weight. It holds them down as with +the force of gravitation, as if the Himalayas were rolled upon them to +press them to the earth. + +Against this oppression there is no power of resistance, no lifting up +from beneath to throw it off. One would suppose that the people +themselves would revolt at this servitude, that every manly instinct +would rise up in rebellion against such a degradation. But so +ingrained is it in the very life of the people, that they cannot cast +it out any more than they can cast out a poison in their blood. Indeed +they seem to glory in it. The lower castes crouch and bow down that +others may pass over them. A Brahmin, who had become a Christian, told +me that the people had often asked him to wash his feet in the water +of the street, that they might drink it! + +Caste is a cold and cruel thing, which hardens the heart against +natural compassion. I know it is said that high caste is only an +aristocracy of birth, and that, as such, it fosters a certain nobility +of feeling, and also a mutual friendliness between those who belong to +the same order. A caste is only a larger family, and in it there is +the same feeling, a mixture of pride and affection, which binds the +family together. Perhaps it may nurture to some extent a kind of +clannishness, but it does this at the sacrifice of the broader and +nobler sentiment of humanity. It hardens the heart into coldness and +cruelty against all without one sacred pale. The Brahmin feels nothing +for the sufferings of the Pariah, who is of another order of being as +truly as if he were one of the lower animals. Thus the feeling of +caste extinguishes the sentiment of human brotherhood. + +Taking all these elements together, Hindooism must rank as the most +despotic, the most cruel, and the vilest of all that is called +religion among men. There is no other that so completely upturns moral +distinctions, and makes evil good and good evil. Other religions, even +though false, have some sentiment that ennobles them, but Hindooism, +the product of a land fertile in strange births, is the lowest and +basest, the most truly earth-born, of all the religions that curse +mankind. + +And what burdens does it lay upon a poor, patient, and suffering +people, in prayers, penances, and pilgrimages! The faith of Hindooism +is not a mild and harmless form of human credulity. It exacts a +terrible service, that must be paid with sweat and blood. Millions of +Hindoos go every year on pilgrimages. The traveller sees them +thronging the roads, dragging their weary feet over the hot plains, +many literally _crawling_ over the burning earth, to appease the wrath +of angry gods! A religion which exacts such service is not a mere +creature of the imagination--it is a tremendous reality, which makes +its presence felt at every moment. It is therefore not a matter of +practical indifference. It is not a mere exhibition of human folly, +which, however absurd, does no harm to anybody. It is a despotism +which grinds the people to powder. + +Seeing this, how they suffer under a power from which they cannot +escape, can there be a greater object of philanthropy in all the world +than to emancipate them from the bondage of such ignorance and +superstition? Scientific men, the apostles of "modern thought," +consider it not only a legitimate object, but the high "mission" of +science, by unfolding the laws of nature, to disabuse our minds of +idle and superstitious fears; to break up that vague terror of unseen +forces, which is the chief element of superstition. If they may fight +this battle in England, may we not fight the battle of truth with +error and ignorance in Hindostan? Englishmen think it a noble thing +for brave and adventurous spirits to form expeditions to penetrate the +interior of Africa to break up the slave trade. But here is a slavery +the most terrible which ever crushed the life out of human beings. +Brahminism, which is fastened upon the people of India, embraces them +like an anaconda, clasping and crushing them in its mighty folds. It +is a devouring monster, which takes out of the very body of every +Hindoo, poor and naked and wretched as he may be, its pound of +quivering flesh. Can these things be, and we look on unmoved? Can we +see a whole people bound, like Laocooen and his sons, in the grasp of +the serpent, writhing and struggling in vain, and not come to their +rescue? + +Such is Hindooism, and such is the condition to which it has reduced +the people of India. Do we need any other argument for Christian +missions? Does not this simple statement furnish a perfect defence, +and even an imperative demand for their establishment? Christianity is +the only hope of India. In saying this I do not intend any disrespect +to the people of this country, to whom I feel a strong attraction. We +are not apt to hear from our missionary friends much about the virtues +of the heathen; but virtues they have, which it were wrong to ignore. +The Hindoos, like other Asiatics, are a very domestic people, and have +strong domestic attachments. They love their homes, humble though they +be, and their children. And while they have not the active energy of +Western races, yet in the passive virtues--meekness, patience under +injury, submission to wrong--they furnish an example to Christian +nations. That submissiveness, which travellers notice, and which moves +some to scorn, moves me rather to pity, and I find in this patient, +long-suffering race much to honor and to love. Nor are they +unintelligent. They have very subtle minds. Thus they have many of the +qualities of a great people. But their religion is their destruction. +It makes them no better, it makes them worse. It does not lift them +up, it drags them down. It is the one terrible and overwhelming curse, +that must be removed before there is any hope for the people of India. + +Is there not here a legitimate ground for an attempt on the part of +the civilized and Christian world to introduce a better faith into +that mighty country which holds two hundred millions of the human +race? This is not intrusion, it is simple humanity. In seeking to +introduce Christianity into India, we invade no right of any native of +that country, Mohammedan or Hindoo; we would not wantonly wound their +feelings, nor even shock their prejudices, in attacking their +hereditary faith. But we claim that here is a case where we cannot +keep silent. If we are told that we "interfere with the people," we +answer, that we interfere as the Good Samaritan interfered with the +man who fell among thieves, and was left by the roadside to die; as +the physician in the hospital interferes with those dying of the +cholera; as one who sees a brother at his side struck by a deadly +serpent applies his mouth to the wound, to suck the poison from his +blood! If that be interference, it is interference where it would be +cruelty to stand aloof, for he would be less than man who could be +unmoved in presence of misery so vast, which it was in any degree in +his power to relieve. + +Thus India itself is the sufficient argument for missions in India. +Let any one visit this country, and study its religion, and see how it +enters into the very life of the people; how all social intercourse is +regulated by caste; how one feels at every instant the pressure of an +ancient and unchangeable religion, and ask how its iron rule is ever +to be broken? Who shall deliver them from the body of this death? +There is in Hindooism no power of self-cure. For ages it has remained +the same, and will remain for ages still. Help, if it come at all, +must come from without, and where else can it come from, but from +lands beyond the sea? + +Therefore it is that the Christian people of England and America come +to the people of India, not in a tone of self-righteousness, assuming +that we are better than they, but in the name of humanity, of the +brotherhood of the human race. We believe that "God hath made of one +blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth," and these +Hindoos, though living on the other side of the globe, are our +brothers. They are born into the same world; they belong to the same +human family, and have the same immortal destiny. To such a people, +capable of great things, but crushed and oppressed, we come to do +them good. We would break the terrible bondage of caste, and bring +forth woman out of the prison-house where she passes her lonely +existence. This involves a social as well as a religious revolution. +But what a sigh of relief would it bring to millions who, under their +present conditions, are all their lifetime subject to bondage. + +There is a saying in the East that in India the flowers yield no +perfume, the birds never sing, and the women never smile. Of course +this is an exaggeration, and yet it has a basis of truth. It is true +that the flowers of the tropics, though often of brilliant hues, do +not yield the rich perfume of the roses of our Northern clime; and +many of the birds whose golden plumage flashes sunlight in the deep +gloom of tropical forests, have only a piercing shriek, instead of the +soft, delicious notes of the robin and the dove; and the women have a +downcast look. Well may it be so. They lead a secluded and solitary +life. Shut up in their zenanas, away from society, they have no part +in many of the joys of human existence, though they have more than +their share of life's burdens and its woes. No wonder that their faces +should be sad and sorrowful. Thus the whole creation seems to groan +and travail in pain. + +Now we desire to dispel the darkness and the gloom of ages, and to +bring smiles and music and flowers once more into this stricken world. +Teaching a religion of love and good will to men, we would cure the +hatred of races, and bring all together in a common brotherhood. We +would so lift up the poor of this world, that sorrow and sighing shall +flee away, and that every lowly Indian hut shall be filled with the +light of a new existence. In that day will not nature share in the joy +of man's deliverance? Then will the birds begin to sing, as if they +were let loose from the gates of heaven to go flying through the +earth, and to fill our common air with the voice of melody. Then shall +smiles be seen once more on human faces; not the loud cackling of +empty laughter; but smiles breaking through tears (the reflection of +a peace that passeth understanding), shall spread like sunshine over +the sad faces of the daughters of Asia. + +But some "old Indian" who has listened politely, yet smiling and +incredulous, to this defence of missions, may answer, "All this is +very fine; no doubt it would be a good thing if the people of India +would change their religion; would cast off Hindooism, and adopt +Christianity. But is it not practically impossible? Do all the efforts +of missionaries really amount to anything." This is a fair question, +and I will try to give it a fair answer. + +"Do missionaries do any good?" Perhaps we can best answer the question +by drawing the picture of an Indian village, such as one may see at +thousands of points scattered over the country. It is a cluster of +huts, constructed sometimes with a light frame-work of bamboo, filled +in with matting, but more commonly of mud, with a roof of thatch to +prevent its being washed away in the rainy season. These huts are +separated from each other by narrow lanes that can hardly be dignified +with the name of streets. Yet in such a hamlet of hovels, hardly fit +for human habitation, may be a large population. Every doorway is +swarming with children. On the outskirts of the village is _the +missionary bungalow_, a large one-story house, also built of mud, but +neatly whitewashed and protected from the rains by a heavy thatched +roof, which projects over the walls, and shades the broad veranda. In +the "compound" are two other buildings of the same rude material and +simple architecture, a church and a schoolhouse. In the latter are +gathered every day ten, twenty, fifty--perhaps a hundred--children, +with bare feet and poor garments, though clean, but with bright eyes, +and who seem eager to learn. All day long comes from that low building +a buzz and hum as from a hive of bees. Every Sunday is gathered in the +little chapel a congregation chiefly of poor people, plainly but +neatly dressed, and who, as they sit there, reclaimed from +heathenism, seem to be "clothed and in their right minds." To the poor +the Gospel is preached, and never does it show its sweetness and +power, as when it comes down into such abodes of poverty, and gives to +these humble natives a new hope and a new life--a life of joy and +peace. Perhaps in the same compound is an orphanage, in which are +gathered the little castaways who have been deserted by their parents, +left by the roadside to die--or whose parents may have died by +cholera--and who are thus rescued from death, and given the chance +which belongs to every human creature of life and of happiness. + +Perhaps the missionary is a little of a physician, and has a small +chest of medicines, and the poor people come to him for cures of their +bodily ailments, as well as for their spiritual troubles. After awhile +he gains their confidence, and becomes, not by any appointment, but +simply by the right of goodness and the force of character, a sort of +unofficial magistrate, or head man of the village, a general +peacemaker and benefactor. Can any one estimate the influence of such +a man, with his gentle wife at his side, who is also active both in +teaching and in every form of charity? Who does not see that such a +missionary bungalow, with its school, its orphanage, and its church, +and its daily influences of teaching and of example, is a centre of +civilization, when planted in the heart of an Indian village? + +How extensive is this influence will of course depend on the many or +the few devoted to this work, and the wisdom and energy with which +they pursue it. The number of missionaries in India is very small +compared with the vast population. And yet the picture here drawn of +one village is reproduced in hundreds of villages. Take the +representatives of all the churches and societies of Protestant +Christendom, they would make a very respectable force. But even this +does not represent the full amount of influence they exert. Moral +influences cannot be weighed and measured like material forces. Nor +are missionaries to be counted, like the soldiers of an army. They are +not drawn up on parade, and do not march through the streets, with +gleaming bayonets. Their forces are scattered, and their work is +silent and unseen. + +But in all quiet ways, by churches, schools, and orphanages, their +influence is felt; while by the printing-press they scatter religious +truth all over India, the effect of which, in tens of thousands of +those whom it does not "convert," is to destroy the power of their old +idolatry. + +That more Hindoos do not openly embrace Christianity is not +surprising, when one considers the social influences which restrain +them. When a Hindoo becomes a Christian, he is literally an outcast. +His most intimate friends will not know him. His own family turn him +from their door, feeling that he has brought upon them a disgrace far +greater than if he had committed a crime for which he was to perish on +the scaffold. To them he is _dead_, and they perform his funeral rites +as if he were no more in this world. The pastor of the native church +in Bombay has thus been _buried_ or _burned_ by his own family. +Another told me that his own father turned from him in the street, and +refused to recognize him. These things are very hard to bear. And so +far from wondering that there are not more conversions among the +natives of India, I wonder that there are so many. + +But what sort of Christians are they? Are they like English or +American Christians? When I landed in India, and saw what a strange +people I was among, how unlike our own race, I asked a question which +many have asked before: Whether these people _could_ become +Christians? It is a favorite idea of many travellers--and of many +English residents in India--that not only is the number of conversions +small, but that the "converts" are not worth having when they are +made. It is said that it is only low caste natives, who have nothing +to lose, that will desert their old religion; and that they are +influenced only by the lowest motives, and that while they profess to +be converted, they are in no wise changed from what they were, except +that to their old heathen vices they have added that of hypocrisy. +Hearing these things, I have taken some pains to ascertain what sort +of people these native converts are. I have attended their religious +services, and have met them socially, and, so far as I could judge, I +have never seen more simple-minded Christians. Some of them are as +intelligent as the best instructed members of our New England +churches. As to their low caste, statistics show, among them, a +greater proportion of Brahmins than of any other caste, as might be +expected from their greater intelligence. + +The work, then, has not been in vain. The advance is slow, but it is +something that there _is_ an advance. I am told, as the result of a +careful estimate, that if the progress continues in the future as it +has for the last fifteen years, in two centuries the whole of India +with its two hundred millions of people, will be converted to the +Christian religion. This is a spread of Christianity more rapid than +that in the age of the apostles, for it was three centuries before the +faith which they preached became master of the Roman empire. + +With such a record of what Christian Missions have done in India, with +such evidences of their good influence and growing power, they are +entitled to honor and respect as one of the great elements in the +problem of the future of that country. To speak of them flippantly, +argues but small acquaintance with the historical forces which have +hitherto governed India or indeed Britain itself. It ill becomes +Englishmen to sneer at missions, for to missionaries they owe it that +their island has been reclaimed from barbarism. When Augustine landed +in Britain their ancestors were clothed in skins, and roaming in +forests. It was the new religion that softened their manners, refined +their lives, and in the lapse of generations wrought out the slow +process of civilization. + +In Johnson's "Tour to the Hebrides," he refers to the early +missionaries who civilized Britain in a passage which is one of the +most eloquent in English literature: "We were now treading that +illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian +regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the +benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion.... Far from me +and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy as may conduct us +indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been dignified by +wisdom, bravery or virtue. That man is little to be envied whose +patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose +piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona." + +That power which has made England so great; which has made the English +race the foremost race in all this world; is now carried to another +hemisphere to work the same gradual elevation in the East. It is a +mighty undertaking. The lifting up of a race is like the lifting up of +a continent. Such changes cannot come suddenly; but in the slow lapse +of ages the continent may be found to have risen, and to be covered, +as it were, with a new floral vegetation; as that faith, which is the +life of Europe, has entered into the vast populations of Asia. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +BENARES, THE HOLY CITY. + + +We had begun to feel ourselves at home in India. A stranger takes root +quickly, as foreign plants take root in the soil, and spring up under +the sun and rain of the tropics. A traveller makes acquaintances that +ripen into friendship and bind him so fast that it is a real pain when +he has to break away and leave these new friends behind. Thus +Allahabad had become our Indian home. The missionary community was so +delightful, and everybody was so kind and hospitable, that we had come +to feel as if we were only in an outlying corner of America. The +missionary bungalow was like a parsonage in New England; and when we +left all, and the train rolled across the long bridge over the Jumna, +from which we saw Miss Seward and Miss Wilson standing on their +veranda, and waving us farewell, it seemed as if we were leaving home. + +But the holy city was before us. Some seventy miles from Allahabad +stands a city which, to the devout Hindoo, is the most sacred place on +earth--one which overtops all others, as the Himalayas overtop all +other mountains on the globe. There are holy shrines in different +countries, which are held sacred by the devotees of different +religions; but there are four chief holy cities--Rome, Jerusalem, +Mecca, and Benares. As the devout Catholic makes a pilgrimage to Rome, +to receive the blessing of the Holy Father; as the Jew traverses land +and sea, that his feet may stand within the gates of Jerusalem, where +he weeps at the place of wailing under the walls of the ancient +temple; as the caravan of the Arab still crosses the desert to Mecca; +so does the devout Hindoo come to Benares, and count it his supreme +joy if he can but see its domes and towers; and eternal felicity to +die on the banks of the sacred river. + +A couple of hours brought us to the Ganges, from which we had a full +view of the city on the other side of the river. If the first sight +did not awaken in us the same emotions as in the mind of the Hindoo, +the scene was picturesque enough to excite our admiration. The +appearance of Benares is very striking. For two miles it presents a +succession of palaces and temples which are built not only on, but +almost in, the river, as Venice is built in the sea; the huge +structures crowding each other on the bank, and flights of steps going +down into the water, as if they would receive the baptism of the +sacred river as it flowed gently by; as if the people listened fondly +to its murmurs, and when wakened in their dreams, were soothed to hear +its waters lapping the very stones of their palaces. + +We crossed the river on a bridge of boats, and drove out to the +English quarter, which is two or three miles distant, and here rested +an hour or two before we took a courier and plunged into the labyrinth +of the city, in which a stranger would soon be lost who should attempt +to explore it without a guide. Benares would be well worth a visit if +it were only for its Oriental character. It is peculiarly an Indian +city, with every feature of Asiatic and of Indian life strongly +marked. Its bazaars are as curious and as rich as any in Asia, with +shawls of cashmere, and silks wrought by fine needlework into every +article of costly array. It has also cunning workmen in precious +metals and precious stones--in gold and silver and diamonds. One +special industry is workmanship in brass. We brought away a number of +large trays, curiously wrought like shields. One contains a lesson in +Hindoo mythology for those who are able to read it, as on it are +traced all the incarnations of Vishnu. + +While thus rambling about the city, we had an opportunity to see +something of the marriage customs of the Hindoos, as we met in the +streets a number of wedding processions. The heavenly influences were +favorable to such unions. The Hindoos are great astrologers, and give +high importance to the conjunction of the stars, and do not marry +except when Jupiter is in the ascendant. Just now he rides high in the +heavens, and this is the favored time of love. The processions were +very curious. The bridegroom was mounted on horseback, tricked out in +the dress of a harlequin, with a crowd on horses and on foot, going +before and following after, waving flags, beating drums, and making +all manner of noises, to testify their joy; while the bride, who was +commonly a mere child, was borne in a palanquin, covered with ribbons +and trinkets and jewelry, looking, as she sat upright in her doll's +house, much more as if she were a piece of frosted cake being carried +to the wedding, than a living piece of flesh and blood that had any +part therein. Altogether the scene was more like a Punch-and-Judy +show, than any part of the serious business of life. Engagements are +often made when the parties are in childhood, or even in infancy; and +the marriage consummated at twelve. These child-marriages are a great +curse to the country, as they fill the land with their puny offspring, +that wither like weeds in the hot sun of India. It is a pity that they +could not be prohibited; that marriages could not be forbidden until +the parties had reached at least sixteen years of age. + +Another thing which greatly amused us was to see how the people made +way for us wherever we came. The streets are very narrow, and there is +not room for a jostling crowd. But their politeness stopped at no +obstacle. They meant to give us a free passage. They drew to one side, +making themselves very small, and even hugging the wall, to get out of +our way. We accepted this delicate attention as a mark of respect, +which we thought a touching proof of Oriental courtesy; and with the +modesty of our countrymen, regarded it as an homage to our greatness. +We were a little taken aback at being informed that, on the contrary, +it was to avoid pollution; that if they but touched the hem of our +garments, they would have had to run to the Ganges to wash away the +stain! + +But we need not make merry with these strict observances of the +people, for with them Religion is the great business of life, and it +is as the Mecca of their faith that Benares has such interest for the +intelligent traveller. No city in India, perhaps none in all Asia, +dates back its origin to a more remote antiquity. It is the very +cradle of history and of religion. Here Buddha preached his new faith +centuries before Christ was born in Judea--a faith which still sways a +larger part of mankind than any other, though it has lost its dominion +in the place where it began. Here Hindooism, once driven out, still +fought and conquered, and here it still has its seat, from which it +rules its vast and populous empire. + +It is always interesting to study a country or a religion in its +capital. As we go to Rome to see Romanism, we come to Benares to see +Hindooism, expecting to find it in its purest form. Whether that is +anything to boast of, we can tell better after we have seen a little +of this, its most holy city. Benares is full of temples and shrines. +Of course we could only visit a few of the more sacred. The first that +we entered was like a menagerie. It was called the Monkey Temple; and +rightly so, for the place was full of the little creatures. It fairly +swarmed with them. They were overhead and all around us, chattering as +if they were holding a council in the heart of a tropical forest. The +place was for all the world like the monkey-house in the Zoological +Gardens in London, or in our Central Park in New York, and would be an +amusing resort for children were it not regarded as a place for +religious worship. Perhaps some innocent traveller thinks this a +touching proof of the charming simplicity of the Hindoos, that they +wish to call on all animated nature to unite in devotion, and that +thus monkeys (speaking the language which monkeys understand) are +permitted to join with devout Hindoos in the worship of their common +Creator. But a glance shows the stranger that the monkeys are here, +not to worship, but to be worshipped. According to the Pantheism of +the Hindoos, all things are a part of God. Not only is he the author +of life, but he lives in his creatures, so that they partake of his +divinity; and therefore whatsoever thing liveth and moveth on the +earth--beast, or bird, or reptile--is a proper object of worship. + +But the monkeys were respectable compared with the hideous idol which +is enthroned in this place. In the court of the Temple is a shrine, a +Holy of Holies, where, as the gilded doors are swung open, one sees a +black divinity, with thick, sensual lips, that are red with blood, and +eyes that glare fiendishly. This is the goddess Doorgha, whose sacred +presence is guarded by Brahmin priests, so that no profane foot may +come near her. While they kept us back with holy horror from +approaching, they had no scruples about reaching out their hands to +receive our money. It is the habit of strangers to drop some small +coin in the outstretched palms. But I was too much disgusted to give +to the beggars. They were importunate, and said the Prince of Wales, +who was there a few days before, had given them a hundred rupees. +Perhaps he felt under a necessity of paying such a mark of respect to +the religion of the great Empire he was to rule. But ordinary +travellers are under no such obligation. The rascals trade in the +curiosity of strangers. It might be well if they did not find it such +a source of revenue. So I would not give them a penny; though I +confess to spending a few pice on nuts and "sweets" for the monkeys, +who are the only ones entitled to "tribute" from visitors; and then, +returning to the gharri, we rode disgusted away. In another part of +the city is the Golden Temple, devoted to the god Shiva, which +divides with that of the monkeys the homage of the Hindoos. Here are +no chattering apes, though the place is profaned with the presence of +beasts and birds. Some dozen cows were standing or lying down in the +court, making it seem more like a stable or a barnyard than a holy +place. Yet here was a fakir rapt in the ecstasies of devotion, with +one arm uplifted, rigid as a pillar of iron. He was looked upon with +awe by the faithful who crowded around him, and who rewarded his +sanctity by giving him money; but to our profane eyes he was a figure +of pride (though disguised under the pretence of spirituality), as +palpable to the sight as the peacock who spread his tail and strutted +about in the filthy enclosure. + +But perhaps the reader will think that we have had enough of this, and +will gladly turn to a less revolting form of superstition. The great +sight of Benares is the bathing in the Ganges. This takes place in the +morning. We rose early the next day, and drove down to the river, and +getting a boat, were rowed slowly for hours up and down the stream. It +is lined with temples and palaces, which descend to the water by +flights of steps, or _ghauts_, which at this hour are thronged with +devout Hindoos. By hundreds and thousands they come down to the +river's brink, men, women, and children, and wade in, not swimming, +but standing in the water, plunging their heads and mumbling their +prayers, and performing their libations, by taking the water in their +hands, and casting it towards the points of the compass, as an act of +worship to the celestial powers, especially to the sun. + +As the boatmen rested on their oars, that we might observe the strange +scene, C---- started with horror to see a corpse in the water. It was +already half decayed, and obscene birds were fluttering over it. But +this is too common a sight in Benares to raise any emotion in the +breast of the Hindoo, whose prayer is that he may die on the banks of +the Ganges. Does his body drift down with the stream, or become food +for the fowls of the air, his soul floats to its final rest in the +Deity, as surely as the Ganges rolls onward to the sea. + +But look! here is another scene. We are approaching the Burning Ghaut, +and I see piles of wood, and human bodies, and smoke and flame. I bade +the boatmen draw to the shore, that we might have a clearer view of +this strange sight. Walking along the bank, we came close to the +funeral piles. Several were waiting to be lighted. When all is ready, +the nearest male relative walks round and round the pile, and then +applies to it a lighted withe of straw. Here was a body just dressed +for the last rites. It was wrapped in coarse garments, perhaps all +that affection could give. Beside it stood a woman, watching it with +eager eyes, lest any rude hand should touch the form which, though +dead, was still beloved. I looked with pity into her sad, sorrowful +face. What a tale of affection was there!--of love for the life that +was ended, and the form that was cherished, that was soon to be but +ashes, and to float away upon the bosom of the sacred river. + +Another pile was already lighted, and burning fiercely. I stood close +to it, till driven away by the heat and smoke. As the flames closed +round the form, portions of the body were exposed. Now the hair was +consumed in a flash, leaving the bare skull; now the feet showed from +the other end of the pile. It was a ghastly sight. Now a horrid smell +filled the air, and still the pile glowed like a furnace, crackling +with the intense heat, and shot out tongues of flame that seemed eager +to lick up every drop of blood. + +In this disposal of the dead there is nothing to soothe the mourner +like a Christian burial, when the body is committed to the earth, +ashes to ashes, dust to dust, when a beloved form is laid down under +the green turf gently, as on a mother's breast. + +The spectacle of this morning, with the similar one at Allahabad, have +set me a-thinking. I ask, What idea do the Hindoos attach to bathing +in the Ganges? Is it purification or expiation, or both? Is it the +putting away of sin by the washing of water; the cleansing of the body +for the sins of the soul? Or is there in it some idea of atonement? +What is the fascination of this religious observance? Perhaps no +stranger can fully understand it, or enter into the feeling with which +the devout Hindoo regards the sacred river. The problem grows the more +we study it. However we approach the great river of India, we find a +wealth of associations gathering around it such as belongs to no other +river on the face of the earth. No other is so intimately connected +with the history and the whole life of a people. Other rivers have +poetical or patriotic associations. The ancient Romans kept watch on +the Tiber, as the modern Germans keep watch on the Rhine. But these +are associations of country and of patriotic pride--not of life, not +of existence, not of religion. In these respects the only river in the +world which approaches the Ganges is the Nile, which, coming down from +the Highlands of Central Africa, floods the long valley, which it has +itself made in the desert, turning the very sands into fertility, and +thus becoming the creator and life-giver of Egypt. + +What the Nile is to Egypt, the Ganges is to a part of India, giving +life and verdure to plains that but for it were a desert. As it bursts +through the gates of the Himalayas, and sweeps along with resistless +current, cooling with its icy breath the hot plains of India, and +giving fertility to the rice fields of Bengal, it may well seem to the +Hindoo the greatest visible emblem of Almighty power and Infinite +beneficence. + +But it is more than an emblem. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the +Nile as a god, and in this they had the same feeling which now exists +among the Hindoos in regard to the Ganges. It is not only a sacred +river because of its associations; it is itself Divine, flowing, like +the River of Life in the Book of Revelation, out of the throne of God. +It descends out of heaven, rising in mountains whose tops touch the +clouds--the sacred mountains which form the Hindoo Kylas, or Heaven, +the abode of the Hindoo Trinity--of Brahma and Shiva and Vishnu. +Rushing from under a glacier in the region of everlasting snow, it +seems as if it gushed from the very heart of the Dweller on that holy +mount; as if that flowing stream were the life-blood of the Creator. +When the Hindoo has seized this idea, it takes strong hold of his +imagination. As he stands on the banks of the Ganges at night, and +sees its broad current quivering under the rays of the full moon, it +seems indeed as if it were the clear stream flowing through the calm +breast of God himself, bearing life from Him to give life to the +world. Hence in his creed it has all the virtue and the "divine power +that belongs in the Christian system to the blood of Christ. It makes +atonement for sins that are past." "He that but looks on the Ganges," +says the Hindoo proverb, "or that drinks of it, washes away the stains +of a hundred births; but he that bathes in it washes away the stains +of a thousand births." This is a virtue beyond that of the Nile, or +the rivers of Damascus, or of the Jordan, or even of + + Siloa's brook + That flowed fast by the oracle of God. + +It is a virtue which can be found alone in that blood which "cleanseth +from all sin." + +The spectacle of such superstition produced a strong revulsion of +feeling, and made me turn away from these waters that cannot cleanse +the guilty soul, nor save the dying, to the Mighty Sufferer, whose +blood was shed for the sins of the world, and I seemed to hear voices +in far-off Christian lands singing: + + E'er since by faith I saw the stream + Thy flowing wounds supply, + Redeeming love has been my theme, + And shall be till I die. + +But I do not sit in judgment on the Hindoos, nor include a whole +people in one general condemnation. Some of them are as noble +specimens of humanity, with as much "natural goodness" as can be found +anywhere; and are even religious in their way, and in zeal and +devotion an example to their Christian neighbors. Of this, a very +striking instance can be given here. + +On the other side of the Ganges lives a grand old Hindoo, the +Maharajah of Benares, and as he is famed for his hospitality to +strangers, we sent him a letter by a messenger (being assured that +that was the proper thing to do), saying that we should be happy to +pay our respects to my lord in his castle; and in a few hours received +a reply that his carriage should be sent to our hotel for us the next +morning, and that his boat would convey us across the river. We did +not wait for the carriage, as we were in haste to depart for Calcutta +the same forenoon, but rode down in our own gharri to the river side, +where we found the boat awaiting us. On the other bank stood a couple +of elephants of extraordinary size, that knelt down and took us on +their broad backs, and rolled off at a swinging pace to a pleasant +retreat of the Maharajah a mile or two from the river, where he had a +temple of his own, situated in the midst of beautiful gardens. + +On our return we were marched into the courtyard of the castle, where +the attendants received us, and escorted us within. The Maharajah did +not make his appearance, as it was still early, but his secretary +presented himself to do the honors, giving his master's respects with +his photograph, and showing us every possible courtesy. We were shown +through the rooms of state, where the Prince of Wales had been +received a few weeks before. The view from the terrace on the river +side is enchanting. It is directly on the water, and commands a view +up and down the Ganges for miles, while across the smooth expanse rise +the temples and palaces of the Holy City. What a place for a Brahmin +to live or to die! + +This Maharajah of Benares is well known all over India. He is a member +of the Viceroy's Council at Calcutta, and held in universal respect by +the English community. Sir William Muir, who is one of the most +pronounced Christian men in India, whom some would even call a Puritan +for his strictness, told me that the Maharajah was one of the best of +men. And yet he is of the straitest sect of the Hindoos, who bathes in +the Ganges every morning, and "does his pooja." In all religious +observances he is most exemplary, often spending hours in prayer. The +secretary, in excusing his master's absence, said that he had been up +nearly all night engaged in his devotions. How this earnest faith in a +religion so vile can consist with a life so pure and so good, is one +of the mysteries of this Asiatic world which I leave to those wiser +than I am to explain. + +We had lingered so long that it was near the hour of our departure for +Calcutta, and we were three miles up the river. The secretary +accompanied us to the boat of the Maharajah, which was waiting for us, +and bade us farewell, with many kind wishes that we might have a +prosperous journey. Lying against the bank was the gilded barge in +which the Maharajah had received and escorted the Prince of Wales. +Waving our adieu, we gave the signal, and the boatmen pushed off into +the stream. It was now a race against time. We had a long stretch to +make in a very few minutes. I offered the men a reward if they should +reach the place in time. The stalwart rowers bent to their oars, their +swarthy limbs making swift strokes, and the boat shot like an arrow +down the stream. I stood up in the eagerness and excitement of the +chase, taking a last look at the sacred temples as we shot swiftly by. +It wanted but two or three minutes of the hour as our little pinnace +struck against the goal by the bridge of boats, and throwing the +rupees to the boatmen, we hurried up the bank, and had just time to +get fairly bestowed in the roomy first-class carriage, which we had +all to ourselves, when the train started for Calcutta, and the towers +and domes and minarets of the holy city of India faded from our sight. + +Thinking! Still thinking! What does it all mean? Who can understand +Hindooism--where it begins and where it ends? It is like the fabled +tree that had its roots down in the Kingdom of Death, and spread its +branches over the world. Behind it, or beneath it, is a deep +philosophy, which goes down to the very beginnings of existence, and +touches the most vital problems of life and death, of endless dying +and living. Out of millions of ages, after a million births, following +each other in long succession, at last man is cast upon the earth, but +only as a bird of passage, darting swiftly through life, and then, in +an endless transmigration of souls, passing through other stages of +being, till he is absorbed in the Eternal All. Thus does man find his +way at last back to God, as the drop of water, caught up by the sun, +lifted into the cloud, descends in the rain, trickles in streams down +the mountain side, and finds its way back to the ocean. So does the +human soul complete the endless cycle of existence, coming from God +and returning to God, to be swallowed up and lost in that Boundless +Sea. + +Much might be said, by way of argument, in support of this pantheistic +philosophy. But whatever may be urged in favor of Hindooism in the +abstract, its practical results are terrible. By a logic as close and +irresistible as it is fatal, it takes away the foundation of all +morality, and strikes down all goodness and virtue--all that is the +glory of man, and all that is the beauty of woman. It is nothing to +the purpose to quote the example of such a man as the Maharajah of +Benares, for there is a strange alchemy in virtue, by which a pure +nature, a high intelligence, and right moral instincts, will convert +even the most pernicious doctrines to the purpose of a spiritual life. +But with the mass of Hindoos it is only a system of abject +superstition and terror. As we rolled along the banks of the Ganges, +I thought what tales that stream could tell. Could we but listen in +the dead of night, what sounds we might hear! Hush! hark! There is a +footstep on the shore. The rushes on the bank are parted, and a Hindoo +mother comes to the water's edge. Look! she holds a child in her arms. +She starts back, and with a shriek casts it to the river monsters. +Such scenes are not frequent now, because the government has repressed +them by law, though infanticide is fearfully common in other ways. But +even yet in secret--"darkly at dead of night"--does fanaticism +sometimes pay its offering to the river which is worshipped as a god. +This is what Hindooism does for the mother and for her child. Thus it +wrongs at once childhood and motherhood and womanhood. Who that thinks +of such scenes can but pray that a better faith may be given to the +women of India, that the mother may no longer look with anguish into +the face of her own child, as one doomed to destruction, but like any +Christian mother, clasp her baby to her breast, thanking God who has +given it to her, and bidden her keep it, and train it up for life, for +virtue and for happiness. + +But is there any hope of seeing Hindooism destroyed? I fear not very +soon. When I think how many ages it has stood, and what mighty forces +it has resisted, the task seems almost hopeless. For centuries it +fought with Buddhism for the conquest of India, and remained master of +the field. Then came Mohammedanism in the days of the Mogul Empire. It +gained a foothold, and reared its mosques even in the Holy City of the +Hindoos. To this day the most splendid structure in Benares is the +great Mosque of Aurungzebe. As I climbed its tall minaret, and looked +over the city, I saw here and there the gilded domes and slender +spires that mark the temples of Islam. But these fierce iconoclasts, +who set out from Arabia to break the idols in pieces, could not +destroy them here. The fanatical Aurungzebe could build his mosque, +with its minaret so lofty as to overtop all the temples of Paganism; +but he could not convert the idolaters. With such tenacity did they +cling to their faith, that even the religion of the Prophet could make +little impression, though armed with all the power of the sword. + +And now come modern civilization and Christianity. The work of +"tearing down" is not left to Missions alone. There is in India a +vast system of National Education. In Benares there is an University +whose stately halls would not look out of place among the piles of +Oxford. In the teaching there is a rigid--I had almost said a +religious--abstinence from religion. But science is taught, and +science confutes the Hindoo cosmogony. When it is written in the +Puranas that the world rests on the back of an elephant, and that the +elephant stands on the back of a tortoise, and the tortoise on the +back of the great serpent Naga, it needs but a very little learning to +convince the young Hindoo that his sacred books are a mass of fables. +But this does not make him a Christian. It lands him in infidelity, +and leaves him there. And this is the state of the educated mind of +India, of what is sometimes designated as Young India, or Young +Bengal. Here they stand--deep in the mire of unbelief, as if they had +tried to plant their feet on the low-lying Delta of the Ganges, and +found it sink beneath them, with danger of being buried in Gangetic +ooze and slime. But even this is better than calling to gods that +cannot help them; for at least it may give them a sense of their +weakness and danger. It may be that the educated mind of India has to +go through this stage of infidelity before it can come into the light +of a clearer faith. At present they believe nothing, yet conform to +Hindoo customs for social reasons, for fear of losing caste. This is +all-powerful. It is hard for men to break away from it in detail. But +once that a breach is made in their ranks, the same social tyranny may +carry them over _en masse_, so that a nation shall be born in a day. +At present the work that is going on is that of sapping and mining, +of boring holes into the foundation of Hindooism; and this is done as +industriously, and perhaps as effectively, by Government schools and +colleges as by Missions. + +At Benares we observed, in sailing up and down the Ganges, that the +river had undermined a number of temples built upon its banks, and +that they had fallen with their huge columns and massive architecture, +and were lying in broken and shapeless masses, half covered by the +water. What a spectacle of ruin and decay in the Holy City of the +Hindoos! This is a fit illustration of the process which has been +going on for the last half century in regard to Hindooism. The waters +are washing it away, and by and by the whole colossal fabric, built up +in ages of ignorance and superstition, will come crashing to the +earth. Hindooism will fall, and great will be the fall of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CALCUTTA-FAREWELL TO INDIA. + + +It is a good rule in travelling, as in rhetoric, to keep the best to +the last, and wind up with a climax. But it would be hard to find a +climax in India after seeing the old Mogul capitals, whose palaces and +tombs outshine the Alhambra; after climbing the Himalayas, and making +a pilgrimage to the holy city. And yet one feels a _crescendo_ of +interest in approaching the capital. India has three capitals--Delhi, +where once reigned the Great Mogul, and which is still the centre of +the Mohammedan faith; Benares, the Mecca of the Hindoos; and Calcutta, +the capital of the modern British Empire. The two former we have seen; +it is the last which is now before us. + +Our route was southeast, along the valley of the Ganges, and through +the province of Bengal. What is the magic of a name? From childhood +the most vivid association I had with this part of India, was that of +Bengal tigers, which were the wonder of every menagerie; and it was +not strange if we almost expected to see them crouching in the forest, +or gliding away in the long grass of the jungle. But Bengal has other +attractions to one who rides over it. This single province of India is +five times as large as the State of New York. It is a vast alluvial +plain, through which the Ganges pours by a hundred mouths to the sea, +its overflow giving to the soil a richness and fertility like that of +the valley of the Nile, so that it supports a population equal to that +of the whole of the United States. The cultivated fields that we pass +show the natural wealth of the country, as the frequent towns show the +density of the population. Of these the largest is Patna, the centre +of the opium culture. But we did not stop anywhere, for the way was +long. From Benares to Calcutta is over four hundred miles, or about as +far as from New York city to Niagara Falls. We started at eleven +o'clock, and kept steadily travelling all day. Night fell, and the +moon rose over the plains and the palm groves, and still we fled on +and on, as if pursued by the storm spirits of the Hindoo Kylas, till +the morning broke, and found us on the banks of a great river filled +with shipping, and opposite to a great city. This was the Hoogly, one +of the mouths of the Ganges, and there was Calcutta! A carriage +whirled us swiftly across the bridge, and up to the Great Eastern +Hotel, where we were glad to rest, after travelling three thousand +miles in India, and to exchange even the most luxurious railway +carriage for beds and baths, and the comforts of civilization. The +hotel stands opposite the Government House, the residence of the +Viceroy of India, and supplies everything necessary to the dignity of +a "burra Sahib." Soft-footed Hindoos glided silently about, watching +our every motion, and profoundly anxious for the honor of being our +servants. A stalwart native slept on the mat before my door, and +attended on my going out and my coming in, as if I had been a grand +dignitary of the Empire. + +Calcutta bears a proud name in the East--that of the City of +Palaces--from which a traveller is apt to experience a feeling of +disappointment. And yet the English portion of the city is +sufficiently grand to make it worthy to rank with the second class of +European capitals. The Government House, from its very size, has a +massive and stately appearance, and the other public buildings are of +corresponding proportions. The principal street, called the +Chowringhee road, is lined for two miles with the handsome houses of +government officials or wealthy English residents. But the beauty of +Calcutta is the grand esplanade, called the Maidan--an open space as +large as our Central Park in New York; beginning at the Government +House, and reaching to Fort William, and beyond it; stretching for two +or three miles along the river, and a mile back from it to the +mansions of the Chowringhee Road. This is an immense parade-ground for +military and other displays. Here and there are statues of men who +have distinguished themselves in the history of British India. +Tropical plants and trees give to the landscape their rich masses of +color and of shade, while under them and around them is spread that +carpet of green so dear to the eyes of an Englishman in any part of +the world--a wide sweep of soft and smooth English turf. Here at +sunset one may witness a scene nowhere equalled except in the great +capitals of Europe. In the middle of the day the place is deserted, +except by natives, whom, being "children of the sun," he does not +"smite by day," though the moon may smite them by night. The English +residents are shut closely within doors, where they seek, by the +waving of punkas, and by admitting the air only through mats dripping +with water, to mitigate the terrible heat. But as the sun declines, +and the palms begin to cast their shadows across the plain, and a cool +breeze comes in from the sea, the whole English world pours forth. The +carriage of the Viceroy rolls out from under the arches of the +Government House, and the other officials are abroad. A stranger is +surprised at the number of dashing equipages, with postilions and +servants in liveries, furnished by this foreign city. These are not +all English. Native princes and wealthy baboos vie with Englishmen in +the bravery of their equipages, and give to the scene a touch of +Oriental splendor. Officers on horseback dash by, accompanied often by +fair English faces; while the band from Fort William plays the martial +airs of England. It is indeed a brilliant spectacle, which, but for +the turbans and the swarthy faces under them, would make the traveller +imagine himself in Hyde Park. + +From this single picture it is easy to see why Calcutta is to an +Englishman the most attractive place of residence in India, or in all +the East. It is more like London. It is a great capital--the capital +of the Indian Empire; the seat of government; the residence of the +Viceroy, around whom is assembled a kind of viceregal court, composed +of all the high officials, both civil and military. There is an Army +and Navy Club, where one may meet many old soldiers who have seen +service in the Indian wars, or who hold high appointments in the +present force. The assemblage of such a number of notable men makes a +large and brilliant English society. + +Nor is it confined to army officers or government officials. Connected +with the different colleges are men who are distinguished Oriental +scholars. Then there is a Bishop of Calcutta, who is the Primate of +India, with his clergy, and English and American missionaries, who +make altogether a very miscellaneous society.[8] Here Macaulay lived +for three years as a member of the Governor's Council, and was the +centre of a society which, if it lacked other attractions, must have +found a constant stimulus in his marvellous conversation. + +And yet with all these attractions of Calcutta, English residents +still pine for England. One can hardly converse with an English +officer, without finding that it is his dream to get through with his +term of service as soon as he may, and return to spend the rest of his +days in his dear native island. Even Macaulay--with all the resources +that he had in himself, with all that he found Anglo-Indian society, +and all that he made it--regarded life in India as only a splendid +exile. + +The climate is a terrible drawback. Think of a country, where in the +hot season the mercury rises to 117-120 deg. in the shade; while if the +thermometer be exposed to the sun, it quickly mounts to 150, 160, or +even 170 deg.!--a heat to which no European can be exposed for half an +hour without danger of sunstroke. Such is the heat that it drives the +government out of Calcutta for half the year. For six months the +Viceroy and his staff emigrate, bag and baggage, going up the country +twelve hundred miles to Simla, on the first range of the Himalayas, +which is about as if the President of the United States and his +Cabinet should leave Washington on the first of May, and transfer the +seat of government to some high point in the Rocky Mountains. + +But the climate is not the only, nor the chief, drawback to life in +India. It is the absence from home, from one's country and people, +which makes it seem indeed like exile. Make the best of it, Calcutta +is not London. What a man like Macaulay misses, is not the English +climate, with its rains and fogs, but the intellectual life, which +centres in the British capital. It was this which made him write to +his sister that "A lodgings up three pairs of stairs in London was +better than a palace in a compound at Chowringhee." I confess I cannot +understand how any man, who has a respectable position in his own +country, should choose Calcutta, or any other part of India, as a +place of residence, except for a time; as a merchant goes abroad for a +few years, in the hope of such gain as shall enable him to return and +live in independence in England or America; or as a soldier goes to a +post of duty ("Not his to ask the reason why"); or as a missionary, +with the purely benevolent desire of doing good, for which he accepts +this voluntary exile. + +But if a man has grown, by any mental or moral process, to the idea +that life is not given him merely for enjoyment; that its chief end is +not to make himself comfortable--to sit at home in England, and hear +the storm roar around the British Islands, and thank God that he is +safe, though all the rest of the world should perish; if he but once +recognize the fact that he has duties, not only to himself, but to +mankind; then for such a man there is not on the round globe a broader +or nobler field of labor than India. For an English statesman, however +great his talents or boundless his ambition, one cannot conceive of a +higher place on the earth than that of the Viceroy of India. He is a +ruler over more than two hundred millions of human beings, to whose +welfare he may contribute by a wise and just administration. What +immeasurable good may be wrought by a Governor-General like Lord +William Bentinck, of whom it was said that "he was William Penn on the +throne of the Great Mogul." A share in this beneficent rule belongs to +every Englishman who holds a place in the government of India. He is +in a position of power, and therefore of responsibility. To such men +is entrusted the protection, the safety, the comfort, and the +happiness of multitudes of their fellow-men, to whom they are bound, +if not by national ties, yet by the ties of a common humanity. + +And for those who have no official position, who have neither place +nor power, but who have intelligence and a desire to do good on a wide +scale, India offers a field as broad as their ambition, where, either +as moral or intellectual instructors, as professors of science or +teachers of religion, they may contribute to the welfare of a great +people. India is a country where, more than in almost any other in the +world, European civilization comes in contact with Asiatic barbarism. +Its geographical position illustrates its moral and intellectual +position. It is a peninsula stretched out from the lower part of Asia +into the Indian Ocean, and great seas dash against it on one side and +on the other. So, intellectually and morally, is it placed "where two +seas meet," where modern science attacks Hindooism on one side, and +Christianity attacks it on the other. + +In this conflict English intelligence has already done much for the +intellectual emancipation of the people from childish ignorance and +folly. In Calcutta there are a number of English schools and colleges, +which are thronged with young Bengalees, the flower of the city and +the province, who are instructed in the principles of modern science +and philosophy. The effect on the mind of Young Bengal has been very +great. An English education has accomplished all that was expected +from it, _except_ the overthrow of idolatry, and here it has +conspicuously failed. + +When Macaulay was in India, he devoted much of his time to perfecting +the system of National Education, from which he expected the greatest +results; which he believed would not only fill the ignorant and vacant +minds of the Hindoos with the knowledge of modern science, but would +uproot the old idolatry. In the recently published volumes of his +letters is one to his father, dated Calcutta, Oct. 12, 1836, in which +he says: + + "Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it + difficult--in some places impossible--to provide instruction + for all who want it. At the single town of Hoogly 1400 boys + are learning English. The effect of this education on the + Hindoos is prodigious. No Hindoo who has received an English + education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. + Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy; but many + profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace + Christianity. It is my firm belief that, if our plans of + education are followed up, there will not be a single + idolater among the reputable classes in Bengal thirty years + hence. And this will be effected without any efforts to + proselytize; without the smallest interference with + religious liberty; merely by the natural operation of + knowledge and reflection." + +These sanguine expectations have been utterly disappointed. Since that +letter was written, forty years have passed, and every year has turned +out great numbers of educated young men, instructed in all the +principles of modern science; and yet the hold of Hindooism seems as +strong as ever. I find it here in the capital, as well as in the +provinces, and I do not find that it is any better by coming in +contact with modern civilization. Nothing at Benares was more +repulsive and disgusting than what one sees here. The deity most +worshipped in Calcutta is the goddess Kali, who indeed gives name to +the city, which is Anglicized from Kali-ghat. She delights in blood, +and is propitiated only by constant sacrifices. As one takes his +morning drive along the streets leading to her shrine, he sees them +filled with young goats, who are driven to the sacred enclosure, which +is like a butcher's shambles, so constantly are the heads dropping on +the pavement, which is kept wet with blood. She is the patron of +thieves and robbers, the one to whom the Thugs always made offerings, +in setting out on their expeditions for murder. No doubt the young men +educated in the English colleges despise this horrid worship. Yet in +their indifference to all religion, they think it better to keep up an +outward show of conformity, to retain the respect, or at least the +good will, of their Hindoo countrymen, among whom it is the very first +condition of any social recognition whatever, that they shall not +break away from the religion of their ancestors. + +How then are they to be reached? The Christian schools educate the +very young; and the orphanages take neglected children and train them +from the beginning. But for young men who are already educated in the +government colleges, is there any way of reaching _them_? None, except +that of open, direct, manly argument. Several years since President +Seelye of Amherst College visited India, and here addressed the +educated Hindoos, both in Calcutta and Bombay, on the claims of the +Christian religion. He was received with perfect courtesy. Large +audiences assembled to hear him, and listened with the utmost respect. +What impression he produced, I cannot say; but it seems to me that +this is "the way to do it," or at least one way, and a way which gives +good hope of success. + +In fighting this battle against idolatry, I think we should welcome +aid from any quarter, whether it be evangelical or not. While in +Calcutta, I paid a visit to Keshoob Chunder Sen, whose name is well +known in England from a visit which he made some years ago, as the +leader of the Brahmo Somaj. I found him surrounded by his pupils, to +whom he was giving instruction. He at once interrupted his teaching +for the pleasure of a conversation, to which all listened apparently +with great interest. He is in his creed an Unitarian, so far as he +adopts the Christian faith. He recognizes the unity of God, and gives +supreme importance to _prayer_. The interview impressed me both with +his ability and his sincerity. I cannot agree with some of my +missionary friends who look upon him with suspicion, because he does +not go far enough. On the contrary, I think it a matter of +congratulation that he has come as far as he has, and I should be glad +if he could get Young Bengal to follow him. But I do not think the +Brahmo Somaj has made great progress. It has scattered adherents in +different parts of India, but the whole number of followers is small +compared with the masses that cling to their idols. He frankly +confessed that the struggle was very unequal, that the power of the +old idolatry was tremendous, and especially that the despotism of +caste was terrific. To break away from it, required a degree of moral +courage that was very rare. The great obstacle to its overthrow was a +social one, and grew out of the extreme anxiety of Hindoo parents for +the marriage of their children. If they once broke away from caste, it +was all over with them. They were literally outcasts. Nobody would +speak to them, and they and their children were delivered over to one +common curse. This social ostracism impending over them, is a terror +which even educated Hindoos dare not face. And so they conform +outwardly, while they despise inwardly. Hence, Keshoob Chunder Sen +deserves all honor for the stand he has taken, and ought to receive +the cordial support of the English and Christian community. + +What I have seen in Calcutta and elsewhere satisfies me that in all +wise plans for the regeneration of India, Christian missions must be a +necessary part. One cannot remember but with a feeling of shame, how +slow was England to receive missionaries into her Indian Empire. The +first attempt of the English Church to send a few men to India was met +with an outcry of disapprobation. Sydney Smith hoped the Government +would send the missionaries home. When Carey first landed on these +shores, he could not stay in British territory, but had to take refuge +at Serampore, a Danish settlement a few miles from Calcutta, where he +wrought a work which makes that a place of pilgrimage to every +Christian traveller in India. We spent a day there, going over the +field of his labor. He is dead, but his work survives. There he opened +schools and founded a college, the first of its kind in India (unless +it were the government college of Fort William in Calcutta, in which +he was also a professor), and which led the way for the establishment +of that magnificent system of National Education which is now the +glory of India. + +What Carey was in his day, Dr. Duff in Calcutta and Dr. Wilson in +Bombay were a generation later, vigorous advocates of education as an +indispensable means to quicken the torpid mind of India. They were the +trusted advisers and counsellors of the government in organizing the +present system of National Education. This is but one of many benefits +for which this country has to thank missionaries. And if ever India is +to be so renovated as to enter into the family of civilized and +Christian nations, it will be largely by their labors. One thing is +certain, that mere education will not convert the Hindoo. The +experiment has been tried and failed. Some other and more powerful +means must be taken to quicken the conscience of a nation deadened by +ages of false religion--a religion utterly fatal to spiritual life. +That such a change may come speedily, is devoutly to be wished. No +intelligent traveller can visit India, and spend here two months, +without feeling the deepest interest in the country and its people. +Our interest grew with every week of our stay, and was strongest as we +were about to leave. + +The last night that we were in Calcutta, it was my privilege to +address the students at one of the Scotch colleges. The hall was +crowded, and I have seldom, if ever, spoken to a finer body of young +men. These young Bengalees had many of them heads of an almost +classical beauty; and with their grace of person heightened by their +flowing white robes, they presented a beautiful array of young +scholars, such as might delight the eyes of any instructor who should +have to teach them "Divine philosophy." My heart "went out" to them +very warmly, and as that was my last impression of India, I left it +with a very different feeling from that with which I entered it--with +a degree of respect for its people, and of interest in them, which I +humbly conceive is the very first condition of doing them any good. + +It was Sunday evening: the ship on which we were to embark for Burmah +was to sail at daybreak, and it was necessary to go on board at once. +So hardly had we returned from our evening service, before we drove +down to the river. The steamer lay off in the stream, the tide was +out, and even the native boats could not come up to where we could +step on board. But the inevitable coolies were there, their long naked +legs sinking in the mud, who took us on their brawny backs, and +carried us to the boats, and in this dignified manner we took our +departure from India. + +The next morning, as we went on deck, the steamer was dropping down +the river. The guns of Fort William were firing a salute; at Garden +Reach we passed the palace of the King of Oude, where this deposed +Indian sovereign still keeps his royal state among his serpents and +his tigers. We were all day long steaming down the Hoogly. The country +is very flat; there is nothing to break the monotony of its swamps and +jungles, its villages of mud standing amid rice fields and palm +groves. As we approach the sea the river divides into many channels, +like the lagoons of Venice. All around are low lying islands, which +now and then are swept by terrible cyclones that come up from the Bay +of Bengal. At present their shores are overgrown with jungles, the +home of wild beasts, of serpents, and crocodiles, of all slimy and +deadly things, the monsters of the land and sea. Through a net-work of +such lagoons, we glide out into the deep; slowly the receding shores +sink till they are submerged, as if they were drowned; we have left +India behind, and all around is only a watery horizon. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] There are not many Americans in Calcutta, and as they are few, we +are the more concerned that they should be respectable, and not +dishonor our national character. Sometimes I am told we have had +representatives of whom we had no reason to be proud. We are now most +fortunate in our Consul, General Litchfield, a gentleman of excellent +character, who is very obliging to his countrymen, and commands in a +high degree the respect of the English community. There is here also +an American pastor, Dr. Thorburn, who is very popular, and whose +people are building him a new church while he is absent on a visit to +his own country; and what attracts a stranger still more, an excellent +family of American ladies, engaged in the Zenana Mission, which is +designed to reach Hindoo women, who, as they live in strict seclusion, +can never hear of Christianity except through those of their own sex. +This hospitable "Home" was made ours for a part of the time that we +were in Calcutta, for which, and for all the kindness of these +excellent ladies, we hold it in grateful remembrance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +BURMAH, OR FARTHER INDIA. + + +In America we speak of the Far West, which is an undefined region, +constantly receding in the distance. So in Asia there is a Far and +Farther East, ever coming a little nearer to the rising sun. When we +have done with India, there is still a Farther India to be "seen and +conquered." On the other side of the Bay of Bengal is a country, +which, though called India, and under the East Indian Government, is +not India. The very face of nature is different. It is a country not +of vast plains, but of mountains and valleys, and springs that run +among the hills; a country with another people than India, another +language, and another religion. Looking upon the map of Asia, one sees +at its southeastern extremity a long peninsula, reaching almost to the +equator, with a central range of mountains, an Alpine chain, which +runs through its whole length, as the Apennines run through Italy. +This is the Malayan peninsula, on one side of which is Burmah, and on +the other, Siam, the land of the White Elephant. + +Such was the "undiscovered country" before us, as we went on deck of +the good ship Malda, four days out from Calcutta, and found her +entering the mouth of a river which once bore the proud name of the +River of Gold, and was said to flow through a land of gold. These +fabled riches have disappeared, but the majestic river still flows on, +broad-bosomed like the Nile, and which of itself might make the riches +of a country, as the Nile makes the riches of Egypt. This is the +mighty Irrawaddy, one of the great rivers of Eastern Asia; which takes +its rise in the western part of Thibet, not far from the head waters +of the Indus, and runs along the northern slopes of the Himalayas, +till it turns south, and winding its way through the passes of the +lofty mountains, debouches into Lower Burmah, where it divides into +two large branches like the Nile, making a Delta of ten thousand +square miles--larger than the Delta of Egypt--whose inexhaustible +fertility, yielding enormous rice harvests, has more than once +relieved a famine in Bengal. + +On the Irrawaddy, twenty-five miles from the sea, stands Rangoon, the +capital of British Burmah, a city of nearly a hundred thousand +inhabitants. As we approach it, the most conspicuous object is the +Great Pagoda, the largest in the world, which is a signal that we are +not only in a new country, but one that has a new religion--not +Brahmin, but Buddhist--whose towering pagodas, with their gilded +roofs, take the place of Hindoo temples and Mohammedan mosques. +Rangoon boasts a great antiquity; it is said to have been founded in +the sixth century before Christ, but its new masters, the English, +with their spirit of improvement, have given it quite a modern +appearance. Large steamers in the river and warehouses along its bank, +show that the spirit of modern enterprise has invaded even this +distant part of Asia. + +Burmah is a country with a history, dating back far into the past. It +was once the seat of a great empire, with a population many fold +larger than now. In the interior are to be found ruins like those in +the interior of Cambodia, which mark the sites of ancient cities, and +attest the greatness of an empire that has long since passed away. +This is a subject for the antiquarian; but I am more interested in its +present condition and its future prospects than its past history. +Burmah is now a part of the great English Empire in the East, and it +has been the scene of events which make a very thrilling chapter in +the history of American Missions. Remembering this, as soon as we got +on shore we took a gharri, and rode off to find the American +missionaries, of whom and of their work I shall have more to say. We +brought a letter also to the Chief Commissioner, Mr. Rivers Thompson, +who invited us to be his guests while in Rangoon. This gentleman is a +representative of the best class of English officials in the East, of +those conscientious and laborious men, trained in the civil service in +India, whose intelligence and experience make the English rule such a +blessing to that country. The presence of a man of such character and +such intelligence in a position of such power--for he is virtually the +ruler of Burmah--is the greatest benefit to the country. We shall long +remember him and his excellent wife--a true Englishwoman--for their +courtesy and hospitality, which made our visit to Rangoon so pleasant. +The Government House is out of the city, surrounded partly by the +natural forest, which was alive with monkeys, that were perched in the +trees, and leaping from branch to branch. One species of them had a +very wild and plaintive cry, almost like that of a human creature in +distress. It is said to be the only animal whose notes range through +the whole scale. It begins low, and rises rapidly, till it reaches a +pitch at which it sounds like a far-off wail of sorrow. Every morning +we were awakened by the singing of birds, the first sound in the +forest, with which there came through the open windows a cool, +delicious air, laden with a dewy freshness as of Spring, the exquisite +sensation of a morning in the tropics. Then came the tramp of soldiers +along the walk, changing guard. In the midst of these strange +surroundings stood the beautiful English home, with all its culture +and refinement, and the morning and evening prayers, that were a +sweeter incense to the Author of so much beauty than "the spicy +breezes that blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle." The evening drive to the +public gardens, where a band of music was playing, gave one a sight +of the English residents of Rangoon, and made even an American feel, +in hearing his familiar tongue, that he was not altogether a stranger +in a strange land. The Commissioner gave me his Report on British +Burmah, made to the Government of India. It fills a large octavo +volume, and in reading it, one is surprised to learn the extent of the +country, which is twice as large as the State of New York, and its +great natural wealth in its soil and its forests--the resources for +supporting a dense population. + +I found the best book on Burmah was by an American missionary, Dr. +Mason, who, while devoted to his religious work, had the tastes of a +naturalist, and wrote of the country with the enthusiasm of a poet and +a man of science.[9] He describes the interior as of marvellous +beauty, with rugged mountains, separated by soft green valleys, in +which sometimes little lakes, like the Scottish lochs, sleep under the +shadow of the hills; and rivers whose banks are like the banks of the +Rhine. He says: "British Burmah embraces all variety of aspect, from +the flats of Holland, at the mouths of the Irrawaddy, to the more than +Scottish beauty of the mountainous valley of the Salwen, and the +Rhenish river banks of the Irrawaddy near Prome." With the zest of an +Alpine tourist, he climbs the wild passes of the hills, and follows +the streams coursing down their sides, to where they leap in +waterfalls over precipices fifty or one hundred feet high. Amid this +picturesque scenery he finds a fauna and flora, more varied and rich +than those of any part of Europe. + +The country produces a great variety of tropical fruits; it yields +spices and gums; while the natives make use for many purposes of the +bamboo and the palm. The wild beasts are hunted for their skins, and +the elephants furnish ivory. But the staples of commerce are two--rice +and the teak wood. Rice is the universal food of Burmah, as it is of +India and of China. And for timber, the teak is invaluable, as it is +the only wood that can resist the attacks of the white ants. It is a +red wood, like our cedar, and when wrought with any degree of taste +and skill, produces a pretty effect. The better class of houses are +built of this, and being raised on upright posts, with an open story +beneath, and a broad veranda above, they look more like Swiss chalets +than like the common Eastern bungalows. The dwellings of the poorer +people are mere huts, like Irish shanties or Indian wigwams. They are +constructed only with a frame of bamboo, with mats hung between. You +could put up one as easily as you would pitch a tent. Drive four +bamboo poles in the ground, put cross pieces and hang mats of bark, +and you have a Burmese house. To be sure it is a slender +habitation--"reeds shaken with the wind;" but it serves to cover the +poor occupants, and if an earthquake shakes it down, little harm is +done. It costs nothing for house-rent; rice is cheap, and the natives +are expert boatmen, and get a part of their living from the rivers and +the sea. Their wants are few and easily supplied. "There is perhaps no +country in the world," says Mason, "where there are so few beggars, so +little suffering, and so much actual independence in the lower strata +of society." Thus provided for by nature, they live an easy life. +Existence is not a constant struggle. The earth brings forth +plentifully for their humble wants. They do not borrow trouble, and +are not weighed down with anxiety. Hence the Burmese are very +light-hearted and gay. In this they present a marked contrast to some +of the Asiatics. They have more of the Mongolian cast of countenance +than of the Hindoo, and yet they are not so grave as the Hindoos on +the one hand, or as the Chinese on the other. The women have much more +freedom than in India. They do not veil their faces, nor are they shut +up in their houses. They go about as freely as men, dressed in +brilliant colored silks, wound simply and gracefully around them, and +carrying the large Chinese umbrellas. They enjoy also the glorious +liberty of men in smoking tobacco. We meet them with long cheroots, +done up in plantain leaves, in their mouths, grinning from ear to ear. +The people are fond of pleasure and amusement, of games and festivals, +and laugh and make merry to-day, and think not of to-morrow. This +natural and irrepressible gayety of spirit has given them the name of +the Irish of the East. Like the Irish too, they are wretchedly +improvident. Since they can live so easily, they are content to live +poorly. It should be said, however, that up to a recent period they +had no motive for saving. The least sign of wealth was a temptation to +robbery on the part of officials. Now that they have security under +the English government, they can save, and some of the natives have +grown rich. + +This is one of the benefits of English rule, which make me rejoice +whenever I see the English flag in any part of Asia. Wherever that +flag flies, there is protection to property and life; there is law and +order--the first condition of civilized society. Such a government has +been a great blessing to Burmah, as to India. It is not necessary to +raise the question how England came into possession here. It is the +old story, that when a civilized and a barbarous power come in +contact, they are apt to come into conflict. They cannot be quiet and +peaceable neighbors. Mutual irritations end in war, and war ends in +annexation. In this way, after two wars, England acquired her +possessions in the Malayan Peninsula, and Lower Burmah became a part +of the great Indian Empire. We cannot find fault with England for +doing exactly what we should do in the same circumstances, what we +have done repeatedly with the American Indians. Such collisions are +almost inevitable. So far from regretting that England thus "absorbed" +Burmah, I only regret that instead of taking half, she did not take +the whole. For British Burmah is not the whole of Burmah; there is +still a native kingdom on the Upper Irrawaddy, between British Burmah +and China, with a capital, Mandelay, and a sovereign of most +extraordinary character, who preserves in full force the notions of +royalty peculiar to Asiatic countries. Recently a British envoy, Sir +Douglas Forsyth, was sent to have some negotiations with him, but +there was a difficulty about having an audience of his Majesty, owing +to the peculiar etiquette of that court, according to which he was +required to take off his boots, and get down on his knees, and +approach the royal presence on all fours! I forget how the great +question was compromised, but there is no doubt that the King of +Burmah considers himself the greatest potentate on earth. His capital +is a wretched place. A Russian gentleman whom we met in Rangoon, had +just come down from Mandelay, and he described it as the most +miserable mass of habitations that ever assumed to be called a city. +There were no roads, no carriages, no horses, only a few bullock +carts. Yet the lord of this capital thinks it a great metropolis, and +himself a great sovereign, and no one about him dares tell him to the +contrary. He is an absolute despot, and has the power of life and +death, which he exercises on any who excite his displeasure. He has +but to speak a word or raise a hand, and the object of his wrath is +led to execution. Suspicion makes him cruel, and death is sometimes +inflicted by torture or crucifixion. Formerly bodies were often seen +suspended to crosses along the river. Of course no one dares to +provoke such a master by telling him the truth. Not long ago he sent a +mission to Europe, and when his ambassadors returned, they reported to +the King that "London and Paris were very respectable cities, but not +to be compared to Mandelay!" This was repeated to me by the captain of +the steamer which brought them back, who said one of them told him +they did not dare to say anything else; that they would lose their +heads if they should intimate to his majesty that there was on the +earth a greater sovereign than himself. + +But in spite of his absolute authority, this old King lives in +constant terror, and keeps himself shut up in his palace, or within +the walls of his garden, not daring to stir abroad for fear of +assassination. + +It requires a few hard knocks to get a little sense into such a thick +head; and if in the course of human events the English were called to +administer these, we should be sweetly submissive to the ordering of +Providence. + +But though so ignorant of the world, this old king is accounted a +learned man among his people, and is quite religious after his +fashion. Indeed he is reported to have said to an English gentleman +that "the English were a great people, but what a pity that they had +no religion!" In his own faith he is very "orthodox." He will not have +any "Dissenters" about him--not he. If any man has doubts, let him +keep them to himself, lest the waters of the Irrawaddy roll over his +unbelieving breast. + +But in the course of nature this holy man will be gathered to his +rest, and then his happy family may perhaps not live in such perfect +harmony. He is now sixty-five years old, and has _thirty sons_, so +that the question of succession is somewhat difficult, as there is no +order of primogeniture. He has the right to choose an heir; and has +been urged to do so by his English neighbors, to obviate all dispute +to the succession. But he did this once and it raised a storm about +his ears. The twenty-nine sons that were not chosen, with their +respective mothers, raised such a din about his head that the poor man +was nearly distracted, and was glad to revoke his decision, to keep +peace in the family. He keeps his sons under strict surveillance lest +they should assassinate him. But if he thus gets peace in his time, he +leaves things in a state of glorious uncertainty after his death. Then +there may be a household divided against itself. Perhaps they will +fall out like the Kilkenny cats. If there should be a disputed +succession, and a long and bloody civil war, it might be a duty for +their strong neighbors, "in the interest of humanity," to step in and +settle the dispute by taking the country for themselves. Who could +regret an issue that should put an end to the horrible oppression and +tyranny of the native government, with its cruel punishments, its +tortures and crucifixions? + +It would give the English the mastery of a magnificent country. The +valley of the Irrawaddy is rich as the valley of the Nile, and only +needs "law and order" for the wilderness to bud and blossom as the +rose. Should the English take Upper Burmah, the great East Indian +Empire would be extended over the whole South of Asia, and up to the +borders of China. + +But the excellent Chief Commissioner has no dream of annexation, his +only ambition being to govern justly the people entrusted to his care; +to protect them in their rights; to put down violence and robbery, for +the country has been in such a fearful state of disorganization, that +the interior has been overrun with bands of robbers. Dacoity, as it is +called, has been the terror of the country, as much as brigandage has +been of Sicily. But the English are now putting it down with a strong +hand. To develop the resources of the country, the Government seeks to +promote internal communication and foreign commerce. At Rangoon the +track is already laid for a railroad up the country to Prome. The +seaports are improved and made safe for ships. With such facilities +Burmah may have a large commerce, for which she has ample material. +Her vast forests of teak would supply the demand of all Southern Asia; +while the rice from the delta of the Irrawaddy may in the future, as +in the past, feed the millions of India who might otherwise die from +famine. + +With the establishment of this civilized rule there opens a prospect +for the future of Burmah, which shall be better than the old age of +splendid tyranny. Says Mason: "The golden age when Pegu was the land +of gold, and the Irrawaddy the river of gold, has passed away, and +the country degenerated into the land of paddy (rice), and the stream +into the river of teak. Yet its last days are its best days. If the +gold has vanished, so has oppression; if the gems have fled, so have +the taskmasters; if the palace of the Brama of Toungoo, who had +twenty-six crowned heads at his command, is in ruins, the slave is +free." The poor native has now some encouragement to cultivate his +rice field, for its fruit will not be taken from him. The great +want of the country is the same as that of the Western States of +America--population. British Burmah has but three millions of +inhabitants, while, if the country were as thickly settled as Belgium +and Holland, or as some parts of Asia, it might support thirty +millions. Such a population cannot come at once, or in a century, but +the country may look for a slow but steady growth from the overflow of +India and China, that shall in time rebuild its waste places, and +plant towns and cities along its rivers. + +While thus interested in the political state of Burmah we cannot +forget its religion. In coming from India to Farther India we have +found not only a new race, but a new faith and worship. While +Brahminism rules the great Southern Peninsula of Asia, Buddhism is the +religion of Eastern Asia, numbering more adherents than any other +religion on the globe. Of this new faith one may obtain some idea by a +visit to the Great Pagoda. The Buddhists, like the priests of some +other religions, choose lofty sites for their places of worship, +which, as they overtop the earth, seem to raise them nearer to heaven. +The Great Pagoda stands on a hill, or rocky ledge, which overlooks the +city of Rangoon and the valley of the Irrawaddy. It is approached by a +long flight of steps, which is occupied, like the approaches to the +ancient temple in Jerusalem, by them that buy and sell, so that it is +a kind of bazaar, and also by lepers and blind men, who stretch out +their hands to ask for alms of those who mount the sacred hill to +pray. Ascending to the summit, we find a plateau, on which there is an +enclosure of perhaps an acre or two of ground. The Pagoda is a +colossal structure, with a broad base like a pyramid, though round in +shape, sloping upwards to a slender cone, which tapers at last to a +sort of spire over three hundred feet high, and as the whole, from +base to pinnacle, is covered with gold leaf, it presents a very +dazzling appearance, when it reflects the rays of the sun. As a pagoda +is always a solid mass of masonry, with no inner place of worship--not +even a shrine, or a chamber like that in the heart of the Great +Pyramid--there was more of fervor than of fitness in the language of +an English friend of missions, who prayed "that the pagodas might +resound with the praises of God!" They might resound, but it must +needs be on the outside. The tall spire has for its extreme point, +what architects call a finial--a kind of umbrella, which the Burmese +call a "htee," made of a series of iron rings gilded, from which hang +many little silver and brass bells, which, swinging to and fro with +every passing breeze, give forth a dripping musical sound. The +Buddhist idea of prayer is not limited to human speech; it may be +expressed by an offering of flowers, or the tinkling of a bell. It is +at least a pretty fancy, which leads them to suspend on every point +and pinnacle of their pagodas these tiny bells, whose soft, aerial +chimes sound sweetly in the air, and floating upward, fill the ear of +heaven with a constant melody. Besides the Great Pagoda, there are +other smaller pagodas, one of which has lately been decorated with a +magnificent "htee," presented by a rich timber merchant of Maulmain. +It is said to have cost fifty thousand dollars, as we can well +believe, since it is gemmed with diamonds and other precious stones. +There was a great festival when it was set up in its place, which was +kept up for several days, and is just over. At the same time he +presented an elephant for the service of the temple, who, being thus +consecrated, is of course a sacred beast. We met him taking his +morning rounds, and very grand he was, with his crimson and gold +trappings and howdah, and as he swung along with becoming gravity, he +was a more dignified object than the worshippers around him. But the +people were very good-natured, and we walked about in their holy +places, and made our observations with the utmost freedom. In the +enclosure are many pavilions, some of which are places for worship, +and others rest-houses for the people. The idols are hideous objects, +as all idols are, though perhaps better looking than those of the +Hindoos. They represent Buddha in all positions, before whose image +candles are kept burning. + +In the grounds is an enormous bell, which is constantly struck by the +worshippers, till its deep vibrations make the very air around holy +with prayer. With my American curiosity to see the inside of +everything, I crawled under it (it was hung but a few inches above the +ground), and rose up within the hollow bronze, which had so long +trembled with pious devotion. But at that moment it hung in silence, +and I crawled back again, lest by some accident the enormous weight +should fall and put an extinguisher on my further comparative study of +religions. This bell serves another purpose in the worship of +Buddhists. They strike upon it before saying their prayers, to attract +the attention of the recording angel, so that they may get due credit +for their act of piety. Those philosophical spirits who admire all +religions but the Christian, will observe in this a beautiful economy +in their devotions. They do not wish their prayers to be wasted. By +getting due allowance for them, they not only keep their credit good, +but have a balance in their favor. It is the same economy which leads +them to attach prayers to water-wheels and windmills, by which the +greatest amount of praying may be done with the least possible amount +of labor or time. The one object of the Buddhist religion seems to be +to attain merit, according to the amount of which they will spend more +or less time in the realm of spirits before returning to this cold +world, and on which depends also the form they will assume on their +reincarnation. Among those who sit at the gate of the temple as we +approach, are holy men, who, by a long course of devotion, have +accumulated such a stock of merit that they have enough and to spare, +and are willing to part with it for a consideration to others less +fortunate than themselves. It is the old idea of works of +supererogation over again, in which, as in many other things, they +show the closest resemblance to Romanism. + +But however puerile it may be in its forms of worship, yet as a +religion Buddhism is an immeasurable advance on Brahminism. In +leaving India we have left behind Hindooism, and are grateful for the +change, for Buddhism is altogether a more respectable religion. It has +no bloody rites like those of the goddess Kali. It does not outrage +decency nor morality. It has no obscene images nor obscene worship. It +has no caste, with its bondage and its degradation. Indeed, the +scholar who makes a study of different religions, will rank Buddhism +among the best of those which are uninspired; if he does not find in +its origin and in the life of its founder much that looks even like +inspiration. There is no doubt that Buddha, or Gaudama, if such a man +ever lived (of which there is perhaps no more reason to doubt than of +any of the great characters of antiquity), began his career of a +religious teacher, as a reformer of Brahminism, with the honest and +noble purpose of elevating the faith, and purifying the lives of +mankind. Mason, as a Christian missionary, certainly did not desire to +exaggerate the virtues of another religion, and yet he writes of the +origin of Buddhism: + + "Three hundred years before Alexandria was founded; about + the time that Thales, the most ancient philosopher of + Europe, was teaching in Greece that water is the origin of + all things, the soul of the world; and Zoroaster, in Media + or Persia, was systematizing the fire-worship of the Magi; + and Confucius in China was calling on the teeming multitudes + around him to offer to guardian spirits and the names of + their ancestors; and Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image + in the plains of Dura, and Daniel was laboring in Babylon to + establish the worship of the true God; a reverend sage, with + his staff and scrip, who had left a throne for philosophy, + was travelling from Gaya to Benares, and from Benares to + Kanouj, exhorting the people against theft, falsehood, + adultery, killing and intemperance. No temperance lecturer + advocates teetotalism now more strongly than did this sage + Gaudama twenty-three centuries ago. Nor did he confine his + instructions to external vices. Pride, anger, lust, envy and + covetousness were condemned by him in as strong terms as are + ever heard from the Christian pulpit. Love, mercy, patience, + self-denial, alms-giving, truth, and the cultivation of + wisdom, he required of all. Good actions, good words, and + good thoughts were the frequent subjects of his sermons, + and he was unceasing in his cautions to keep the mind free + from the turmoils of passion, and the cares of life. + Immediately after the death of this venerable peripatetic, + his disciples scattered themselves abroad to propagate the + doctrines of their master, and tradition says, one party + entered the principal mouth of the Irrawaddy, where they + traced its banks to where the first rocks lift themselves + abruptly above the flats around. Here, on the summit of this + laterite ledge, one hundred and sixty feet above the river, + they erected the standard of Buddhism, which now lifts its + spire to the heavens higher than the dome of St. Paul's." + +In its practical effects Buddhism is favorable to virtue; and its +adherents, so far as they follow it, are a quiet and inoffensive +people. They are a kind of Quakers, who follow an inward light, and +whose whole philosophy of life is one of repression of natural +desires. Their creed is a mixture of mysticism and stoicism, which by +gentle meditation subdues the mind to "a calm and heavenly frame," a +placid indifference to good or ill, to joy or sorrow, to pleasure and +pain. It teaches that by subduing the desires--pride, envy, and +ambition--one brings himself into a state of tranquillity, in which +there is neither hope nor fear. It is easy to see where such a creed +is defective; that it does not bring out the heroic virtues, as shown +in active devotion to others' good. This active philanthropy is born +of Christianity. There is a spiritual selfishness in dreaming life +away in this idle meditation. But so far as others are concerned, it +bids no man wrong his neighbor. + +Buddha's table of the law may be compared with that of Moses. Instead +of Ten Commandments, it has only Five, which correspond very nearly to +the latter half of the Decalogue. Indeed three of them are precisely +the same, viz.: Do not kill; Do not steal; and Do not commit adultery; +and the fourth, Do not lie, includes, as a broader statement, the +Mosaic command not to bear false witness against one's neighbor; but +the last one of all, instead of being "not to covet," is, Do not +become intoxicated. These commands are all prohibitions, and enforce +only the negative side of virtue. They forbid injury to property and +life and reputation, and thus every injury to one's neighbor, and the +last of all forbids injury to one's self, while they do not urge +active benevolence to man nor piety towards God. + +These Five Commandments are the rule of life for all men. But to those +who aspire to a more purely religious life, there are other and +stricter rules. They are required to renounce the world, to live +apart, and practice rigid austerities, in order to bring the body into +subjection. Every day is to be one of abstinence and self-denial. To +them are given five other commands, in addition to those prescribed to +mankind generally. They must take no solid food after noon (a fast not +only Friday, but every day of the week); they must not visit dances, +singing or theatrical representations; must use no ornaments or +perfumery in dress; must not sleep in luxurious beds, and while living +by alms, accept neither gold nor silver. By this rigid self-discipline, +they are expected to be able to subdue their appetites and passions +and overcome the world. + +This monastic system is one point of resemblance between Buddhism and +Romanism. Both have orders of monks and nuns, who take vows of +celibacy and poverty, and live in convents and monasteries. There is +also a close resemblance in their forms of worship. Both have their +holy shrines, and use images and altars, before which flowers are +placed, and lamps are always burning. Both chant and pray in an +unknown tongue.[10] + +This resemblance of the Buddhist creed and worship to their own, the +Jesuit missionaries have been quick to see, and with their usual +artfulness have tried to use it as an argument to smooth the way for +the conversion of the Asiatics by representing the change as a slight +one. But the Buddhist, not to be outdone in quickness, answers that +the difference is so slight that it is not worth making the change. +The only difference, they say, is "we worship a man and you worship a +woman!" + +But Christianity has had other representatives in Burmah than the +Jesuits. At an early day American missionaries, as if they could not +go far enough away from home, in their zeal to carry the Gospel where +it had not been preached before, sought a field of labor in +Southeastern Asia. More than sixty years ago they landed on these +shores. They planted no colonies, waged no wars, raised no flag, and +made no annexation. The only flag they carried over them was that of +the Gospel of peace. And yet in the work they wrought they have left a +memorial which will long preserve their sainted and heroic names. +While in Rangoon I took up again "The Life of Judson" by Dr. Wayland, +and read it with new interest on the very spot which had been the +scene of his labors. Nothing in the whole history of missions is more +thrilling than the story of his imprisonment. It was during the second +Burmese war. He was at that time at Ava, the capital of Burmah, where +he had been in favor till now, when the king, enraged at the English, +seized all that he could lay hands upon, and threw them into prison. +He could not distinguish an American, who had the same features and +spoke the same language, and so Judson shared the fate of the rest. +One day his house was entered by an officer and eight or ten men, one +of whom he recognized by his hideous tattooed face as the executioner, +who seized him in the midst of his family, threw him on the floor, +drew out the instrument of torture, the small cord, with which he +bound him, and hurried him to the death prison, where he was chained, +as were the other foreigners, each with three pairs of fetters to a +pole. He expected nothing but death, but the imprisonment dragged on +for months, varied with every device of horror and of cruelty. Often +he was chained to the vilest malefactors. Sometimes he was cast into +an inner prison, which was like the Black Hole of Calcutta, where his +limbs were confined with five pairs of fetters. So loathsome was his +prison, that he counted it the greatest favor and indulgence, when, +after a fever, he was allowed to sleep in the cage of a dead lion! +This lasted nearly two years. Several times his keepers had orders (as +they confessed afterward) to assassinate him, but, restrained perhaps +by pity for his wife, they withheld their hand, thinking that disease +would soon do the work for them. + +During all that long and dreadful time his wife watched over him with +never-failing devotion. She could not sleep in the prison, but every +day she dragged herself two miles through the crowded city, carrying +food for her husband and the other English prisoners. During that +period a child was born, whose first sight of its father was within +prison walls. Some time after even his heathen jailors took pity on +him, and allowed him to take a little air in the street outside of the +prison gate. And history does not present a more touching scene than +that of this man, when his wife was ill, carrying his babe through the +streets from door to door, asking Burman mothers, in the sacred name +of maternity, of that instinct of motherhood which is universal +throughout the world, to give nourishment to this poor, emaciated, and +dying child. + +But at length a day of deliverance came. The English army had taken +Rangoon and was advancing up the Irrawaddy. Then all was terror at +Ava, and the tyrant that had thrown Judson into a dungeon, sent to +bring him out and to beg him to go to the English camp to be his +interpreter, and to sue for terms of peace. He went and was received +with the honor due to his character and his sufferings. But the +heroine of the camp was that noble American woman, whose devotion had +saved, not only the life of her husband, but the lives of all the +English prisoners. The commander-in-chief received her as if she had +been an empress, and at a great dinner given to the Burmese +ambassadors placed her at his right hand, in the presence of the very +men to whom she had often been to beg for mercy, and had been often +driven brutally from their doors. The tables were turned, and they +were the ones to ask for mercy now. They sat uneasy, giving restless +glances at the missionary's wife, as if fearing lest a sudden burst of +womanly indignation should impel her to demand the punishment of those +who had treated her with such cruelty. But they were quite safe. She +would not touch a hair of their heads. Too happy in the release of the +one she loved, her heart was overflowing with gratitude, and she felt +no desire but to live among this people, and to do good to those from +whom she had suffered so much. They removed to Amherst, at the mouth +of the Maulmain River, and had built a pretty home, and were beginning +to realize their dream of missionary life, when she was taken ill, +and, broken by her former hardships, soon sank in death. + +Probably "The Life of Judson" has interested American Christians in +Burmah more than all the histories and geographical descriptions put +together. General histories have never the interest of a personal +narrative, and the picture of Judson in a dungeon, wearing manacles on +his limbs, exposed to death in its most terrible forms, to be tortured +or to be crucified, and finally saved by the devotion of his wife, has +touched the hearts of the American people more than all the learned +histories of Eastern Asia that ever were written. + +And when I stood at a humble grave on Amherst Point, looking out upon +the sea, and read upon the stone the name of ANN HASSELTINE JUDSON, +and thought of that gentle American wife, coming out from the peace +and protection of her New England home to face such dangers, I felt +that I had never bent over the dust of one more worthy of all the +honors of womanhood and sainthood; tender and shrinking, but whom love +made strong and brave; who walked among coarse and brutal men, armed +only with her own native modesty and dignity: who by the sick-bed or +in a prison cast light in a dark place by her sweet presence; and who +united all that is noble in woman's love and courage and devotion. + +Judson survived this first wife about a quarter of a century--a period +full of labor, and in its later years, full of precious fruit. That +was the golden autumn of his life. He that had gone forth weeping, +bearing precious seed, came again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with +him. I wish the Church in America could see what has been achieved by +that well-spent life. Most of his fellow-laborers have gone to their +rest, though Mr. and Mrs. Bennett at Rangoon, and Dr. and Mrs. Haswell +at Maulmain, still live to tell of the trials and struggles of those +early days.[11] And now appears the fruit of all those toilsome years. +The mission that was weak has grown strong. In Rangoon there are a +number of missionaries, who have not only established churches and +Christian schools, but founded a College and a Theological Seminary. +They have a Printing Press, under the charge of the veteran Mr. +Bennett, who has been here forty-six years. In the interior are +churches in great numbers. The early missionaries found a poor +people--a sort of lower caste among the Burmese--the Karens. It may +almost be said that they caught them in the woods and tamed them. They +first reduced their language to writing; they gave them books and +schools, and to-day there are twenty thousand of this people who are +members of their churches. In the interior there are many Christian +villages, with native churches and native pastors, supported by the +people themselves, whose deep poverty abounds to their liberality in a +way that recalls Apostolic times. + +The field which has been the scene of such toils and sacrifices +properly belongs to the denomination which has given such examples of +Christian devotion. The Baptists were the first to enter the country, +led by an apostle. The Mission in Burmah is the glory of the Baptist +Church, as that of the Sandwich Islands is of the American Board. They +have a sort of right to the land by reason of first occupancy--a right +made sacred by these early and heroic memories; and I trust will be +respected by other Christian bodies in the exercise of that comity +which ought to exist between Churches as between States, in the +possession of a field which they have cultivated with so much zeal, +wisdom, and success. + + * * * * * + +It is not till one leaves Rangoon that he sees the beauty of Burmah. +The banks of the Irrawaddy, like those of the Hoogly, are low and +jungly; but as we glide from the river into the sea, and turn +southward, the shores begin to rise, till after a few hours' sail we +might be on the coast of Wales or of Scotland. The next morning found +us at anchor off the mouth of the Salwen River. The steamers of the +British India Company stop at all the principal ports, and we were now +to pass up the river to Maulmain. But the Malda was too large to cross +the bar except at very high tide, for which we should have to wait +over a day. The prospect of resting here under a tropical sun, and in +full sight of the shore, was not inviting, and we looked about for +some way of escape. Fortunately we had on board Miss Haswell, of the +well-known missionary family, who had gone up from Maulmain to Rangoon +to see some friends off for America, and was now returning. With such +an interpreter and guide, we determined to go on shore, and hailing a +pilot-boat, went down the ship's ladder, and jumped on board. The +captain thought us very rash, as the sea was rough, and the boat rose +and plunged in waves; but the Malays are like seagulls on the water, +and raising their sail, made of bamboo poles, and rush matting, we +flew before the wind, and were soon landed at Amherst Point. This was +holy ground, for here Judson had lived, and here his wife died and was +buried. Her grave is on the sea-shore, but a few rods from the water, +and we went straight to it. It is a low mound, with a plain headstone, +around which an American sea captain had placed a wooden paling to +guard the sacred spot. There she sleeps, with only the murmur of the +waves, as they come rippling up the beach, to sing her requiem. But +her name will not die, and in all the world, where love and heroism +are remembered, what this woman hath done shall be told for a memorial +of her. Her husband is not here, for (as the readers of his life will +remember) his last years were spent at Maulmain, from which he was +taken, when very ill, on board a vessel, bound for the Mauritius, in +hope that a voyage might save him when all other means had failed, and +died at sea when but four days out, and was committed to the deep in +the Bay of Bengal. One cannot but regret that he did not die on land, +that he might have been buried beside his wife in the soil of Burmah; +but it is something that he is not far away, and the waters that roll +over him kiss its beloved shores. + +Miss Haswell led the way up the beach to the little house which Judson +had built. It was unoccupied, but there was an old bedstead on which +the apostle had slept, and I stretched myself upon it, feeling that I +caught as much inspiration lying there as when I lay down in the +sarcophagus of Cheops in the heart of the Great Pyramid. We found a +rude table too, which we drew out upon the veranda, and a family of +native Christians brought us rice and milk and eggs, with which we +made a breakfast in native style. The family of Miss Haswell once +occupied this mission house, and it was quite enlivening to hear, as +we sat there quietly taking our rice and milk, how the tigers used to +come around and make themselves at home, snuffing about the doors, and +carrying off dogs from the veranda, and killing a buffalo in the +front yard. They are not quite so familiar now along the coast, but in +the interior one can hardly go through a forest without coming on +their tracks. Only last year Miss Haswell, on her way to attend the +meeting of an association, camped in the woods. She found the men were +getting sleepy, and neglected the fire, and so she kept awake, and sat +up to throw on the wood. It was well, for in the night suddenly all +the cattle sprang up with every sign of terror, and there came on the +air that strong smell which none who have perceived it can mistake, +which shows that a tiger is near. Doubtless he was peering at them +through the covert, and nothing but the blazing fire kept him away. + +After our repast, we took a ride in native style. A pair of oxen was +brought to the door, with a cart turned up at both ends, in such a +manner that those riding in it were dumped into a heap; and thus well +shaken together, we rode down to the shore, where we had engaged a +boat to take us up the river. It was a long slender skiff, which, with +its covering of bamboo bent over it, was in shape not unlike a gondola +of Venice. The arch of its roof was of course not very lofty; we could +not stand up, but we could sit or lie down, and here we stretched +ourselves in glorious ease, and as a pleasant breeze came in from the +sea, our little bark moved swiftly before it. The captain of our boat +was a venerable-looking native, like some of the Arabs we saw on the +Nile, with two boatmen for his "crew," stout fellows, whose brawny +limbs were not confined by excess of clothing. In fact, they had on +only a single garment, a kind of French blouse, which, by way of +variety, they took off and washed in the river as we sailed along. +However, they had another clout for a change, which they drew over +them with great dexterity before they took off the first, so as not to +offend us. Altogether the scene was not unlike what some of my readers +may have witnessed on one of our Southern rivers; and if we could +only have had the rich voices of the negro boatmen, singing + + "Down on the Alabama," + +the illusion would have been complete. Thus in a dreamy mood, and with +a gentle motion, we glided up the beautiful Salwen, between low banks +covered with forests, a distance of thirty miles, till at five o'clock +we reached the lower end of Maulmain, and went ashore, and rode two or +three miles up the river to Dr. Haswell's, where Miss H. claimed C---- +for her guest, while I was entertained at her brother's in the old +missionary compound, where Dr. Judson lived for so many years, and +which he left only to die. These American friends, with their kind +hospitalities, made us feel quite at home in Burmah; and as if to +bring still nearer Christian England and America, we were taken the +same evening to a prayer-meeting at the house of an English officer +who is in command here, where they sang Sankey's hymns! + +Maulmain is a place of great natural beauty. Though on the river, it +rises from the water's edge in steep and wooded banks, and has a +background of hills. One can hardly find a lovelier view in all the +East than that from the hill behind it, on which stands an old +Buddhist monastery and pagoda. Here the eye ranges over a distance of +many miles. Several rivers which flow together give the country the +appearance of being covered with water, out of which rise many +elevated points, like islands in a sea. In clear weather, after the +rains, one may see on the horizon the distant peaks of the mountains +in Siam. This was a favorite resort of Dr. Judson, who, being a man of +great physical as well as intellectual vigor, was fond of walking, and +loved to climb the hills. Miss Haswell, who as a child remembered him, +told us how she once saw him here "playing tag" with his wife, chasing +her as she ran down the hill. This picture of the old man delighted +me--to think that not all his labors and sufferings could subdue that +unconquerable spirit, but that he retained even to old age the +freshness of a boy, and was as hearty in play as in preaching. This is +the sort of muscular Christians that are needed to face the hardships +of a missionary life--men who will not faint in the heat of the +tropics, nor falter at the prospect of imprisonment or death. + +While we stood here the Buddhist monks were climbing slowly up the +hill, and I could but think of the difference between our intrepid +missionary and these languid, not to say lazy, devotees. We had a good +chance to observe them, and to remark their resemblance to similar +orders in the Church of Rome. The Buddhist monk, like his Romish +brother, shaves his head, eats no animal food (the command of Buddha +not to kill, is interpreted not to take life of any kind), and lives +only by the alms of the faithful. Seeing them here, with their shaven +heads and long robes, going about the streets, stopping before the +doors to receive their daily tributes of rice, one is constantly +reminded of the mendicant friars of Italy. They live in monasteries, +which are generally situated, like this, on the tops of hills, retired +from the world, where they keep together for mutual instruction, and +to join in devotion. They do no work except to cultivate the grounds +of the temple, but give up their lives to meditation and to prayer. + +It would be wrong to speak of such men but with proper respect. They +are quiet and inoffensive; some of them are learned; still more are +serious and devout. Says Dr. Williams: "Their largest monasteries +contain extensive libraries, and a portion of the fraternity are well +acquainted with letters, though numbers of them are ignorant even of +their own books." "Their moral character, as a class, is on a par with +their countrymen, and many of them are respectable, intelligent, and +sober-minded persons, who seem to be sincerely desirous of making +themselves better, if possible, by their religious observances." + +But this life of a recluse, while favorable to study and meditation, +does not inspire active exertion. Indeed the whole Buddhist philosophy +of life seems to be comprised in this, that man should dream away +existence here on earth, and then lapse into a dreamy eternity. + + "To be or not to be, that's the question;" + +and for them it seems better "not to be." Their heaven--their +Nirvana--is annihilation, yet not absolute non-existence, but only +absorption of their personality, so that their separate being is +swallowed up and lost in God. They will still be conscious, but have +no hope and no fear, no dread and no desire, but only survey existence +with the ineffable calm of the Infinite One. This passive, emotionless +state is expressed in all the statues and images of Buddha. + +If that be heaven, it is not earth; and they who pass life in a dream +are not the men to revolutionize the world. This whole monastery, full +of monks, praying and chanting for generations, cannot so stir the +mind of Asia, or make its power felt even in Burmah, as one heroic man +like Judson. + +Miss Haswell belongs to a family of missionaries. Her father and +mother were companions of Judson, and the children are in one way and +another devoted to the same work. She has a school for girls, which is +said to be the best in Burmah. The Chief Commissioner at Rangoon spoke +of it in the highest terms, and makes special mention of it in his +Report. She told us with great modesty, and almost with a feeling of +shame, of the struggle and mortification with which she had literally +"begged" the money for it in America. But never did good seed +scattered on the waters bear richer fruit. If a deputation from all +the Baptist churches which contributed to that school could but pay it +a visit, and see what it is doing, it would never want for funds +hereafter. + +Burmah is a country which needs all good influences--moral and +religious. It needs also a strong government, just laws rigidly +enforced, to keep peace and order in the land. For though the people +are so gay and merry, there is a fearful degree of crime. In Maulmain +there is a prison, which holds over a thousand prisoners, many of whom +have been guilty of the worst crimes. A few days since there was an +outbreak, and an attempt to escape. A number got out of the gate, and +were running till they were brought up by shots from the military. +Seven were killed and seven wounded. I went through this prison one +morning with the physician as he made his rounds. As we entered a man +was brought up who had been guilty of some insubordination. He had +once attempted to kill the jailer. The Doctor inquired briefly into +the offence, and said, without further words: "Give him fifteen cuts." +Instantly the man was seized and tied, arms extended, and legs +fastened, so that he could not move, and his back uncovered, and an +attendant standing off, so that he could give his arm full swing, gave +him fifteen cuts that made the flesh start up like whip-cord, and the +blood run. The man writhed with agony, but did not scream. I suppose +such severity is necessary, but it was a very painful sight. In the +hospital we found some of the prisoners who had been concerned in the +mutiny. The ringleader had been shot in the leg, which had been +amputated. They had found that the ways of transgressors were hard. + +Continuing our walk, we went through the different workshops, and saw +the kinds of labor to which the men were put, such as making chairs of +bamboo, weaving cloth, beating cocoanut husks to make stuff for +mattresses, carving, making furniture, blacksmithing, &c. The worst +offenders were put to grinding corn, as that was a species of labor in +which they had no tools which could be used as deadly weapons. The men +in this ward--perhaps a hundred in number--were desperate characters. +They were almost all highway robbers, Dacoits, bands of whom have long +been the terror of the country. They all had irons on their ankles, +and stood up to their tasks, working with their hands. I was not sorry +to see "their feet made fast in the stocks," for in looking into their +savage faces, one could but feel that he would rather see them in +chains and behind iron bars, than meet them alone in a forest. + +But I turn to a more agreeable spectacle. It is sometimes more +pleasant to look at animals than at men, certainly when men make +beasts of themselves, and when, on the other hand, animals show an +intelligence almost human. One of the great industries of Burmah is +the timber trade. The teak wood, which is the chief timber cut and +shipped, is very heavy, and requires prodigious force to handle it; +and as the Burmese are not far enough advanced to use machinery for +the purpose, they employ elephants, and bravely do the noble beasts +perform their task. In the timber yards both at Rangoon and at +Maulmain, all the heavy work of drawing and piling the logs is done by +them. I have never seen any animals showing such intelligence, and +trained to such docility and obedience. In the yard that we visited +there were seven elephants, five of which were at that moment at work. +Their wonderful strength came into play in moving huge pieces of +timber. I did not measure the logs, but should think that many were at +least twenty feet long and a foot square. Yet a male elephant would +stoop down, and run his tusks under a log, and throw his trunk over +it, and walk off with it as lightly as a gentleman would balance his +bamboo cane on the tip of his finger. Placing it on the pile, he would +measure it with his eye, and if it projected too far at either end, +would walk up to it, and with a gentle push or pull, make the pile +even. If a still heavier log needed to be moved on the ground to some +part of the yard, the mahout, sitting on the elephant's head, would +tell him what to do, and the great creature seemed to have a perfect +understanding of his master's will. He would put out his enormous +foot, and push it along; or he would bend his head, and crouching +half way to the ground, and doubling up his trunk in front, throw his +whole weight against it, and thus, like a ram, would "butt" the log +into its place; or if it needed to be taken a greater distance, he +would put a chain around it, and drag it off behind him. The female +elephant especially was employed in drawing, as having no tusks, she +could not lift like her big brothers, but could only move by her power +of traction or attraction. Then using her trunk as deftly as a lady +would use her fingers, she would untie the knot or unhitch the chain, +and return to her master, perhaps putting out her trunk to receive a +banana as a reward for her good conduct. It was a very pretty sight, +and gave us a new idea of the value of these noble creatures, and of +the way in which they can be trained for the service of man, since +they can be not only made subject to his will, but taught to +understand it, thus showing equal intelligence and docility. + +After a day or two thus pleasantly passed, we went on board the Malda +(which had finally got over the bar and come up to Maulmain), and +dropped down the river, and were soon sailing along the coast, which +grows more beautiful as we steam southward. We pass a great number of +islands, which form the Mergui Archipelago, and just now might be off +the shores of Greece. Within these sheltered waters is Tavoy, from +which it is proposed to build a road over the mountains to Bangkok in +Siam. There has long been a path through the dense forest, but one +that could only be traversed by elephants. Now it is proposed to have +a good road, the expense to be borne by the two kingdoms. Is not this +a sign of progress, of an era of peace and good will? Formerly Burmah +and Siam were always at war. Being neighbors and rivals, they were +"natural enemies," as much as were France and England. But now the +strong English hand imposes peace, and the two countries seek a closer +connection. The road thus inaugurated will bind them together, and +prove not only an avenue of commerce but a highway of civilization. + +At Penang we enter the Straits of Malacca, on one side of which is the +Malayan Peninsula, and on the other the island of Sumatra, which is +larger than all Great Britain, and where just now, at this upper end, +the Dutch have a war on their hands. Penang is opposite Acheen, and +the Malays, who are engaged in such a desperate resistance to the +Dutch, often cross the Straits, and may be seen at any time in the +streets of the English settlement. Perhaps it is but natural that the +English should have a sympathy with these natives, who are defending +their country against invaders, though I do not perceive that this +makes them more ready to yield the ground on their own side of the +Straits, where just now, at Perak, they have a little war of their +own. To this war in Acheen I may refer again, when I come to write of +the Dutch power in Java. + +Bayard Taylor celebrates Penang as "the most beautiful island in the +world," which is a great deal for one to say who has travelled so far +and seen so much. I could not be quite so enthusiastic, and yet I do +not wonder at any degree of rapture in one who climbs the Peak of +Penang, which commands a view not only of the town and harbor below, +but of other islands and waters, as well as of mountains and valleys +in the interior, which are a part of Siam. Turning seaward, and +looking down, this little island of Penang appears as the gem of the +scene--a mass of the richest tropical vegetation, set in the midst of +tropical seas. + +We were now in the tropics indeed. We had been for weeks, but we had a +more "realizing sense" of it as we got into the lower latitudes. The +heat grew intense as we approached the Equator. One after another we +laid aside the garments of the colder North, and put on the lightest +and thinnest costume, till we did not know but our only relief would +be that suggested by Sydney Smith, "to take off our flesh and sit in +our bones." With double awnings spread over the deck, and the motion +of the ship stirring the air, still the vertical sun was quite +overpowering. We were obliged to keep on deck day and night, although +there was ample room below. As there were but eight passengers in the +cabin, each had a state-room; but with all this space, and portholes +wide open, still it was impossible to keep cool. An iron ship becomes +so heated that the state-rooms are like ovens. So we had to take +refuge on deck. Every evening the servants appeared, bringing our +mattresses, which were spread on the skylight above the cabin. This +was very well for the gentlemen of our company, but offered no relief +of coolness for our only lady passenger. But a couple of gallant young +Englishmen, who with us were making the tour of the world, were +determined that she should not be imprisoned below, and they set up on +deck a screen, in which she was enclosed as in a tent; and not +Cleopatra, when floating in her gilded barge, reclined more royally +than she, thus lifted up into the cool night air. Then we all had our +reward. The glory of the night made up for the fervors of the day. +From our pillows we looked out upon the sea, and as the hot day +brought thunderstorms, the lightning playing on the distant horizon +lighted up the watery leagues around, till it seemed as if we were + + "Alone, alone, all, all alone, + Alone on the wide, wide sea," + +floating on in darkness over an unfathomable abyss. At other times the +sea was luminous with the light which she carries in her own bosom. +These Southern seas are full of those marine insects which shine like +glow-worms in the dark; and when the waters were calm and still, when +there was not a ripple on the bosom of the deep, we leaned over the +stern of the ship to watch the long track of light which she left in +the phosphorescent sea. But brighter than this watery illumination +was the sky above, which was all aglow with celestial fires. We had +long become familiar with the Southern Cross, which we first saw in +Egypt on the Nile, near the First Cataract. But then it was just above +the horizon. Now it shone in mid-heaven, while around it were gathered +the constellations of the Southern hemisphere. I have seen the stars +on the desert and on the sea, but never anything before that quite +equalled these nights on the Equator. + +But our voyage was coming to an end. We had already been twice as long +on the Bay of Bengal as in crossing the Atlantic. It was the last day +of March when the captain of the ship came to me, as I was standing on +deck, and said: "Do you see that low point of land, with the trees +upon it, coming down to the water? That is the most Southern point of +Asia." That great continent, which we saw first at Constantinople, and +had followed so far around the globe, ended here. An hour afterward, +as we rounded into Singapore, a hand pointed Eastward, and a voice at +my side said: "Uncle, there's the Pacific!" She who spoke might +perhaps have said rather, "There are the China Seas," but they are a +part of the great Ocean which rolls its waters from Asia to America. + +Singapore is on an island, at the very end of the peninsula, so that +it may be called truly "the jumping-off place." On this point of land, +but a degree and a half from the Equator, England has planted one of +those colonies by which she keeps guard along the coasts, and over the +waters, of Southern Asia. The town, which has a population of nearly a +hundred thousand, is almost wholly Chinese, but it is the English +power which is seen in the harbor filled with ships, and the fort +mounted with guns; and English taste which has laid out the streets +and squares, and erected the public buildings. This might be called +the Island of Palms, which grow here in great profusion--the tall +cocoanut palm with its slender stem, the fan palm with its broad +leaves, and many other varieties which mantle the hillsides, forming a +rich background for the European bungalows that peer out from under a +mass of tropical foliage. + +Whoever goes around the world must needs pass by Singapore. It is the +one inevitable point in Asia, as San Francisco is in America. One is +sure to meet here travellers, mostly English and American, passing to +and fro, from India to China, or from China to India, making the Grand +Tour. So common are they that they cease to inspire as much awe as +Marco Polo or Capt. Cook, and have even received the nickname of +"globe-trotters," and are looked upon as quite ordinary individuals. +Singapore is a good resting-point for Americans--a convenient half-way +house--as it is almost exactly on the other side of the globe from New +York. Having "trotted" thus far, we may be allowed to rest, at least +over Sunday, before we take a new start, and sail away into the +Southern hemisphere. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] This book furnishes a good illustration of the incidental service +which missionaries--aside from the religious work they do--render to +the cause of geography, of science, and of literature. They are the +most indefatigable explorers, and the most faithful and authentic +narrators of what they see. Its full title is: "BURMAH: its People and +Natural Productions; or Notes on the Natives, Fauna, Flora, and +Minerals, of Tenasserim, Pegu, and Burmah; With systematic catalogues +of the known Mammals, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, Mollusks, +Crustaceans, Anellides, Radiates, Plants, and Minerals, with +vernacular names." In his preface the writer says: + +"No pretensions are made in this work to completeness. It is not a +book composed in the luxury of literary leisure, but a collection of +Notes [What is here so modestly called Notes, is an octavo of over 900 +pages] which I have been making during the twenty years of my +residence in this country, in the corners of my time that would +otherwise have been wasted. Often to forget my weariness when +travelling, when it has been necessary to bivouac in the jungles; +while the Karens have been seeking fuel for their night-fires, or +angling for their suppers in the stream; I have occupied myself with +analyzing the flowers that were blooming around my couch; or examining +the fish that were caught; or an occasional reptile, insect, or bird, +that attracted my attention. With such occupations I have brightened +many a solitary hour; and often has the most unpromising situation +proved fruitful in interest; for 'the barren heath, with its mosses, +lichens, and insects, its stunted shrubs and pale flowers, becomes a +paradise under the eye of observation; and to the genuine thinker the +sandy beach and the arid wild are full of wonders.'" + +[10] Dr. S. Wells Williams, who was familiar with Buddhism during his +forty years residence in China, says ("Middle Kingdom," Vol. II., p. +257): + +"The numerous points of similarity between the rites of the Buddhists +and those of the Romish Church, early attracted attention, ... such as +the vow of celibacy in both sexes, the object of their seclusion, the +loss of hair, taking a new name and looking after the care of the +convent. There are many grounds for supposing that their favorite +goddess Kwanyin, i. e., the Hearer of Cries, called also Holy Mother, +Queen of Heaven, is only another form of Our Lady. The monastic habit, +holy water, counting rosaries to assist in prayer, the ordinances of +celibacy and fasting, and reciting masses for the dead, worship of +relics, and canonization of saints, are alike features of both sects. +Both burn candles and incense, and bells are much used in their +temples: both teach a purgatory, from which the soul can be delivered +by prayers, and use a dead language for their liturgy, and their +priests pretend to miracles. These striking resemblances led the +Romish missionaries to suppose that some of them had been derived from +the Romanists or Syrians who entered China before the twelfth century; +others referred them to St. Thomas, but Premare ascribes them to the +devil, who had thus imitated holy mother church in order to scandalize +and oppose its rights. But as Davis observes: 'To those who admit that +most of the Romish ceremonies are borrowed directly from Paganism, +there is less difficulty in accounting for the resemblance.'" + +The following scene in a Buddhist temple described by an eye-witness, +answers to what is often seen in Romish churches: + +"There stood fourteen priests, seven on each side of the altar, erect, +motionless, with clasped hands and downcast eyes, their shaven heads +and flowing gray robes adding to their solemn appearance. The low and +measured tones of the slowly moving chant they were singing might have +awakened solemn emotions, and called away the thoughts from worldly +objects. Three priests kept time with the music, one beating an +immense drum, another a large iron vessel, and a third a wooden bell. +After chanting, they kneeled upon low stools, and bowed before the +colossal image of Buddha, at the same time striking their heads upon +the ground. Then rising and facing each other, they began slowly +chanting some sentences, and rapidly increasing the music and their +utterance until both were at the climax of rapidity, they diminished +in the same way until they had returned to the original measure.... +The whole service forcibly reminded me of scenes in Romish chapels." + +[11] Dr. Haswell died a few months after we left Burmah. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE ISLAND OF JAVA. + + +Most travellers who touch at Singapore sweep round that point like a +race-horse, eager to be on the "home stretch." But in turning north, +they turn away from a beauty of which they do not dream. They know not +what islands, embowered in foliage, lie in those Southern seas--what +visions would reward them if they would but "those realms explore." +The Malayan Peninsula is a connecting link between two great divisions +of the globe; it is a bridge hundreds of miles long--a real Giants' +Causeway, reaching out from the mainland of Asia towards the Island +World beyond--a world with an interest all its own, which, now that we +were so near, attracted us to its shores. Leaving our fellow-travellers +to go on to Siam or to China, we took the steamer of the Netherlands +India Company for Java. It was a little boat of but 250 tons, but it +shot away like an arrow, and was soon flying like a sea-bird among +islands covered with palm groves. On our right was the long coast of +Sumatra. Towards evening we entered the Straits of Rhio, and in the +night crossed the Equator. When as a child I turned over the globe, I +found this line indicated by a brass ring, and rather expected that +the ship would get a thump as she passed over it; but she crossed +without a shock, or even a jar; ocean melted into ocean; the waters of +the China and the Java seas flowed together, and we were in the +Southern hemisphere. + +The first thing on board which struck us strangely was that we had +lost our language. The steamer was Dutch, and the officers spoke only +Dutch. But on all these waters will be found passing to and fro +gentlemen of intelligence, holding official positions here, but who +have lived long in Europe, and who speak English or French. At Rhio we +were joined by the Resident, the highest official of that island, and +by the Inspector of Schools from Batavia; and the next day, as we +entered the Straits of Banca, by the Resident of Palembang in +Sumatra--all of whom were very polite to us as strangers. We saw them +again in Java, and when we parted, felt almost that they were not only +acquaintances, but friends. They were of course thoroughly informed +about the new world around us, and were ready to enlighten our +ignorance. We sat on deck at evening, and as they puffed their cigars +with the tranquillity of true Dutchmen, we listened to their discourse +about the islands and people of the Malayan Archipelago. + +This part of the world would delight Mr. Darwin by the strange races +it contains, some of which approach the animal tribes. In the island +of Rhio the Resident assured me there were wild men who lived in +trees, and had no language but cries; and in Sumatra the Resident of +Palembang said there were men who lived in the forests, with whom not +only the Europeans, but even the Malays, could have no intercourse. He +himself had never seen one. Yet, strange to say, they have a petty +traffic with the outer world, yet not through the medium of speech. +They live in the woods, and live by the chase. They hunt tigers, not +with the gun, but with a weapon called a sumpitan, which is a long +tube, out of which they blow arrows with such force, and that are so +keen of point, and touched with such deadly poison, that a wound is +almost immediately fatal. These tiger skins or elephant tusks they +bring for barter--not for sale--they never sell anything, for money is +about the most useless thing they could have; they cannot eat it, or +drink it, or wear it. But as they have wants, they exchange; yet they +themselves are never seen. They bring what they have to the edge of +the forest, and leave it there, and the Malays come and place what +_they_ have to dispose of, and retire. If the offer is satisfactory, +when the Malays return they find what they brought gone, and take what +is left and depart. If not, they add a few trifles more to tempt the +eyes of these wild men of the woods, and so at last the exchange is +effected, yet all the while the sellers keep themselves invisible. +This mode of barter argues great honesty on both sides. + +This island of Sumatra is a world in itself. The Resident of Palembang +has under him a country as large as the whole of Java. The people of +Palembang are Malays and Chinese, thousands of whom live on rafts. In +the interior of the island there are different races, speaking a dozen +different languages or dialects. But with all its population, the +greater part of the country is still given up to forest and jungle, +the home of wild beasts--of the tiger and the rhinoceros. Wild +elephants range the forests in great numbers. He had often seen them +in herds of two or three hundred. It seemed strange that they were not +tamed, as in India and Burmah. But such is not the habit of the +people, who hunt them for ivory, but never attempt to subdue them, or +use them as beasts of burden. Hence they become a great nuisance, as +they come about the villages and break into the plantations; and it is +only when a grand hunt is organized for their destruction, that a +neighborhood can be for a time rid of the pest. + +But if these are uncomfortable neighbors, there are others that are +more so--the reptiles, which abound here as in India. But familiarity +breeds contempt or indifference. The people are not afraid of them, +and hardly notice them, but speak of them in an easy sort of way, as +if they were the most harmless things in nature--poor innocent +creatures, which might almost be pets in the family, and allowed to +run about the house at their will. Soberly, there are certain +domestic snakes which are indulged with these liberties. Said Mr. K.: +"I was once visiting in Sumatra, and spending a night at the house of +a friend. I heard a noise overhead, and asked, 'What is that?' 'Oh, +nothing,' they said; 'it's only the serpent.' 'What! do you keep a +family snake?' 'Yes,' they said; it was a large black snake which +frequented the house, and as it did no mischief, and hunted the rats, +they let it roam about wherever it liked." Thinking this rather a big +story, with which our friend might practise on the credulity of a +stranger, I turned to the Resident of Palembang, who confirmed it. He +said this domestication of serpents was not uncommon. There was a kind +of boa that was very useful as an exterminator of rats, and for this +purpose the good Dutch housekeepers allowed it to crawl about or to +lie coiled up in the pantry. Sometimes this interesting member of the +family was stretched out on the veranda to bask in the sun--a pleasant +object to any stranger who might be invited to accept hospitality. I +think I should have an engagement elsewhere, however pressing the +invitation. I never could "abide" snakes. From the Old Serpent down, +they have been my aversion, and I beg to decline their company, though +they should be as insinuating as the one that tempted Eve. But an +English merchant in Java afterwards assured me that "snakes were the +best gardeners; that they devoured the worms and insects and small +animals; and that for his part, he was rather pleased than otherwise +when he saw a big boa crawling among the vines or in the rice-fields." +I thought that the first instance of a serpent's gardening was in +Paradise, the effect of which was not encouraging, but there is no +disputing about tastes. He said they frequently came around the +houses, but did not often enter them, except that they were very fond +of music (the dear creatures!); and sometimes in the evening, as doors +and windows were left open for coolness, if the music was very fine, a +head might be thrust in of a guest that had not been invited. + +But our conversation was not limited to this harrowing topic, but +ranged over many features of Sumatra--its scenery and climate, soil +and vegetation. It is indeed a magnificent island. Over a thousand +miles long, and with more square miles than Great Britain and Ireland +together, it is large enough for a kingdom. In some parts the scenery +is as grand as that of Switzerland. Along the western coast is a range +of mountains like the Alps (some peaks are 15,000 feet high), among +which is set many an Alpine valley, with its glistening lake. That +coast is indented with bays, on one of which is the Dutch capital, +Padang. East of the mountains the island spreads out into vast plains, +watered by noble rivers. The soil is very rich, yielding all the +fruits of the tropics in great abundance. The tobacco especially is of +a much finer quality than that of Java, and brings twice as much in +the market. This fertility will attract population both from Asia and +from Europe, and under a good government this island may yet be the +seat of an empire worthy of its greatness. + +But just now the Dutch have a task to bring it into subjection. They +have an enemy in the North harder to subdue than tigers and wild +elephants. These are the terrible Malays, against whom has been kept +up for years the war in Acheen--a war waged with such deadly and +unrelenting hate and fury, that it has taken on a character of +ferocity. Of the right or wrong of this savage contest, I cannot +judge, for I hear only one side of the story. I am told that the +Malays are a race of pirates, with whom it is impossible to live in +good neighborhood, and that there can be no peace till they are +subdued. At the same time, one cannot refuse a degree of sympathy even +to savages who defend their own country, and who fight with such +conspicuous bravery. To this all the Dutch officers bore testimony, +saying that they fought "like devils." The Malays are very much like +our American Indians, both in features and in character--a proud, +high-spirited race, capable of any act of courage or devotion, but +full of that hot blood that resents an insult. "If you have a Malay +servant," I heard often in the East, "you may scold him or send him +away, but _never strike_ him, for that is an indignity which he feels +more than a wound; which he never forgets or forgives; but which, if +he has an opportunity, he will avenge with blood." Such a people, when +they come into battle, sacrifice their lives without a moment's +hesitation. They have a great advantage, as they are in their own +territory, and can choose their own time and place of attack, or keep +out of the way, leaving the enemy to be worn out by the hot climate +and by disease. Of course if the Dutch could once bring them within +range of their guns, or entice them into a pitched battle, European +skill and discipline would be victorious. But the Malays are too wary +and active; they hide in the fastnesses of the hills, and start up +here and there in unexpected quarters, and after a sudden dash, fly to +the mountains. They have a powerful ally in the pestilential climate, +which brings on those deadly fevers that kill more than perish in +battle. Such a war may drag on for years, during which the Dutch +territory will not extend much beyond the places occupied by troops, +or the ports defended by the guns of the fleet. If the Dutch hold on +with their proverbial tenacity, they may conquer in the end, though at +an immense cost in treasure and in life. If the Malays are once +subdued, and by a wise and lenient policy converted to some degree of +loyalty, they may prove, like the Sikhs in India, the brave defenders +of the power against which they fought so well. + +With such conversation to lighten the hours, they did not seem long, +as we were running through the Java Sea. On the third day from +Singapore, we came among the Thousand Islands, and in the afternoon +descried on the horizon the mountains of Java, and just at sunset were +in the roads of Batavia. There is no harbor, but an open roadstead; +and here a whole fleet of ships were riding at anchor--ships of war +and merchant ships from all parts of the world. It was two or three +miles from the quay, but as the evening drew on, we could see lights +along the shore; and at eight o'clock, just as the gun was fired from +the flagship of the Dutch Admiral, we put off in a native boat, manned +by a Malay crew. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and we seemed to +be floating in a dream, as our swarthy boatmen bent to their oars, and +we glided silently over a tropical sea to this unknown shore. + +At the Custom House a dark-skinned official, whose buttons gave him a +military air, received us with dignity, and demanded if we had +"pistolets," and being satisfied that we were not attempting an armed +invasion of the island, gave but a glance at our trunks, and politely +bowed us to a carriage that was standing outside the gates, and away +we rattled through the streets of Batavia to the Hotel Nederland. + +The next morning at an early hour we were riding about to "take our +bearings" and adjust ourselves to the situation. If we had not known +where we were, but only that we were in some distant part of the +world, we could soon guess that we were in a Dutch rather than in an +English colony. Here were the inevitable canals which the Dutch carry +with them to all parts of the earth. The city is intersected by these +watery streets, and the boats in them might be lying at the quays of +Rotterdam or Amsterdam. The city reminds us a good deal of the Hague, +in its broad streets lined with trees, and its houses, which have a +substantial Dutch look, as if they were built for comfort and not for +show. They are low and large, spreading out over a great deal of +surface, but not towering ambitiously upwards. A pretty sight it was +to see these fine old mansions, standing back from the street, with +ample space around them, embowered in trees and shrubbery, with lawns +and gardens kept in perfect order; and with all the doors and windows +wide open, through which we could see the breakfast tables spread, as +if to invite even strangers, such as we were, to enter and share their +hospitality. Before we left Java, we were guests in one of these +mansions, and found that Dutch hospitality was not merely in name. + +Among the ornaments of the city are two large and handsome public +squares--the King's Plain and Waterloo Plain. The latter name reminds +us that the Dutch had a part in the battle of Waterloo. With +pardonable pride they are persuaded that the contingent which they +contributed to the army of Wellington had no small part in deciding +the issue of that terrible day, and they thus commemorate _their_ +victory. This plain is used as a parade-ground, and the Dutch cavalry +charge over it with ardor, inspired by such heroic memories. + +It may surprise some of my readers accustomed to our new American +cities, to learn how old is Batavia. About the time that the Pilgrim +Fathers sailed from Holland, another expedition from the same country +carried the Dutch flag to the other side of the world, and Batavia was +settled the year before the landing on Plymouth Rock. Of course it was +a very small beginning of their power in the East, but slowly the +petty trading settlement grew into a colony, and its territory was +extended by degrees till, more than a hundred years after, it took in +the whole island. In the old palace on Waterloo Plain, now used as a +museum, are the portraits of Dutch governors who have ruled here for +two hundred and fifty years. + +But the capital of Java--at least the residence of the +Governor-General--is not at Batavia, but at Buitenzorg, nearly forty +miles in the interior, to which one can go by railroad in two hours. +As we took our seats in the carriage we had the good fortune to meet +Mr. Fraser, an English merchant, who has lived many years in Java, and +is well known and highly respected throughout the island, who gave us +information of the country over which we were passing. The plains +near the sea had at this time an appearance of great beauty. They were +laid out in rice fields which have a more vivid color than fields of +grain, and now shone with an emerald green. It was the time of the +gathering of the harvest, and the fields were filled with reapers, men +and women, young men and maidens. But one hears not the click of the +reaper. I am told that the attempt to introduce a mowing machine or a +patent reaper would make a revolution in the island. All the rice of +Java is cut by hand, and not even with the sickle, which is an +instrument much too coarse for this dainty work, but with a knife +three or four inches long, so that the spears are clipped as with a +pair of scissors. Taking a few blades gently, they cut them off, and +when they have a handful bind it in a tiny sheaf about as large as a +bunch of asparagus. When they have cut and bound up five, one is laid +aside for the landlord and four go to the cultivators. + +This slow progress might make a young American farmer very impatient. +Perhaps not, if he knew all the charms of the rice field, which might +make a country swain quite willing to linger. Mr. Fraser explained +that this season was the time, and the rice field the scene, of the +matrimonial engagements made during the year! Ah, now it is all +explained. Who can wonder that the gentle reapers linger over the rice +blades while they are proposing or answering questions on which their +whole life may depend? No doubt in merry England it has often happened +that hay-making and love-making have gone on in the fields together. +And we cannot wonder that such rural arts should be known in a land +warmed by a tropical sun. + +But the food of the natives is not found in the rice fields alone; it +is brought down from the top of the cocoanut palm, and drawn up from +the bottom of caves of the earth. "Do you see yonder small mountain?" +said Mr. F. "That is a famous hunting-ground for the edible birds' +nests, which are esteemed such a delicacy by the Chinese. The birds +are swallows and build their nests in caves, into which the hunters +are let down by long bamboo ropes, and drawn up laden with spoil. So +great has been the yield, and so highly prized, that the product of +that hill exported to China in one year returned a profit of L4,000. +Of late this has been much reduced, owing to the diminished +production, or that the Chinese are not ready to pay so much for such +dainty luxuries." + +At Buitenzorg the low land of the coast is exchanged for the hills. We +are at the foot of the range of mountains which forms the backbone of +the island. To give an idea of the character of the scenery, let me +sketch a picture from my own door in the Bellevue Hotel. The rooms, as +in all tropical climates, open on a broad veranda. Here, stretched in +one of the easy chairs made of bamboo, we look out upon a scene which +might be in Switzerland, so many features has it which are Alpine in +their character. The hotel stands on a projecting shelf of rock or +spur of a hill, overlooking a deep gorge, through which flows, or +rather rushes, a foaming mountain torrent, whose ceaseless murmurs +come up from below; while in front, only three or four miles distant, +rises the broad breast of a mountain, very much like the lower summits +or foothills of the Alps, which hang over many a sequestered vale in +Switzerland or in the Tyrol. + +But here the resemblance ends. For as we descend from the broad +outlines of the landscape to closer details, it changes from the +rugged features of an Alpine pass, and takes its true tropical +character. There are no snow-clad peaks, for we are almost under the +Equator. The scene might be in the Andes rather than in the Alps. The +mountain before us, the Salak, is a volcano, though not now in action. +As we look down from our perch, the eye rests upon a forest such as is +never seen in the Alps. Here are no dark pines, such as clothe the +sides of the vale of Chamouni. In the foreground, on the river bank, +at the foot of the hill, is a cluster of native huts, half hidden by +long feathery bamboos and broad-leaved palms. The forest seems to be +made up of palms of every variety--the cocoanut palm, the sago palm, +and the sugar palm, with which are mingled the bread-fruit tree, and +the nutmeg, and the banana; and not least of all, the _cinchona_, +lately imported from South American forests, which yields the famous +Peruvian bark. The attempt to acclimatize this shrub, so precious in +medicine, has been completely successful, so that the quinine of Java +is said to be even better than that of South America. In the middle +distance are the rice fields, with their intense green, and farther, +on the side of the mountain, are the coffee plantations, for which +Java is so famous. + +Buitenzorg has a Botanical Garden, the finest by far to be found out +of Europe, and the richest in the world in the special department of +tropical plants and trees. All that the tropics pour from their +bounteous stores; all those forms of vegetable life created by the +mighty rains and mightier sun of the Equator--gigantic ferns, like +trees, and innumerable orchids (plants that live on air)--are here in +countless profusion. One of the glories of the Garden is an +india-rubber tree of great size, which spreads out its arms like an +English oak, but dropping shoots here and there (for it is a species +of banyan) which take root and spring up again, so that the tree +broadens its shade, and as the leaves are thick and tough as leather, +offers a shield against even the vertical sun. There are hundreds of +varieties of palms--African and South American--some of enormous +height and breadth, which, as we walked under their shade, seemed +almost worthy to stand on the banks of the River of Life. + +Such a vast collection offers an attraction like the Garden of Plants +in Paris. I met here the Italian naturalist Beccari, who was spending +some weeks at Buitenzorg to make a study of a garden in which he had +the whole tropics in a space of perhaps a hundred acres. He has spent +the last eight years of his life in the Malayan Archipelago, dividing +his time, except a few months in the Moluccas, between Borneo and New +Guinea. The latter island he considered richer in its fauna and flora +than any other equal spot on the surface of the globe, with many +species of plants and animals unknown elsewhere. He had his own boat, +and sailed along the coast and up the rivers at his will. He +penetrated into the forest and the jungle, living among savages, and +for the time adopting their habits of life, not perhaps dressing in +skins, but sleeping in their huts or on the ground, and living on +their food and such game as he could get with his gun. He laughed at +the dangers. He was not afraid of savages or wild beasts or reptiles. +Indeed he lived in such close companionship with the animal kingdom +that he got to be in very intimate, not to say amicable, relations; +and to hear him talk of his friends of the forest, one would think he +would almost beg pardon of a beast that he was obliged to shoot and +stuff in the interest of science. He complained only that he could not +find enough of them. Snakes he "doted on," and if he espied a monster +coiling round a tree, or hanging from the branches, his heart leaped +up as one who had found great spoil, for he thought how its glistening +scales would shine in his collection. I was much entertained by his +adventures. He left us one morning in company with our host Carlo, who +is a famous hunter, on an expedition after the rhinoceros--a royal +game, which abounds in the woods of Java. + +The beauty of this island is not confined to one part of it. As yet we +have seen only Western Java, and but little of that. But there is +Middle Java and Eastern Java. The island is very much like Cuba in +shape--long and narrow, being near seven hundred miles one way, and +less than a hundred the other. Thus it is a great breakwater dividing +the Java Sea from the Indian Ocean. To see its general configuration, +one needs to sail along the coast to get a distant view; and then, to +appreciate the peculiar character of its scenery, he should make +excursions into the interior. The Residents of Rhio and Palembang +called to see us and made out an itineraire; and Mr. Levyssohn Norman, +the Secretary General, to whom I brought a letter from a Dutch officer +whom we met at Naples, gave me letters to the Residents in Middle +Java. Thus furnished we returned to Batavia, and took the steamer for +Samarang--two days' sail to the eastward along the northern shore. As +we put out to sea a few miles, we get the general figure of the +island. The great feature in the view is the mountains, a few miles +from the coast, some of which are ten and twelve thousand feet high, +which make the background of the picture, whose peculiar outline is +derived from their volcanic character. Java lies in what may be called +a volcano belt, which is just under the Equator, and reaches not only +through Java, but through the islands of Bali and Lombok to the +Moluccas. Instead of one long chain of equal elevation in every part, +or a succession of smooth, rounded domes, there is a number of sharp +peaks thrown up by internal fires. Thus the sky line is changing every +league. European travellers are familiar with the cone-like shape of +Vesuvius, overlooking the Bay of Naples. Here is the same form, +repeated nearly forty times, as there are thirty-eight volcanoes in +the island. Around the Bay of Samarang are nine in one view! Some of +them are still active, and from time to time burst out in fearful +eruptions; but just now they are not in an angry mood, but smoking +peacefully, only a faint vapor, like a fleecy cloud, curling up +against the sky. All who have made the ascent of Vesuvius, remember +that its cone is a blackened mass of ashes and scoriae. But a volcano +here is not left to be such a picture of desolation. Nature, as if +weary of ruin, and wishing to hide the rents she has made, has mantled +its sides with the richest tropical vegetation. As we stand on the +deck of our ship, and look landward, the mountains are seen to be +covered near their base with forests of palms; while along their +breasts float belts of light cloud, above which the peaks soar into +the blue heavens. + +At the eastern end of the island, near Souraboya, there is a volcano +with the largest crater in the world, except that of Kilaccea in the +Sandwich Islands. It is three miles across, and is filled with a sea +of sand. Descending into this broad space, and wading through the +sand, as if on the desert, one comes to a new crater in the centre, a +thousand feet wide, which is always smoking. This the natives regard +with superstitious dread, as a sign that the powers below are in a +state of anger; and once a year they go in crowds to the mountain, +dragging a bullock, which is thrown alive into the crater, with other +offerings, to appease the wrath of the demon, who is raging and +thundering below. + +Wednesday morning brought us to Samarang, the chief port of Middle, as +Batavia is of Western, and Sourabaya of Eastern Java. As we drew up to +the shore, the quay was lined with soldiers, who were going off to the +war in Acheen. The regiments intended for that service are brought +first to Java, to get acclimated before they are exposed to what would +be fatal to fresh European troops. These were now in fine condition, +and made a brave sight, drawn up in rank, with the band playing, and +the people shouting and cheering. This is the glittering side of war. +But, poor fellows! they have hard times before them, of which they do +not dream. It is not the enemy they need to fear, but the hot climate +and the jungle fever, which will be more deadly than the kris of the +Malay. These soldiers are not all Dutch; some are French. On our +return to Batavia, the steamer carried down another detachment, in +which I found a couple of French zouaves (there may have been others), +one of whom told me he had been in the surrender at Sedan, and the +other had taken part in the siege of Paris. After their terms had +expired in the French army, they enlisted in the Dutch service, and +embarked for the other side of the world, to fight in a cause which is +not their own. I fear they will never see France again, but will leave +their bones in the jungles of Sumatra. + +But our thoughts are not of war, but of peace, as we ride through the +long Dutch town, so picturesquely situated between the mountains and +the sea, and take the railway for the interior. We soon leave the +lowlands of the coast, and penetrate the forests, and wind among the +hills. Our first stop is at Solo, which is an Imperial residence. It +is a curious relic of the old native governments of Java, that though +the Dutch are complete masters, there are still left in the island an +Emperor and a Sultan, who are allowed to retain their lofty titles, +surrounded with an Imperial etiquette. The Emperor of Solo lives in +his "Kraton," which is what the Seraglio is among the Turks, a large +enclosure in which is the palace. He has a guard of a few hundred men, +who gratify his vanity, and enable him to spend his money in keeping a +number of idle retainers; but there is a Dutch Resident close at hand, +without whose permission he cannot leave the district, and hardly his +own grounds; while in the very centre of the town is a fort, with guns +mounted, pointing towards his palace, which it could soon blow about +his ears. Thus "protected," he is little better than a State prisoner. +But he keeps his title "during good behavior," and once a year turns +out in grand state, to make an official visit to the Resident, who +receives him with great distinction; and having thus "marched up the +hill," he "marches down again." We had a letter to the Resident, and +hoped to pay our respects to his Majesty, but learned that it would +require several days to arrange an audience. It is a part of the Court +dignity which surrounds such a potentate, that he should not be easily +accessible, and we should be sorry to disturb the harmless illusion. + +But if we did not see the "lion" of Solo, we saw the tigers, which +were perhaps quite as well worth seeing. The Emperor, amid the +diversions with which he occupies his royal mind, likes to entertain +his military and official visitors with something better than a +Spanish bull-fight, namely, a tiger-fight with a bull or a buffalo, or +with men, for which he has a number of trained native spearmen. For +these combats his hunters trap tigers in the mountains; and in a +building made of heavy timbers fitted close together, with only space +between for light and air, were half a dozen of them in reserve. They +were magnificent beasts; not whelped in a cage and half subdued by +long captivity, like the sleek creatures of our menageries and +zoological gardens; but the real kings of the forest, caught when full +grown (some but a few weeks before), and who roared as in their native +wilds. It was terrific to see the glare of their eyes, and to hear the +mutterings of their rage. One could not look at them, even through +their strong bars, without a shudder. A gentleman of Java told me that +he had once caught in the mountains a couple of tigers in a pit, but +that as he approached it, their roaring was so terrific, as they +bounded against the sides of the pit, that it required all his courage +to master a feeling of indescribable terror. + +Adjoining the dominion of Solo is that of Jookja, where, instead of an +Emperor, is a Sultan, not quite so great a potentate as the former, +but who has his chateau and his military guard, and goes through the +same performance of playing the king. The Dutch Resident has a very +handsome palace, with lofty halls, where on state occasions he +receives the Sultan with becoming dignity--a mark of deference made +all the more touching by the guns of the fort, which, from the centre +of the town, keep a friendly watch for the least sign of rebellion. + +This part of Middle Java is very rich in sugar plantations. One +manufactory which we visited was said to yield a profit of $400,000 a +year. Nor is this the product of slave labor, like the sugar of Cuba. +Yet it is not altogether free labor. There is a peculiar system in +Java by which the government, which is the owner of the land, in +renting an estate to a planter, rents those who live on it with the +estate. It guarantees him sufficient labor to work his plantation. The +people are obliged to labor. This is exacted partly as a due to the +government, amounting to one or two days in the week. For the rest of +the time they are paid small wages. But they cannot leave their +employer at will. There is no such absolute freedom as that which is +said to have ruined Jamaica, where the negro may throw down his tools +and quit work at the very moment when the planter is saving his crop. +The government compels him to labor, but it also compels his master to +pay him. The system works well in Java. Laborers are kept busy, the +lands are cultivated, and the production is enormous--not only making +the planters rich, but yielding a large revenue to Holland. + +At Jookja the railroad ends. Further excursions into the country must +be by a private carriage. Some thirty miles distant is an ancient +ruin, which is in Java what the Great Pyramid is in Egypt, with which +it is often compared. To reach this, we ordered a carriage for the +next morning. Probably the landlord thought he had a Milord Anglais +for his guest, who must make his progress through the island with +royal magnificence; for, when we rose very early for our ride, we +found in front of the door a huge carriage with _six horses_! The +horses of Java are small, but full of spirit, like the Canadian +ponies. On the box was a fat coachman, who outweighed both of us +inside. Behind us stood two fellows of a lighter build, whose high +office it was to urge our gallant steeds by voice and lash to their +utmost speed. They were dressed in striped jackets, like +circus-riders, and were as agile as cats. Whenever the mighty chariot +lagged a little, they leaped to the ground, and running forward with +extraordinary swiftness, shouted and lashed the horses till, with +their goadings and their cries, the beasts, driven to madness, reared +and plunged and raced forward so wildly, that we almost expected to be +dashed in pieces. Such is the price of glory! What grandeur was this! +When we were in Egypt, riding about the streets of Cairo with two +"syces" (servants dressed in white, who run before a carriage to clear +the way), I felt like Joseph riding in Pharaoh's chariot. But now I +felt as if I were Pharaoh himself. + +Our route was through long avenues of trees, of palms and bamboos. The +roads, as everywhere in Java, are excellent, smooth as a floor, +solidly built, and well kept. To construct such roads, and keep them +in repair, must be a work of great difficulty, as in the rainy season +the floods come in such force as would sweep away any but those which +are firmly bedded. These roads are said to be owing to a famous Dutch +governor, Marshal Daendels, who ruled here in the early part of this +century. According to tradition he was a man of tremendous will, which +he enforced with arbitrary and despotic authority. He laid out a +system of highways, and assigned to certain native officers each his +portion to build. Knowing that things moved slowly in these Eastern +countries, and that the officers in charge might try to make excuses +for delay, he added a gentle admonition that he should hold each man +responsible; and by way of quickening their sense of duty, he erected +gibbets at convenient intervals along the road, and if an official +failed to "come to time," he simply had him executed. The spectacle of +a few of these native gentry hanging by the roadside had such an +enlivening effect on the Javanese imagination, that the roads were +built as if by magic. Perhaps the system might be applied with +excellent effect to "contractors" in other parts of the world! + +But on the best roads this speed could not be kept up for a long time. +The stages were short, the relays being but five miles apart. Every +three-quarters of an hour we changed horses. The stations were built +over the roads, something in the style of an old-fashioned turnpike +gate; so that we drove under the shelter, and the horses, dripping +with foam, were slipped out of the carriage, and left to cool under +the shade of the trees, or rolled over in the dust, delighted to be +free. + +As we advanced, our route wound among the hills. On our right was +Merape, one of the great mountains of Java--his top smoking gently, +while rice-fields came up to his foot. This middle part of the island +is called the Garden of Java, and it might be called one of the +gardens of the world. Nowhere in Europe, not even in Lombardy nor in +England, have I seen a richer country. Every foot of ground is in a +high state of cultivation. Not only are the plains and valleys covered +with rice-fields, but the hills are terraced to admit of carrying the +culture far up their sides. Here, as in Western Java, it was the time +of the harvest, and the fields were filled with joyous reapers. To +this perfect tilling of the earth it is due that this island is one of +the most populous portions of the globe. The country literally swarms +with inhabitants, as a hive swarms with bees; but so few are their +wants, that everybody seems to "live and be merry." We passed through +a number of villages which, though the dwellings were of the rudest, +yet had a pretty look, as they were embowered in foliage of palms and +bamboos. As the country grew more hilly, our progress was not so +swift. Sometimes we went down a steep bank to cross a river on a boat, +and then it was not an easy task to draw up the carriage on the +opposite bank, and we had to call on Caesar for help. Almost a whole +village would turn out. At one time I counted eighteen men pushing and +tugging at our wheels, of course with no eye to the small coin that +was scattered among them when the top of the bank was reached. So +great was the load of dignity we bore! + +At noon we reached the object of our journey in the famous ruins of +Borobodo. Sir Stamford Raffles says that all the labor expended on the +Pyramids of Egypt sinks into insignificance when compared with that +bestowed on the grand architectural remains of Java; but after seeing +this, the greatest on the island, his estimate seems to me very +extravagant. This is much smaller than the Great Pyramid, in the space +of ground which it covers, and lower in height, and altogether less +imposing. But without making comparisons, it is certainly a wonderful +pile. It is a pyramid in shape, some four hundred feet square, and +nine stories high, being ascended by a series of gigantic steps or +terraces. That it was built for Buddhist worship is evident from the +figures of Buddha which cover its sides. It is the monument not only +of an ancient religion, but of an extinct civilization, of a mighty +empire once throned on this island, which has left remains like those +of ancient Egypt. What a population and what power must have been here +ages ago, to rear such a structure! One can imagine the people +gathered at great festivals in numbers such as now assemble at +pilgrimages in India. Doubtless this hill of stone was often black +with human beings (for as many could stand on its sides as could be +gathered in the Coliseum at Rome), while on the open plain in front, +stretching to a mountain in the background, a nation might have +encamped, like the Israelites before Sinai, to receive the law. But +the temple is in ruins, and there is no gathering of the people for +worship any more. The religion of the island is changed. Buddhism has +passed away, and Islam has taken its place, to pass away in its turn. +It was Good Friday, in 1876, that I stood on the top of this pyramid, +and thought of Him who on this day suffered for mankind, and whose +religion is yet to possess the world. When it has conquered Asia, it +will cross the sea, and take this beautiful island, from which it may +pass on to the mainland of the continent of Australia. + +In such musings we lingered for hours, wandering about the ruins and +enjoying the landscape, which is one of the most beautiful we have +seen in all our travels--the wide sweep in the foreground reminding us +of the view from Stirling Castle in Scotland. + +But the carriage is waiting, and once more the driver cracks his whip, +his horses prance, and away we fly along the roads, through the +valleys, and over the hills. At evening we reached Magellang, the +centre of one of the districts into which Java is divided, and a town +of some importance. It is a curious geographical fact that it stands +exactly in the centre of the island. One spot is called the Navel of +Java. The Javanese think a certain hill is the head of a great nail, +which is driven into the earth and holds the island firm in its place. +If this be so, it is strange that it does not keep it more quiet. For +if we may use the language of the brokers, we might say with truth +that in Java "real estate is active," since it is well shaken up once +or twice a year with earthquakes, and is all the time smouldering with +volcanoes. + +But however agitated underground, the country is very beautiful above +it. Here as in all the places where the Dutch "most do congregate," +there is a mixture of European civilization with the easy and +luxurious ways of the East. Some of the villages are as pretty as any +in our own New England, and reminded us of those in the Connecticut +valley, being laid out with a broad open square or common in the +centre, which is shaded by magnificent trees, and surrounded by +beautiful residences, whose broad verandas and open doors give a most +inviting picture of domestic comfort and generous hospitality. There +is a club-house for the officers, and music by the military band. The +Residents always live very handsomely. They are the great men in every +district. Each one has a spacious residence, with a military guard, +and a salary of six or eight thousand dollars a year, with extras for +the expense of entertaining or of travelling, and a liberal pension +at the close of twenty years of service. + +Magellang is marked with a white stone in our memories of Java, as it +was the scene of a novel experience. When we drove into the town, we +found the hotel full, which obliged us to fall back upon our letter to +the Resident. He was absent, but his secretary at once took us in +hand, and requested the "Regent" (a native prince who holds office +under the Dutch government, and has special oversight of the native +population) to entertain us. He responded in the most courteous +manner, so that, instead of being lodged at a hotel, we were received +as guests in a princely residence. His "palace" was in the Eastern +style, of but one story (as are most of the buildings in Java, on +account of earthquakes), but spread out over a large surface, with +rows of columns supporting its ample roof, presenting in front in its +open colonnade what might be regarded as a spacious hall of audience; +and furnishing in its deep recesses a cool retreat from the heat of +the tropical sun. A native guard pacing before the door indicated the +official character of the occupant. The Regent received us with +dignity, but with great cordiality. He was attired in the rich costume +of the East. His feet were without stockings, but encased in richly +embroidered sandals. He could speak no English, and but a few words of +French--only Malay, Dutch, and Javanese. But he sent for a gentleman +to dine, who was of Spanish descent, and who, though a native of Java, +and had never been out of it, yet spoke both French and English, and +thus we were able to converse. + +The Regent had a wife, and after a time she entered the hall, and +welcomed my niece with a cordiality almost like that of two +school-girls meeting. She was simply dressed, in the lightest costume, +with bare feet, but in gold-embroidered slippers. Everything in her +attire was very plain, except that her ears were hung with diamonds +that fairly dazzled us with their brilliancy. She began talking with +great volubility, and seemed not quite to comprehend why it was that +we did not understand Malay or Javanese. However, with the help of our +interpreter, we got along, and were soon in the most confidential +relations. She had very vague ideas of the part of the world we came +from. We tried to make her understand that the world was round, and +that we lived on the other side of the globe. We asked why the Regent +did not go abroad to see the world? But she signified with a peculiar +gesture, as if counting with her fingers, that it took a great deal of +money. She asked "if we were rich," to which we replied modestly that +we had enough for our wants. As she talked of family matters, she +informed us that her lord had another wife. Of this she spoke without +the least reserve. It was quite natural that he should desire this. +She (his first wife) had been married to him over twenty years, and +was getting a little _passee_, and he needed a young face to make the +house bright and gay. Presently the second wife entered, and we were +presented to her. She was very young--I should think not twenty years +of age. Evidently the elder occupied the first place in the household, +and the younger took the second. They seemed to stand in a kind of +sisterly relation to each other, without the slightest feeling of +jealousy between them. Both were very pretty, after the Malayan +type--that is, with mild, soft eyes, and skins, not black, like +Africans, but of a rich brown color. They would have been even +beautiful if they had had also, what the Africans so often have, +dazzling white teeth; but this is prevented by the constant chewing of +the betel-nut and tobacco. + +At half-past eight o'clock we went to dinner. C---- had the honor of +sitting between the two wives, and enjoyed the courtesy of both, who +prepared fruit for her, and by many little attentions, such as are +understood in all parts of the world, showed that they belonged to the +true sisterhood of woman. The position of woman in Java is somewhat +peculiar. The people are Mohammedans, and yet the women are not +secluded, nor do they veil their faces; they receive strangers in +their houses and at their tables; thus they have much greater freedom +than their sisters in Turkey or Egypt. The Regent, being a Mussulman, +did not take wine, though he provided it for his guests. After the +dinner, coffee was served, of a rich, delicious flavor--for Java is +the land of coffee--followed by the inevitable cigar. I do not smoke, +but could not allow my refusal to interfere with the habits of those +whose guest I was, and could but admire the ineffable satisfaction +with which the Regent and his friend puffed the fragrant weed. While +they were thus wreathed in clouds, and floating in a perfect Nirvana +of material enjoyment, the gentler sex were not forgotten. The two +wives took their pleasure in their own fashion. A small box, like a +tea-caddy, was brought on the table, full of little silver cups and +cases, containing leaves of the betel-nut, and spices, cassia and +gambier, a little lime, and a cup of the finest tobacco. Out of these +they prepared a delicate morsel for their lips. With her own dainty +fingers, each rolled up a leaf of the betel-nut, enclosing in it +several kinds of spices, and filling it with a good pinch of tobacco, +which, our Spanish friend explained, was not so much for the taste, as +to make the morsel plump and round, large enough to fill the mouth +(or, as a wine-taster would say of his favorite madeira or port, to +give it sufficient _body_); and also, he added, it was to clean the +teeth, and to give an aromatic fragrance to the breath! I repeat, as +exactly as I can recall them, his very words. + +Whether the precious compound had all these virtues, certainly these +courtly dames took it with infinite relish, and rolled it as a sweet +morsel under their tongues, and looked on their lord with no jealousy +of his enjoyment of his cigar. + +Here was a picture of conjugal felicity. The family was evidently an +affectionate and happy one. The Regent loved both his wives, and they +sat side by side without envy or uncharitableness, happy in the +sunshine of his face, and chewed their betel-nut with a composure, an +aspect of tranquil enjoyment, which many in more civilized countries +may admire, but cannot equal. + +In the morning, when the family came together, I remarked that the +first wife, who then apparently saw her husband for the first time, +came forward, and bending low, kissed his jewelled hand; and soon +after the second wife entered, and kissed the first wife's hand, thus +observing that natural order of precedence which is so beautiful in +every well-regulated family. + +I observed also with curious interest the relations of master and +servant in this Oriental household. The divisions are very marked. The +Regent, for example, is regarded by his retainers with an awe as if he +were a sacred person. No one approaches him standing. The theory is, +that no inferior must ever be in a position or attitude where his head +is higher than his master's. If the Regent but looks at a man, he +drops as if shot with a bullet. If a servant wishes to communicate +with his master, he falls, not on his knees, but on his haunches, and +in this posture shuffles forward till he comes behind his chair, and +meekly whispers a word into his ear. He receives his orders, and then +shuffles back again. In one way, the division of ranks in Java is more +marked even than that of castes in India. The Javanese language, which +is a branch of the Malay, has three separate forms of speech--one, +that used by a superior addressing an inferior; second, that of an +inferior addressing a superior; and a third, that used between equals. +Such divisions would seem to cut off all relations between those of +different rank. And yet, with all this stooping and bowing, abject as +it seems to us, the relation of the master to his dependants is rather +patriarchal; and to these same servants the Regent will speak, not +only kindly, but familiarly, all the more so as the lines are so +drawn that there is no danger that they should ever presume on undue +familiarity. + +In the morning the Regent took me out for a ramble. We strolled along +under the trees, admiring the beauty of the country. After half an +hour's walk, suddenly, like an apparition, an open phaeton stood +beside us, with two beautiful ponies, into which the Regent invited me +to step, and taking his seat by my side, drove me about the town. We +returned for breakfast, and then he sent for his musicians to give us +a performance, who, beating on drums and other native instruments, +executed a plaintive kind of music. With such attentions did this +Javanese prince and his wives (none of whom we had ever seen till a +few hours before, and on whom we had no claim whatever) win our hearts +by their kindness, so that, when the carriage came round to the door, +we were sorry to depart. The Regent pressed us to stay a month, or as +long as we would. We could not accept a longer hospitality; but we +shall remember that which we had. We keep his photograph, with others +which we like to look upon; and if these words can reach the other +side of the world, they will tell him that his American friends have +not forgotten, and will not forget, the kind manner in which they were +entertained in the island of Java by the Regent of Magellang. + +The drive of to-day was hardly less interesting than that of +yesterday, although our pride had a fall. It was a great come-down, +after riding with six horses to be reduced to four! But the +mortification was relieved by adding now and then, at the steep +places, a pair of buffaloes. As we were still in the hill country, we +were all day among the coffee plantations, which thrive best at a +considerable elevation above the sea. Other products of the island +flourished around us in rich abundance: the spices--aloes and cassia, +and nutmeg and pepper. And there was our old friend, the peanut. They +were gathering perhaps the very nuts that were yet to ornament the +stands of the apple-women of New York, and to be a temptation to +bootblacks and newsboys. Amid such fields and forests, over mountain +roads, and listening to the roar of mountain streams, we came down to +Ambarrawa, a place of note in Java, as containing the strongest +fortress in the island. It is planted here right in the heart of +Middle Java, where, half a century ago, was a formidable insurrection, +which was quelled only after an obstinate contest, lasting five +years--from 1825 to 1830. Ambarrawa is connected by railroad with +Samarang. It is easy to see that both the railroads which start from +that point, and which have thus a base on the sea (the one leading to +Solo and Jookja, the residences of the Emperor and the Sultan, who +might make trouble, and the other to the great fortress of Ambarrawa), +have been constructed with a military as well as a commercial purpose. + +So the Dutch have had their wars in Java, as the English have had in +India; but having conquered, it must be said that on the whole they +have ruled wisely and well. The best proof of this is the perfect +tranquillity that reigns everywhere, and that with no great display of +armed force. What a contrast in this respect between the two most +important islands in the East and West Indies--Java and Cuba! They are +about equal in the number of square miles. Both have been settled by +Europeans for nearly three centuries, and yet to-day Cuba has less +than two millions of inhabitants, and is in a chronic state of +insurrection; while Java has over fifteen millions (or eight times as +many), and is as quiet as Holland itself. The whole story is told in +one word--the one is Dutch rule, and the other is Spanish rule. + +We spent our Easter in Samarang--a day which is not forgotten in this +part of the world, although Sunday is not observed after the manner of +Scotland or New England, but rather of Continental Europe, with bands +playing on the public square, and all the European world abroad +keeping holiday. From Samarang, another two days' sail along the same +northern coast, with the grand outline of mountains on the horizon, +brought us back to Batavia. + +Batavia was not the same to us on the second visit as on the first; or +rather it was a great deal more, for now we knew the place, the +streets were familiar, and we felt at home--the more so as a Scotch +gentleman, to whom we brought a letter from Singapore, Mr. James Greig +(of the old house of Syme, Pitcairn & Co., so well known in the East), +took us in charge, and carried us off to one of those large mansions +which we had so much admired on our former visit, set far back from +the street, and surrounded with trees; and constructed especially for +this climate, with spacious rooms, wide hall, high ceilings, and broad +veranda, and all the devices for mitigating the heat of the tropics. +More than all, this hospitable mansion was lighted up by the sweetest +feminine presence in one who, though of an old Dutch family well known +in Java, had been educated in Paris, and spoke English and French, as +well as Dutch and Malay, and who gave us such a welcome as made us +feel that we were not strangers. Not only did these friends open their +house to us, but devoted themselves till our departure in going about +with us, and making our visit pleasant. I do not know whether to call +this Scotch or Dutch hospitality, but it was certainly of the most +delightful kind. + +As we had three or four days before the sailing of the French steamer +for Singapore, our friends planned an excursion into the mountains of +Western Java, for which we returned to Buitenzorg, and engaged a +couple of _cahars_, carriages as light as if made of wicker-work, with +the small Javanese ponies, and thus mounted, began to climb the hills. +Our route was over the great post-road, which runs through the island +to Souraboya--a road which must have been constructed with immense +labor, as it passes over high mountains, but which is as solidly built +and as well kept as Napoleon's great road over the Simplon Pass of the +Alps. Indeed it is very much the same, having a rocky bed for its +foundation, with a macadamized surface, over which the carriage rolls +smoothly. But it does not climb so steadily upward as the Simplon or +the Mont Cenis. The ascent is not one long pull, like the ascent of +the Alps, but by a succession of hills, one beyond another, with many +a deep valley between, so that we go alternately up hill and down +dale. The hills are very steep, so that the post-carriage, which is as +heavy and lumbering as a French diligence, has to be drawn up by +buffaloes. Thus it climbs slowly height after height, and when it has +reached the summit, goes thundering down the mountain, and rolls +majestically along the road. But our light carriages suited us much +better than these ponderous vehicles; and as our little ponies trotted +swiftly along, we were in a very gay mood, making the woods ring with +our merry talk and glee. Sometimes we got out to stretch our limbs +with a good walk up the hills, turning as we reached the top to take +in the landscape behind us, which spread out broader and broader, as +we rose higher and higher. At every stage the view increased in extent +and in majesty, till the whole island, + + "From the centre all round to the sea," + +was piled with mountains, which here, as in Middle Java, showed their +volcanic origin by their forms, now rising in solitary cones, and now +lying on the horizon in successive ridges, like mighty billows tossed +up on a sea of fire, that in cooling had cracked in all fantastic +shapes, which, after being worn down by the storms of thousands of +years, were mantled thick with the verdure of forests. As in England +the ivy creeps over old walls, covering ruined castles and towers with +its perpetual green, so here the luxuriance of the tropics has +overspread the ruin wrought by destroying elements. The effect is a +mingled wildness and beauty in these mountain landscapes, which often +reminded us of Switzerland and the Tyrol. + +The enjoyment of this ride was increased by the character of the day, +which was not all sunshine, but one of perpetual change. Clouds swept +over the sky, casting shadows on the sides of the mountains and into +the deep valleys. Sometimes the higher summits were wrapped so as to +be hidden from sight, and the rain fell heavily; then as the storm +drifted away, and the sun burst through the parted clouds, the +glorious heights shone in the sudden light like the Delectable +Mountains. + +The object of our journey was a mountain retreat four thousand feet +above the level of the sea--as high as the Righi Kulm, but in no other +respect like that mountain-top, which from its height overlooks so +many Swiss lakes and cantons. It is rather like an Alpine valley, +surrounded by mountains. This is a favorite resort of the Dutch from +Batavia. Here the Governor-General has a little box, to which he +retires, from his grander residence at Buitenzorg, and here many sick +and wounded officers find a cool retreat and recover strength for +fresh campaigns. The place bears the musical name of Sindanglaya, +which one would think might have been given with some reference to the +music of murmuring winds and waters which fill the air. The valley is +full of streams, of brooks and springs, that run among the hills. +Water, water everywhere! The rain pattering on the roof all night long +carried me back to the days of my childhood, when I slept in a little +cot under the eaves, and that sound was music to my ear. The Scotch +mist that envelopes the mountains might make the traveller fancy +himself in the Highlands; and so he might, as he seeks out the little +"tarns" that have settled in the craters of extinct volcanoes, where +not only wild deer break through the tangled wood of the leafy +solitudes, but the tiger and the rhinoceros come to drink. Streams run +down the mountain-sides, and springs ooze from mossy banks by the +roadside, and temper the air with their dripping coolness. What a +place to rest! How this perfect quiet must bring repose to the brave +fellows from Acheen, and how sweet must sound this music of mountain +streams to ears accustomed to the rude alarms of war! + +That we were in a new quarter of the world--far away, not only from +America and Europe, but even from Asia--we were reminded by the line +of telegraph which kept us company over the mountains, and which here +crosses the island on its way to Australia! It goes down the coast to +Bangaewangi, where it dives into the sea only to come up on the +mainland of the great Southern Continent. Indeed we were strongly +advised to extend our journey around the world to Australia, which we +could have reached in much less time than it had taken to come from +Calcutta to Singapore. But we were more interested to visit old +countries and old nations than to set foot on a virgin continent, and +to see colonies and cities, which, with all their growth, could only +be a smaller edition of what we have so abundantly in the new States +of America. + +We were now within a few miles of the Southern Ocean, the greatest of +all the oceans that wrap their watery mantle around the globe. From +the top of the Gede, a mountain which rose above us, one may look off +upon an ocean broader than the Pacific--a sea without a shore--whose +waters roll in an unbroken sweep to the Antarctic Pole. + +From all these seas and shores, and woods and waters, we now turned +away, and with renewed delight in the varied landscapes, rode back +over the mountains to Buitenzorg, and came down by rail to Batavia. + +Before I depart from this pleasant land of Java, I must say a word +about the Dutch and their position in South-eastern Asia. The Dutch +have had possession of Java over 250 years--since 1623--without +interruption, except from 1811 to 1816, when Napoleon had taken +Holland; and as England was using all her forces on land and sea to +cripple the French empire in different parts of the world, she sent a +fleet against Java. It yielded almost without opposition; indeed many +of the Dutch regarded the surrender as simply placing the island under +British protection, which saved it from the French. For five years it +had an English Governor, Sir Stamford Raffles, who has written a large +work on Java. After the fall of Napoleon, England restored Java to the +Dutch, but kept Ceylon, Malacca, and the Cape of Good Hope. Thus the +Dutch have lost some of their possessions in the East, and yet Holland +is to-day the second colonial power in the world, being inferior only +to England. The Dutch flag in the East waves not only over Java, but +over almost the whole of the Malayan Archipelago, which, with the +intervening waters, covers a portion of the earth's surface larger +than all Europe. + +There are some peculiar physical features in this part of the world. +The Malayan Archipelago lies midway between Asia and Australia, +belonging to neither, and yet belonging to both. It is a very curious +fact, brought out by Wallace, whose great work on "The Malayan +Archipelago" is altogether the best on the subject, that this group of +islands is in itself divided by a very narrow space between the two +continents, which it at once separates and unites. Each has its own +distinct fauna and flora. The narrow Strait of Bali, only fifteen +miles wide, which separates the two small islands of Bali and Lombok, +separates two distinct animal and vegetable kingdoms, which are as +unlike as are those of the United States and Brazil. One group belongs +to Asia, the other to Australia. Sumatra is full of tigers; in Borneo +there is not one. Australia has no carnivora--no beasts that prey on +flesh--but chiefly marsupials, such as kangaroos. + +There are a good many residents in the East who think Holland, in the +management of her dependencies, has shown a better political economy +than England has shown in India. An English writer (a Mr. Money), in a +volume entitled "How to Govern a Colony," has brought some features +of the Dutch policy to the notice of his countrymen. I will mention +but one as an illustration. Half a century ago Java was very much run +down. A native rebellion which lasted five years had paralyzed the +industry of the country. To reanimate it, a couple of years after the +rebellion had been subdued, in 1832, the home government began a very +liberal system of stimulating production by making advances to +planters, and guaranteeing them labor to cultivate their estates. The +effect was marvellous. By that wise system of helping those who had +not means to help themselves, a new life was at once infused into all +parts of the island. Out of that has grown the enormous production of +coffee, sugar, and tobacco. Now Java not only pays all the expenses of +her own government, (which India does not do, at least without +contracting very heavy loans,) but builds her own railroads, and other +roads and bridges, and supplies the drain of the Acheen war, and +remits every year millions to the Hague to build railroads in Holland. + +Is it too much to believe that there is a great future in store for +South Eastern Asia? We talk about the future of America. But ours is +not the only continent that offers vast unoccupied wastes to the +habitation of man. Besides Australia, there are these great islands +nearer to Asia, which, from the overflow of India and China, may yet +have a population that shall cultivate their waste places. I found in +Burmah a great number of Bengalees and Madrasees, who had crossed the +Bay of Bengal to seek a home in Farther India; while the Chinese, who +form the population of Singapore, had crept up the coast. They are +here in Java, in every seaport and in every large town in the +interior, and there is every reason to suppose that there will be a +yet greater overflow of population in this direction. Sumatra and +Borneo are not yet inhabited and cultivated like Java, but in their +great extent they offer a magnificent seat for future kingdoms or +empires, which, Asiatic in population, may be governed by European +laws, and moulded by European civilization. + +One thing more before we cross the Equator--a word about nature and +life in the tropics. I came to Java partly to see the tropical +vegetation, of which we saw but little in India, as we were there in +winter, which is at once the cold and the dry season, when vegetation +withers, and the vast plains are desolate and dreary. Nature then +holds herself in reserve, waiting till the rains come, when the earth +will bloom again. But as I could not wait for the change of seasons, I +must needs pass on to a land where the change had already come. We +marked the transition as we came down the Bay of Bengal. There were +signs of changing seasons and a changing nature. We were getting into +the rainy belt. In the Straits of Malacca the air was hot and +thunderous, and we had frequent storms; the heavens were full of rain, +and the earth was fresh with the joy of a newly-opened spring. But +still we kept on till we crossed the Equator. Here in Java the rainy +season was just over. It ends with the last of March, and we arrived +at the beginning of April. For months the windows of heaven had been +opened, the rains descended, and the floods came; and lo! the land was +like the garden of the Lord. Here we had at last the tropical +vegetation in its fullest glory. Nothing can exceed the prodigality +and luxuriance of nature when a vertical sun beats down on fields and +forests and jungles that have been drenched for months in rain. +Vegetation of every kind springs up, as in the temperate zone it +appears only when forced in heated conservatories (as in the Duke of +Devonshire's gardens at Chatsworth), and the land waves with these +luxuriant growths. In the forest creeping plants wind round the tall +trunks, and vines hang in festoons from tree to tree. + +But while the tropical forest presents such a wild luxuriance of +growth, I find no single trees of such stature as I have seen in +other parts of the world. Except an occasional broad-spreading banyan, +I have seen nothing which, standing alone, equals in its solitary +majesty the English oak or the American elm. Perhaps there is a +difference in this respect between countries in the same latitude in +the Eastern and Western hemispheres. An English gentleman whom we +found here in charge of a great sugar plantation, who had spent some +years in Rio Janeiro, told me that the trees of Java did not compare +in majesty with those of Brazil. Nor is this superiority confined to +South America. Probably no trees now standing on the earth equal the +Big Trees of California. And besides these there are millions of lofty +pines on the sides of the Sierra Nevada, which I have seen nowhere +equalled unless it be in the mighty cedars which line the great +Tokaido of Japan. On the whole, I am a little inclined to boast that +trees attain their greatest height and majesty in our Western +hemisphere. + +But the glory of the tropics is in the universal life of nature, +spreading through all her realms, stirring even under ground, and +causing to spring forth new forms of vegetation, which coming up, as +it were, out of the darkness of the grave, seek the sun and air, +whereby all things live. + +Of course one cannot but consider what effect this marvellous +production must have upon man. Too often it overpowers him, and makes +him its slave, since he cannot be its master. This is the terror of +the Tropics, as of the Polar regions, that nature is too strong for +man to subdue her. What can he do--poor, puny creature--against its +terrible forces; against the heat of a vertical sun, that while it +quickens the earth, often blasts the strength of man, subduing his +energy, if not destroying his life? What can man do in the Arctic +circle against the cold that locks up whole continents in ice? Much as +he boasts of his strength and of his all-conquering will, he is but a +child in the lap of nature, tossed about by material forces as a leaf +is blown by the wind. The best region for human development and +energy is the temperate zone, where nature stimulates, but does not +overpower, the energies of man, where the winter's cold does not +benumb him and make him sink into torpor, but only pricks him to +exertion and makes him quicken his steps. + +The effect of this fervid climate shows itself not only upon natives, +but upon Europeans. It induces a languor and indisposition to effort. +It has two of the hardest and toughest races in the world to work +upon, in the English in India and the Dutch in Java, and yet it has +its effect even upon them, and would have a still greater were it not +that this foreign element is constantly changing, coming and going, +whereby there is all the time a fresh infusion of European life. Here +in Java the Dutch have been longer settled than the English in India; +they more often remain in the island, and the effect of course is more +marked from generation to generation. The Dutchman is a placid, +easy-going creature, even in his native Holland, except when roused by +some great crisis, like a Spanish invasion, and then he fights with a +courage which has given him a proud name in history. But ordinarily he +is of a calm and even temper, and likes to sit quietly and survey his +broad acres, and smoke his pipe in blissful content with himself and +all the world beside. When he removes from Holland to the other side +of the world, he has not changed his nature; he is a Dutchman still, +only with his natural love of ease increased by life in the tropics. +It is amusing to see how readily his Dutch nature falls in with the +easy ways of this Eastern world. + +If I were to analyze existence, or material enjoyment in this part of +the world, I should say that the two great elements in one's life, or +at least in his comfort, are sleep and smoke. They smoke in Holland, +and they have a better right to smoke in Java; for here they but +follow the course of nature. Why should not man smoke, when even the +earth itself respires through smoke and flame? The mountains smoke, +and why not the Dutch? Only there is this difference: the volcanoes +sometimes have a period of rest, but the Dutch never. Morning, noon, +and night, before breakfast and after dinner, smoke, smoke, smoke! It +seems to be a Dutchman's ideal of happiness. I have been told of some +who dropped to sleep with the cigar in their lips, and of one who +required his servants to put his pipe between his teeth while he was +yet sleeping, that he might wake up with the right taste in his mouth. +It seemed to me that this must work injury to their health, but they +think not. Perhaps there is something in the phlegmatic Dutch +temperament that can stand this better than the more mercurial and +excitable English or American. + +And then how they do sleep! Sleep is an institution in Java, and +indeed everywhere in the tropics. The deep stillness of the tropical +noon seems to prescribe rest, for then nature itself sinks into +repose. Scarcely a leaf moves in the forest--the birds cease their +musical notes, and seek for rest under the shade of motionless palms. +The sleep of the Dutch is like this stillness of nature. It is +profound and absolute repose. For certain hours of the day no man is +visible. I had a letter to the Resident of Solo, and went to call on +him at two o'clock. He lived in a grand Government House, or palace; +but an air of somnolence pervaded the place, as if it were the Castle +of Indolence. The very servant was asleep on the marble pavement, +where it was his duty to keep watch; and when I sent in my letter, he +came back making a very significant gesture, leaning over his head to +signify that his master was asleep. At five o'clock I was more +fortunate, but even then he was dressed with a lightness of costume +more suitable for one who was about to enter his bath than to give +audience. + +There is a still graver question for the moralist to consider--the +effect of these same physical influences upon human character. No +observer of men in different parts of the world can fail to see that +different races have been modified by climate, not only in color and +features, but in temperament, in disposition, and in character. A hot +climate makes hot blood. Burning passions do but reflect the torrid +sun. What the Spaniard is in Europe, the Malay is in Asia. There is a +deep philosophy in the question of Byron: + + "Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle + Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime, + Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, + Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?" + +But I must not wander into deep philosophy. I only say that great as +is the charm of life in the tropics, it is not without alloy. In +landing in Java it seemed as if we had touched the shores of some +enchanted island, as if we had found the Garden of Paradise lying far +off in these Southern seas. We had come to the land of perpetual +spring and perpetual summer, where nature is always in bloom, and +frost and snow and hail have fled away to the bleak and wintry North. +But as we are obliged to go back to that North, we wish to be +reconciled to it. We find that one may have too much even of Paradise. +There is a monotony in perpetual summer. The only change of seasons +here is from the dry season to the rainy season; and the only +difference between these, so far as we can see, is that in the dry +season it rains, and in the rainy season it pours. We have been here +in the dry season, and yet we have had frequent showers, with +occasional thunderstorms. If we should stay here a year, we should +weary of this unrelieved monotony of sun and rain. We should long for +some more marked change of seasons, for the autumn leaves and the +winter winds, and the gradual coming on of spring, and all those +insensible gradations of nature which make the glory of the full round +year. + +And what a loss should we find in the absence of twilight. Java, being +almost under the Equator, the days and nights are almost equal +throughout the year; there are no short days and no long days. Day and +night come on suddenly--not instantly, but in a few minutes the night +breaks into the full glare of day, and the day as quickly darkens into +night. How we should miss the long summer twilight, which in our +Northern latitudes lingers so softly and tenderly over the quiet +earth. + +Remembering these things, we are reconciled to our lot in living in +the temperate zone, and turn away even from the soft and easy life of +the tropics, to find a keener delight in our rugged clime, and to +welcome even the snow-drifts and the short winter days, since they +bring the long winter evenings, and the roaring winter fires! + +We leave Java, therefore, not so much with regret that we can no +longer sit under the palm groves, and indulge in the soft and easy +life of the tropics, as that we part from friends. Our last night in +Batavia they took us to a representation given by amateurs at the +English Club, where it was very pleasant to see so many English faces +in this distant part of the world, and to hear our own mother tongue. +The next morning they rode down with us to the quay, and came off to +the steamer, and did not leave us till it was ready to move; and it +was with a real sadness that we saw them over the ship's side, and +watched their fluttering signals as they sailed back to the shore. +These partings are the sore pain of travel. But the friendships +remain, and are delightful in memory. A pleasure past is a pleasure +still. Even now it gives us a warm feeling at the heart to think of +those kind friends on the other side of the globe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +UP THE CHINA SEAS--HONG KONG AND CANTON. + + +In Singapore, as in Batavia, the lines fell to us in pleasant places. +An English merchant, Mr. James Graham, carried us off to his +hospitable bungalow outside the town, where we passed four days. It +stood on a hill, from which we looked off on one side to the harbor, +where were riding the ships of all nations, and on the other to an +undulating country, with here and there an English residence embowered +in trees. In this delightful retreat our hosts made us feel perfectly +at home. We talked of England and America; we romped with the +children; we played croquet on the lawn; we received calls from the +neighbors, and went out to "take tea" in the good old-fashioned way. +We attended service, the Sunday before going to Java, in the +Cathedral, and on our return, in the Scotch church; so that around us, +even at this extremity of Asia, were the faces and voices, the happy +domestic life, and the religious worship, of dear old England. + +But just as we began to settle into this quiet life, the steamer was +signalled from Ceylon which was to take us to China, and we had to +part from our new friends. + +It had been in my plan to go from here to Siam. It is but three days' +sail from Singapore up the Gulf to Bangkok; but it is not so easy to +get on from there. Could we have been sure of a speedy passage to +Saigon, to connect with the French steamer, we should not have +hesitated; but without this, we might be detained for a week or two, +or be obliged to come back to Singapore. Thus uncertain, we felt that +it was safer to take the steamer direct for Hong Kong, though it was +a sore disappointment to pass across the head of the Gulf of Siam, +knowing that we were so near the Land of the White Elephant, and leave +it unvisited. + +The China seas have a very bad name among sailors and travellers, as +they are often swept by terrible cyclones; but we crossed at a +favorable season, and escaped. The heat was great, and passengers sat +about on deck in their easy cane chairs, as on the Red Sea; but beyond +that, we experienced not so much discomfort as on the Mediterranean. +On the sixth morning we saw in the distance an island, which, as we +drew nearer, rose up so steeply and so high that it appeared almost +like a mountain. This was the Peak of Hong Kong--a signal-station from +which men, with their glasses, can look far out to sea, and as soon as +one of the great steamers is descried on the horizon, a flag is run up +and a gun fired to convey the news to the city below. Coming up behind +the island, we swept around its point, and saw before us a large town, +very picturesquely situated on the side of a hill, rising street above +street, and overlooking a wide bay shut in by hills, so that it is +sheltered from the storms that vex the China seas. The harbor was full +of foreign ships, among which were many ships of war (as this is the +rendezvous of the British fleet in these waters), which were firing +salutes; among those flying the flags of all nations was one modest +representative of our country, of which we did not need to be +ashamed--the Kearsarge. We afterwards went on board of her, and saw +and stroked with affection, mingled with pride, the big gun that sunk +the Alabama. + +Hong Kong, like Singapore, is an English colony, but with a Chinese +population. You can hardly set foot on shore before you are snapped up +by a couple of lusty fellows, with straw hats as large as umbrellas on +their heads, and who, though in bare feet, stand up as straight as +grenadiers, and as soon as you take your seat in a chair, lift the +bamboo poles to their shoulders, and walk off with you on the +double-quick. + +No country which we see for the first time is exactly as we supposed +it to be. Somehow I had thought of China as a vast plain like India; +and behold! the first view reveals a wild, mountainous coast. As we +climb Victoria Peak above Hong Kong, and look across to the mainland, +we see only barren hills--a prospect almost as desolate as that of the +Arabian shores on the Red Sea. + +But what wonders lie beyond that Great Wall of mountains which guards +this part of the coast of China! One cannot be in sight of such a +country without an eager impulse to be in it, and after two or three +days of rest we set out for Canton, which is only eight hours distant. +Our boat was an American one, with an American captain, who took us +into the wheel-house, and pointed out every spot of interest as we +passed through the islands and entered the Canton river. Forty miles +south is the old Portuguese port of Macao. At the mouth of the river +are the Bogue Forts, which played such a part in the English war of +1841, but which were sadly battered, and now lie dismantled and +ungarrisoned. Going by the stately Second Bar Pagoda, we next pass +Whampoa, the limit to which foreign vessels could come before the +Treaty Ports were opened. As we ascend the river, it is crowded with +junks--strange craft, high at both ends, armed with old rusty cannon, +with which to beat off the pirates that infest these seas, and +ornamented at the bow with huge round eyes, that stand out as if from +the head of some sea-monster, some terrible dragon, which keeps watch +over the deep. Amid such fantastic barks, with their strange crews, we +steamed up to Canton. + +At the landing, a son of Dr. Happer, the American missionary, came on +board with a letter from his father inviting us to be his guests, and +we accordingly took a native boat, and were rowed up the river. Our +oarsman was a woman, who, besides the trifle of rowing our boat up +the stream, had a baby strapped on her back! Perhaps the weight helped +her to keep her balance as she bent to the oar. But it was certainly +bringing things to a pretty fine point when human muscles were thus +economized. This boat, well called in Chinese a _tan-ka_ or egg-house, +was the home of the family. It sheltered under its little bamboo cover +eight souls (as many as Noah had in the Ark), who had no other +habitation. Here they ate and drank and slept; here perhaps children +were born and old men died. In Canton it is estimated that a hundred +and fifty thousand people thus live in boats, leading a kind of +amphibious existence. + +Above the landing is the island of Shameen, a mile long, which is the +foreign quarter, where are the Hongs, or Factories, of the great +tea-merchants, and where live the wealthy foreign residents. Rounding +this island, we drew up to the quay, in front of Dr. Happer's door, +where we found that welcome which is never wanting under the roof of +an American missionary. Dr. Happer has lived here thirty-two years, +and was of course familiar with every part of Canton, and was an +invaluable guide in the explorations of the next three or four days. + +When we were in Paris, we met Dr. Wells Williams, the well-known +missionary, who had spent over forty years in China, twelve of them in +Peking, of which he said, that apart from its being the capital, it +had little to interest a stranger--at least not enough to repay the +long journey to reach it. He said it would take a month to go from +Shanghai to Tientsin, and then cross the country cramped up in carts +to Peking, and visit the Great Wall, and return to Shanghai. Canton +was not only much nearer, but far more interesting, and the best +representative of a Chinese city in the Empire. + +The next morning we began our excursions, not with horses and +chariots, but with coolies and chairs. An English gentleman and his +wife, who had come with us from Singapore, joined us, making, with a +son of Dr. Happer and the guide, a party of six, for whom eighteen +bearers drew up before the door, forming quite a procession as we +filed through the streets. The motion was not unpleasant, though they +swung us along at a good round pace, shouting to the people to get out +of the way, who forthwith parted right and left, as if some high +mandarin were coming. The streets were narrow and densely crowded. +Through such a mass it required no small effort to force our way, +which was effected only by our bearers keeping up a constant cry, like +that of the gondoliers in Venice, when turning a corner in the +canals--a signal of warning to any approaching in the opposite +direction. I could but admire the good-nature of the people, who +yielded so readily. If we were thus to push through a crowd in New +York, and the policemen were to shout to the "Bowery boys" to "get out +of the way," we might receive a "blessing" in reply that would not be +at all agreeable. But the Chinamen took it as a matter of course, and +turned aside respectfully to give us a passage, only staring mildly +with their almond eyes, to see what great personages were these that +came along looking so grand. + +Our way led through the longest street of the city, which bears the +sounding name of the Street of Benevolence and Love. This is the +Broadway of Canton, only it is not half as wide as Broadway. It is +very narrow, like some of the old streets of Genoa, and paved, like +them, with huge slabs of stone. On either side it is lined with shops, +into which we had a good opportunity to look as we brushed past them, +for they stood wide open. They were of the smallest dimensions, most +of them consisting of a single room, even when hung with beautiful +embroideries. There may be little recesses behind, hidden interiors +where they live, though apparently we saw the whole family. In many +shops they were taking their meals in full sight of the passers-by. +There was no variety of courses; a bowl of rice in the centre of the +table was the universal dish (for rice is the staff of life in Asia, +as bread is in America), garnished perchance with some "little +pickle," in the shape of a bit of fish and soy, to serve _as a sauce +piquante_ to stimulate the flagging appetite. But apparently they +needed no appetizer, for they plied their chop-sticks with unfailing +assiduity. + +Our first day's ride was probably ten or twelve miles, and took us +through such "heavenly streets" as we never knew before, and did not +expect to walk in till we entered the gates of the New Jerusalem. +Besides the Street of Benevolence and Love, which might be considered +the great highway of the Celestial City, there were streets which bore +the enrapturing names of "Peace," "Bright Cloud," and "Longevity;" of +"Early-bestowed Blessings" and of "Everlasting Love;" of "One Hundred +Grandsons" and (more ambitious still) of "One Thousand Grandsons;" of +"Five Happinesses" and of "Refreshing Breezes;" of "Accumulated +Blessings" and of "Ninefold Brightness." There was a "Dragon street," +and others devoted to "The Ascending Dragon," "The Saluting Dragon," +and "The Reposing Dragon;" while other titles came probably a little +nearer the plain fact, such as "The Market of Golden Profits." All the +shops have little shrines near the door dedicated to _Tsai Shin_, or +the God of Wealth, to whom the shopkeepers offer their prayers every +day. I think I have heard of prayers offered to that divinity in other +countries, and no one could doubt that these prayers at least were +fervent and sincere. + +But names do not always designate realities, and though we passed +through the street of a "Thousand Beatitudes" and that of a +"Thousandfold Peace," we saw sorrow and misery enough before the day +was done. + +One gets an idea of the extent of a city not only by traversing its +streets, but by ascending some high point in the vicinity that +overlooks it. The best point for such a bird's-eye view is the +Five-storied Pagoda, from which the eye ranges over a distance of many +miles, including the city and the country around to the mountains in +the distance, with the broad river in front, and the suburb on the +other side. The appearance of Canton is very different from that of a +European city. It has no architectural magnificence. There are some +fine houses of the rich merchants, built of brick, with spacious rooms +and courts; but there are no great palaces towering over the city--no +domes like St. Paul's in London, or St. Peter's in Rome, nor even like +the domes and minarets of Constantinople. The most imposing structure +in view is the new Roman Catholic Cathedral. Here and there a solitary +pagoda rises above the vast sea of human dwellings, which are +generally of but one, seldom two stories in height, and built very +much alike; for there is the same monotony in the Chinese houses as in +the figures and costumes of the Chinese themselves. Nor is this level +surface relieved by any variety of color. The tiled roofs, with their +dead color, but increase the sombre impression of the vast dull plain; +yet beneath such a pall is a great city, intersected by hundreds of +streets, and occupied by a million of human beings. + +The first impression of a Chinese city is of its myriad, multitudinous +life. There are populous cities in Europe, and crowded streets; but +here human beings _swarm_, like birds in the air or fishes in the sea. +The wonder is how they all live; but that is a mystery which I could +not solve in London any more than here. There is one street a mile +long, which has in it nothing but shoemakers. The people amused us +very much by their strange appearance and dress, in both which China +differs wholly from the Orient. A Chinaman is not at all like a Turk. +He does not wear a turban, nor even a long, flowing beard. His head is +shaved above and below--face, chin, and skull--and instead of the +patriarchal beard before him, he carries only a pigtail behind. The +women whom we met in the streets (at least those of any position, for +only the common work-women let their feet grow) hobbled about on their +little feet, which were like dolls' feet--a sight that was half +ludicrous and half painful. + +But if we were amused at the Chinese, I dare say they were as much +amused at us. The people of Canton ought by this time to be familiar +with white faces. But, strange to say, wherever we went we attracted a +degree of attention which had never been accorded us before in any +foreign city. Boys ran after us, shouting as they ran. If the chairs +were set down in the street, as we stopped to see a sight, a crowd +gathered in a moment. There was no rudeness, but mere curiosity. If we +went into a temple, a throng collected about the doors, and looked in +at the windows, and opened a passage for us as we came out, and +followed us till we got into our chairs and disappeared down the +street. The ladies of our party especially seemed to be objects of +wonder. They did not hobble on the points of their toes, but stood +erect, and walked with a firm step. Their free and independent air +apparently inspired respect. The children seemed to hesitate between +awe and terror. One little fellow I remember, who dared to approach +too near, and whom my niece cast her eye upon, thought that he was +done for, and fled howling. I have no doubt all reported, when they +went home, that they had seen some strange specimens of "foreign +devils." + +But the Chinese are a highly civilized people. In some things, indeed, +they are mere children, compared with Europeans; but in others they +are in advance of us, especially those arts which require great +delicacy, such as the manufacture of some kinds of jewelry, exquisite +trinkets in gold and silver, in which Canton rivals Delhi and Lucknow, +and in the finest work in ivory and in precious woods; also in those +which require a degree of patience to be found nowhere except among +Asiatics. For example, I saw a man carving an elephant's tusk, which +would take him a whole year! The Chinese are also exquisite workers in +bronze, as well as in porcelain, in which they have such a conceded +mastery that specimens of "old China" ornament every collection in +Europe. Their silks are as rich and fine as any that are produced from +the looms of Lyons or Antwerp. This need not surprise us, for we must +remember the great antiquity of China; that the Chinese were a highly +civilized people when our ancestors, the Britons, were barbarians. +They had the art of printing and the art of gunpowder long before they +were known in Europe. Chinese books are in some respects a model for +ours now, not only in cheapness, but in their extreme lightness, being +made of thin bamboo paper, so that a book weighs in the hand hardly +more than a newspaper. + +Of course every stranger must make the round of temples and pagodas, +of which there are enough to satisfy any number of worshippers. There +is a Temple of the Five Genii, and one of the Five Hundred Arhans, or +scholars of Buddha. There is a Temple of Confucius, and a Temple of +the Emperor, where the mandarins go and pay to his Majesty and to the +Sage an homage of divine adoration. I climbed up into his royal seat, +and thought I was quite as fit an object of worship as he! There is a +Temple of Horrors, which outdoes the "Chamber of Horrors" in Madame +Tussaud's famous exhibition of wax-works in London. It is a +representation of all the torments which are supposed to be endured by +the damned, and reminds one of those frightful pictures painted in the +Middle Ages in some Roman Catholic countries, in which heretics are +seen in the midst of flames, tossed about by devils on pitchforks. But +the Chinese soften the impression. To restore the balance of mind, +terrified by these frightful representations, there is a Temple of +Longevity, in which there is a figure of Buddha, such as the ancient +Romans might have made of Bacchus or Silenus--a mountain of flesh, +with fat eyes, laughing mouth, and enormous paunch. Even the four +Kings of Heaven, that rule over the four points of the compass--North, +South, East, and West--have much more of an earthly than a heavenly +look. All these figures are grotesque and hideous enough; but to their +credit be it said, they are not obscene, like the figures in the +temples of India. Here we made the same observation as in Burmah, that +Buddhism is a much cleaner and more decent religion than Hindooism. +This is to its honor. "Buddhism," says Williams, "is the least +revolting and impure of all false religions." Its general character we +have seen elsewhere. Its precepts enjoin self-denial and practical +benevolence. It has no cruel or bloody rites, and nothing gross in its +worship. Of its priests, some are learned men, but the mass are +ignorant, yet sober and inoffensive. At least they are not a scandal +to their faith, as are the priests of some forms of Christianity. That +the Chinese are imbued with religious ideas is indicated in the very +names of the streets already mentioned, whereby, though in a singular +fashion, they commemorate and glorify certain attributes of character. +The idea which seems most deep-rooted in their minds is that of +retribution according to conduct. The maxim most frequent in their +mouths is that good actions bring their own reward, and bad actions +their own punishment. This idea was very pithily expressed by the +famous hong-merchant, Howqua, in reply to an American sea-captain, who +asked him his idea of future rewards and punishments, to which he +replied in pigeon-English: "A man do good, he go to Joss; he no do +good, very much bamboo catchee he!" + +But we will leave the temples with their grinning idols; as we leave +the restaurants, where lovers of dainty dishes are regaled with dogs +and cats; and the opium-shops, where the Chinese loll and smoke till +they are stupefied by the horrid drug; for Canton has something more +attractive. We found a very curious study in the Examination Hall, +illustrating, as it does, the Chinese manner of elevating men to +office. We hear much in our country of "civil service reform," which +some innocently suppose to be a new discovery in political economy--an +American invention. But the Chinese have had it for a thousand years. +Here appointments to office are made as the result of a competitive +examination; and although there may be secret favoritism and bribery, +yet the theory is one of perfect equality. In this respect China is +the most absolute democracy in the world. There is no hereditary rank +or order of nobility; the lowest menial, if he has native talent, may +raise himself by study and perseverance to be Prime Minister of the +Empire. + +In the eastern quarter of Canton is an enclosure of many acres, laid +off in a manner which betokens some unusual purpose. The ground is +divided by a succession of long, low buildings, not much better than +horse-sheds around a New England meeting-house of the olden time. They +run in parallel lines, like barracks for a camp, and are divided into +narrow compartments. Once in three years this vast camping-ground +presents an extraordinary spectacle, for then are gathered in these +courts, from all parts of the province, some ten thousand candidates, +all of whom have previously passed a first examination, and received a +degree, and now appear to compete for the second. Some are young, and +some are old, for there is no limit put upon age. As the candidates +present themselves, each man is searched, to see that he has no books, +or helps of any kind, concealed upon his person, and then put into a +stall about three feet wide, just large enough to turn around in, and +as bare as a prisoner's cell. There is a niche in the wall, in which a +board can be placed for him to sit upon, and another niche to support +a board that has to serve as breakfast-table and writing-table. This +is the furniture of his room. Here he is shut in from all +communication with the world, his food being passed to him through the +door, as to a prisoner. Certain themes are then submitted to him in +writing, on which he is to furnish written essays, intended generally, +and perhaps always, to determine his knowledge of the Chinese +classics. It is sometimes said that these are frivolous questions, the +answers to which afford no proof whatever of one's capacity for +office; but it should be remembered that these classics are the +writings of Confucius, which are the political ethics of the country, +the very foundation of the government, without knowing which one is +not qualified to take part in its administration. + +The candidate goes into his cell in the afternoon, and spends the +night there, which gives him time for reflection, and all the next day +and the next night, when he comes out, and after a few days is put in +again for another trial of the same character; and this is repeated a +third time; at the end of which he is released from solitary +confinement, and his essays are submitted for examination. Of the ten +thousand, only seventy-five can obtain a degree--not one in a hundred! +The nine thousand and nine hundred must go back disappointed, their +only consolation being that after three years they can try again. Even +the successful ones do not thereby get an office, but only the right +to enter for a third competition, which takes place at Peking, by +which of course their ranks are thinned still more. The few who get +through this threefold ordeal take a high place in the literary or +learned class, from which all appointments to the public service are +made. Here is the system of examination complete. No trial can be +imagined more severe, and it ought to give the Chinese the best civil +service in the world. + +May we not get a hint from this for our instruction in America, where +some of our best men are making earnest efforts for civil service +reform? If the candidates, who flock to Washington at the beginning of +each administration, were to be put into cells, and fed on bread and +water, it might check the rage for office, and the number of +applicants might be diminished; and if they were required to pass an +examination, and to furnish written essays, showing at least some +degree of knowledge of political affairs, we might have a more +intelligent class of officials to fill consular posts in different +parts of the world. + +But, unfortunately, it might be answered that examinations, be they +ever so strict, do not change human nature, nor make men just or +humane; and that even the rigid system of China does not restrain +rulers from corruption, nor protect the people from acts of oppression +and cruelty. + +Three spots in Canton had for me the fascination of horror--the court, +the prison, and the execution ground. I had heard terrible tales of +the trial by torture--of men racked to extort the secrets of crime, +and of the punishments which followed. These stories haunted me, and I +hoped to find some features which would relieve the impression of so +much horror. I wished to see for myself the administration of +justice--to witness a trial in a Chinese court. A few years ago this +would have been impossible; foreigners were excluded from the courts. +But now they are open, and all can see who have the nerve to look on. +Therefore, after we had made a long circuit through the streets of +Canton, I directed the bearers to take us to the Yamun, the Hall of +Justice. Leaving our chairs in the street, we passed through a large +open court into a hall in the rear, where at that very moment several +trials were going on. + +The court-room was very plain. A couple of judges sat behind tables, +before whom a number of prisoners were brought in. The mode of +proceeding was very foreign to American or European ideas. There was +neither jury nor witnesses. This simplified matters exceedingly. There +is no trial by jury in China. While we haggle about impanelling juries +and getting testimony, and thus trials drag on for weeks, in China no +such obstacle is allowed to impede the rapid course of justice; and +what is more, there are no lawyers to perplex the case with their +arguments, but the judge has it all his own way. He is simply +confronted with the accused, and they have it all between them. + +While we stood here, a number of prisoners were brought in; some were +carried in baskets (as they are borne to execution), and dumped on the +stone pavement like so many bushels of potatoes; others were led in +with chains around their necks. As each one's name was called, he came +forward and fell on his knees before the judge, and lifted up his +hands to beg for mercy. He was then told of the crime of which he was +accused, and given opportunity if he had anything to say in his own +defence. There was no apparent harshness or cruelty towards him, +except that he was presumed to be guilty, unless he could prove his +innocence; contrary to the English maxim of law, that a man is to be +presumed innocent until he is proved guilty. In this, however, the +Chinese practice is not very different from that which exists at this +day in so enlightened a country as France. + +For example, two men were accused of being concerned together in a +burglary. As they were from another prefecture, where there is another +dialect, they had to be examined through an interpreter. The judge +wished to find out who were leagued with them, and therefore +questioned them separately. Each was brought in in a basket, chained +and doubled up, so that he sat helplessly. No witness was examined, +but the man himself was simply interrogated by the judge. + +In another case, two men were accused of robbery with violence--a +capital offence, but by the Chinese law no man can be punished with +death unless he confesses his crime; hence every means is employed to +lead a criminal to acknowledge his guilt. Of course in a case of life +and death he will deny it as long as he can. But if he will not +confess, the court proceeds to take stringent measures to _make_ him +confess, for which purpose these two men were now put to the torture. +The mode of torture was this: There were two round pillars in the +hall. Each man was on his knees, with his feet chained behind him, so +that he could not stir. He was then placed with his back to one of +these columns, and small cords were fastened around his thumbs and +great toes, and drawn back tightly to the pillar behind. This soon +produced intense suffering. Their breasts heaved, the veins on their +foreheads stood out like whipcords, and every feature betrayed the +most excruciating agony. Every few minutes an officer of the court +asked if they were ready to confess, and as often they answered, "No; +never would they confess that they had committed such a crime." They +were told if they did not confess, they would be subjected to still +greater torture. But they still held out, though every moment seemed +an hour of pain. + +While these poor wretches were thus writhing in agony, I turned to the +judge to see how he bore the spectacle of such suffering. He sat at +his table quite unmoved; yet he did not seem like a brutal man, but +like a man of education, such as one might see on the bench in England +or America. He seemed to look upon it as in the ordinary course of +proceedings, and a necessary step in the conviction of a criminal. He +used no bravado, and offered no taunt or insult. But the cries of the +sufferers did not move him, nor prevent his taking his accustomed +ease. He sat fanning himself and smoking his pipe, as if he said he +could stand it as long as they could. Of course he knew that, as their +heads were at stake, they would deny their guilt till compelled to +yield; but he seemed to look upon it as simply a question of +endurance, in which, if he kept on long enough, there could be but one +issue. + +But still the men did not give in, and I looked at them with amazement +mingled with horror, to see what human nature could endure. The sight +was too painful to witness more than a few moments, and I rushed away, +leaving the men still hanging to the pillars of torture. I confess I +felt a relief when I went back the next day, to hear that they had +not yielded, but held out unflinchingly to the last. + +Horrible as this seems, I have heard good men--men of humanity--argue +in favor of torture, at least "when applied in a mild way." They +affirm that in China there can be no administration of justice without +it. In a country where testimony is absolutely worthless--where as +many men can be hired to swear falsely for ten cents apiece as you +have money to buy--there is no possible way of arriving at the truth +but by _extorting_ it. No doubt it is a rough process, but it secures +the result. As it happened, the English gentleman who accompanied us +was a magistrate in India, and he confirmed the statement as to the +difficulty, and in many cases the impossibility, of getting at the +truth, because of the unfathomable deceit of the natives. Many cases +came before him in which he was sure a witness was lying, but he was +helpless to prove it, when a little gentle application of the +thumbscrew, or even a good whipping, would have brought out the truth, +which, for want of it, could not be discovered. + +To the objection that such methods may coerce the innocent as well as +the guilty--that the pain may be so great that innocent men will +confess crimes that they never committed, rather than suffer tortures +worse than death--the answer is, that as guilt makes men cowards, the +guilty will give up, while the innocent hold out. But this is simply +trusting to the trial by lot. It is the old ordeal by fire. A better +answer is, that the court has beforehand strong presumptive evidence +of the crime, and that a prisoner is not put to the torture until it +has been well ascertained by testimony obtained elsewhere that he is a +great offender. When it is thus determined that he is a robber or a +murderer, who ought not to live, then this last step is taken to +compel him to acknowledge his guilt, and the justice of his +condemnation. + +But there are cases in which a man may be wrongfully accused; an enemy +may bribe a witness to make a complaint against him, upon which he is +arrested and cast into prison. Then, unless he can bring some powerful +influence to rescue him, his case is hopeless. He denies his guilt, +and is put to the rack for an offence of which he is wholly innocent. +Such cases, no doubt, occur; and yet men who have lived here many +years, such as Dr. Happer and Archdeacon Gray, tell me that they do +not believe there is a country in the world where, on the whole, +justice is more impartially administered than in China. + +I was so painfully interested in this matter, that I went back to the +Yamun the next day in company with Dr. Happer, to watch the +proceedings further. As before, a number of prisoners were brought in, +with chains around their necks, each of whom, when called, fell down +on his knees before the judge and begged for mercy. They were not +answered harshly or roughly, but listened to with patience and +attention. Several whose cases were not capital, at once confessed +their offence, and took the punishment. One young fellow, a mere +overgrown boy of perhaps eighteen, was brought up, charged with +disobedience to parents. He confessed his fault, and blubbered +piteously for mercy, and was let off for this time with rather a mild +punishment, which was to wear a chain with a heavy stone attached, +which he was to drag about after him in the street before the prison, +where he was exposed to the scorn of the people. The judge, however, +warned him that if he repeated the disobedience, and was arrested +again, he would be liable to be punished with death! Such is the rigor +with which the laws of China enforce obedience to parents. + +A man accused of theft confessed it, and was sentenced to wear the +_cangue_--a board about three feet square--around his neck for a +certain time, perhaps several weeks, on which his name was painted in +large characters, with the crime of which he was guilty, that all who +saw him might know that he was a thief! + +These were petty cases, such as might be disposed of in any police +court. But now appeared a greater offender. A man was led in with a +chain around his neck, who had the reputation of being a noted +malefactor. He was charged with both robbery and murder. The case had +been pending a long time. The crime, or crimes, had been committed +four years ago. The man had been brought up repeatedly, but as no +amount of pressure could make him confess, he could not be executed. +He was now to have another hearing. He knelt down on the hard stone +floor, and heard the accusation, which he denied as he had done +before, and loudly protested his innocence. The judge, who was a man +of middle age, with a fine intellectual countenance, was in no haste +to condemn, but listened patiently. He was in a mild, persuasive mood, +perhaps the more so because he was refreshing himself as a Chinaman +likes to do. As he sat listening, he took several small cups of tea. A +boy in attendance brought him also his pipe, filled with tobacco, +which he put in his mouth, and took two or three puffs, when he handed +it back; and the boy cleaned it, filled it, and lighted it again. With +such support to his physical weakness, who could not listen patiently +to a man who was on his knees before him pleading for his life? But +the case was a very bad one. It had been referred back to the village +in which the man was born, and the "elders," who form the local +government in every petty commune in China, had inquired into the +facts, and reported that he was a notorious offender, accused of no +less than seven crimes--five robberies, one murder, and one maiming. +This was a pretty strong indictment. But the man protested that he had +been made the victim of a conspiracy to destroy him. The judge replied +that it might be that he should be wrongfully accused by one enemy, +but it was hardly possible that a hundred people of his native +village should combine to accuse him falsely. Their written report +was read by the clerk, who then held it up before the man, that he +might see it in white and black. Still he denied as before, and the +judge, instead of putting him to the torture, simply remanded him to +prison for further examination. In all these cases there was no +eagerness to convict or to sentence the accused. They were listened to +with patience, and apparently all proper force was allowed to what +they had to say in their own defence. + +This relieves a good deal the apparent severity of the Chinese code. +It does not condemn without hearing. But, on the other hand, it does +not cover up with fine phrases or foolish sentiment the terrible +reality of crime. It believes in crime as an awful fact in human +society, and in punishment as a repressive force that must be applied +to keep society from destruction. + +Next to the Yamun is the prison, in which are confined those charged +with capital offences. We were admitted by paying a small fee to the +keepers, and were at once surrounded by forty or fifty wretched +objects, some of whom had been subjected to torture, and who held up +their limbs which had been racked, and showed their bodies all covered +with wounds, as an appeal to pity. We gave them some money to buy +tobacco, as that is the solace which they crave next to opium, and +hurried away. + +But there is a place more terrible than the prison; it is the +execution-ground. Outside the walls of Canton, between the city gate +and the river, is a spot which may well be called Golgotha, the place +of a skull. It is simply a dirty vacant lot, partly covered with +earthenware pots and pans, a few rods long, on one side of which is a +dead wall; but within this narrow space has been shed more blood than +on any other spot of the earth's surface. Here those sentenced to +death are beheaded. Every few days a gloomy procession files into the +lane, and the condemned are ranged against the wall on their knees, +when an assistant pulls up their pinioned arms from behind, which +forces their heads forward, and the executioner coming to one after +another, cleaves the neck with a blow. A number of skulls were +scattered about--of those whose bodies had been removed, but whose +heads were left unburied. In the lane is the house of the +executioner--a thick, short-set man, in a greasy frock, looking like a +butcher fresh from the shambles. Though a coarse, ugly fellow, he did +not look, as one might suppose, like a monster of cruelty, but was +simply a dull, stolid creature, who undertook this as he would any +other kind of business, and cut off human heads with as little feeling +as he would those of so many sheep. He picks up a little money by +exhibiting himself and his weapon of death. He brought out his sword +to show it to us. It was short and heavy, like a butcher's cleaver. I +took it in my hand, and felt of the blade. It was dull, and rusted +with stains of blood. He apologized for its appearance, but explained +that it had not been used recently, and added that whenever it was +needed for service, he sharpened it. I asked him how many heads he had +cut off. He did not know--had not kept count--but supposed some +hundreds. Sometimes there were "two or three tens"--that is, twenty or +thirty--at once. Rev. Mr. Preston told me he had seen forty cut off in +one morning. Dr. Williams had such a horror of blood that he could +never be present at an execution, but he one day saw nearly two +hundred headless trunks lying here, with their heads, which had just +been severed from the bodies, scattered over the ground. Mr. Preston +had seen heads piled up six feet high. It ought to be said, however, +that in ordinary times no criminal convicted of a capital offence can +be executed anywhere in the province (which is a district of nearly +eighty thousand square miles, with twenty millions of inhabitants) +except in Canton, and with the cognizance of the governor. + +The carnival of blood was during the Taiping rebellion in 1855. That +rebellion invaded this province; it had possession of Whampoa, and +even endangered Canton. When it was suppressed, it was stamped out in +blood. There were executions by wholesale. All who had taken part in +it were sentenced to death, and as the insurgents were numbered by +tens of thousands, the work went on for days and weeks and months. The +stream of blood never ceased to flow. The rebels were brought up the +river in boat-loads. The magistrates in the villages of the province +were supposed to have made an examination. It was enough that they +were found with arms in their hands. There were no prisons which could +hold such an army, and the only way to deal with them was to execute +them. Accordingly every day a detachment was marched out to the +execution ground, where forty or fifty men would be standing with +coffins, to receive and carry off the bodies. They were taken out of +the city by a certain gate, and here Dr. Williams engaged a man to +count them as they passed, and thus he kept the fearful roll of the +dead; and comparing it with the published lists he found the number +executed in fourteen months to be eighty-one thousand! An Aceldama +indeed! It is not, then, too much to say that taking the years +together, within this narrow ground blood enough has been shed to +float the Great Eastern. + +But decapitation is a simple business compared with that which the +executioner has sometimes to perform. I observed standing against the +wall some half a dozen rude crosses, made of bamboo, which reminded me +that death is sometimes inflicted by crucifixion. This mode of +punishment is reserved for the worst malefactors. They are not nailed +to the cross to die a lingering death, but lashed to it by ropes, and +then slowly strangled or cut to pieces. The executioner explained +coolly how he first cut out an eye, or sliced off a piece of the cheek +or the breast, and so proceeded deliberately, till with one tremendous +stroke the body was cleft in twain. + +Thus Chinese law illustrates its idea of punishment, which is to +inflict it with tremendous rigor. It not only holds to capital +punishment, but sometimes makes a man in dying suffer a thousand +deaths. A gentleman at Fuhchau told me that he had seen a criminal +starved to death. A man who had robbed a woman, using violence, was +put into a cage in a public place, with his head out of a hole, +exposed to the sun, and his body extended, and there left to die by +inches. The foreign community were horror-struck; the consuls +protested against it, but in vain. He lingered four days before death +came to put an end to his agony. There were about twenty so punished +at Canton in 1843, for incendiarism. + +We shudder at these harrowing tales of "man's inhumanity to man." But +we must not take the pictures of these terrible scenes, as if they +were things which stare in the eyes of all beholders, or which give +the fairest impression of Chinese law; as if this were a country in +which there is nothing but suffering and crime. On the contrary, it is +pre-eminently a land of peace and order. The Chinese are a law-abiding +people. Because a few hundred bad men are found in a city of a million +inhabitants, and punished with severity, we must not suppose that this +is a lawless community. Those who would charge this, may at least be +called on to point out a better-governed city in Europe. + +This fearful Draconian code can at least claim that it is successful +in suppressing crime. The law is a terror to evil-doers. The proof of +this is that order is so well preserved. This great city of Canton is +as quiet, and life and property are as safe, as in London or New York. +Yet it is done with no display of force. There is no obtrusion of the +police or the military, as in Paris or Vienna. The gates of the city +are shut at night, and the Tartar soldiers make their rounds; but the +armed hand is not always held up before the public eye. The Chinese +Government has learned to make its authority respected without the +constant display of military power. + +The Chinese are the most industrious people on the face of the earth, +for only by constant and universal industry can a population of four +hundred millions live. When such masses of human beings are crowded +together, the struggle for existence is so great, that it is only by +keeping the millions of hands busy that food can be obtained for the +millions of mouths. The same necessity enforces peace with each other, +and therefore from necessity, as well as from moral considerations, +this has been the policy of China from the beginning. Its whole +political economy, taught long since by Confucius, is contained in two +words--Industry and Peace. By an adherence to these simple principles, +the Empire has held together for thousands of years, while every other +nation has gone to pieces. China has never been an aggressive nation, +given to wars of conquest. It has indeed attempted to subdue the +tribes of Central Asia, and holds a weak sway over Turkistan and +Thibet; while Corea and Loochoo and Annam still acknowledge a kind of +fealty, now long since repudiated by Burmah and Siam. But in almost +all cases it has "stooped to conquer," and been satisfied with a sort +of tribute, instead of attempting roughly to enforce its authority, +which would lead to perpetual wars. Thus has China followed the lesson +of Confucius, furnishing the most stupendous example on the face of +the earth of the advantage to nations of industry and peace. + +The reason for this general respect and obedience to law may be found +in another fact, which is to the immortal honor of the Chinese. It is +the respect and obedience to parents. In China the family is the +foundation of the state; and the very first law of society, as well as +of religion, is: "Honor thy father and mother." In no country in the +world is this law so universally obeyed. The preservation of China +amid the wreck of other kingdoms is largely due to its respect to the +Fifth Commandment, which has proved literally "a commandment with +promise;"--the promise, "that thy days may be long in the land which +the Lord thy God giveth thee," having been fulfilled in the +preservation of this country from age to age. + +As a consequence of this respect to parents, which imposes an +authority over children, and binds them together, the family feeling +in China is very strong. This, however noble in itself, has some evil +effects, as it often separates the people of a town or village by +feuds and divisions, which are as distinct, and as jealous and +hostile, as the old Highland clans in Scotland. This interferes with +the administration of justice. If a crime is committed, all of one's +clan are in league to screen and protect the offender, while the rival +clan is as eager to pursue and destroy him. Woe to the man who is +accused, and who has no friend! But the disposition to stand by each +other manifests itself in many acts of mutual helpfulness, of devotion +and personal sacrifice. + +Carrying out the same idea, the nation is only a larger family, and +the government a patriarchal despotism. There is no representative +government, no Congress or Parliament; and yet there is a kind of +local government, like that of our New England towns. Every village is +governed by "elders," who are responsible for its police, who look +after rascals, and who also aid in assessing the taxes for the local +and general governments. By this union of a great central power with +local administration of local affairs, the government has managed to +hold together hundreds of millions of human beings, and make its +authority respected over a large part of Asia. + +This family feeling moulds even the religion of China, which takes the +form of a worship of ancestors. Those who have given them existence +are not lost when they have ceased to breathe. They are still the +links of being by which, and through which, the present living world +came from the hand of the Creator, and are to be reverenced with a +devotion next to that felt for the Author of being himself. Their +memory is still cherished. Every household has its objects of +devotion; every dwelling has its shrine sacred to the memory of the +dead; and no temple or pagoda is more truly holy ground than the +cemeteries, often laid out on hill-sides, where reposes the dust of +former generations. To these they make frequent pilgrimages. Every +year the Emperor of China goes in state to visit the tombs of his +ancestors. The poor emigrant who leaves for America or Australia, +gives a part of his earnings, so that, in case of death, his body +shall be brought back to China to sleep in the soil that contains the +dust of his ancestors. Thus the living are joined to the dead; and +those who have vanished from the earth, from the silent hills where +they sleep, still rule the most populous kingdom of the world. + +One cannot leave China without a word in regard to its relations with +other countries. In this respect a great change has taken place within +this generation. The old exclusiveness is broken down. This has come +by war, and war which had not always a justifiable origin, however +good may have been its effects. The opium war in 1841 is not a thing +to be remembered by England with pride. The cause of that war was an +attempt by the Chinese government in 1839 to prevent the English +importation of opium. Never did a government make a more determined +effort to remove a terrible curse that was destroying its population. +Seeing the evil in all its enormity, it roused itself like a strong +man to shake it off. It imposed heavy penalties on the use of opium, +even going so far as to put some to death. But what could it do so +long as foreigners were selling opium in Canton, right before its +eyes? It resolved to break up the trade, to stop the importation. As a +last resort, it drew a cordon around the factories of the foreign +merchants, and brought them to terms by a truly Eastern strategy. It +did not attack them, nor touch a hair of their heads; but it assumed +that it had at least the right to exercise its authority over its own +people, by forbidding them to have any intercourse with foreigners. +Immediately every Chinese servant left them. No man could be had, for +love or money, to render them any service, or even to sell them food. +Thus they were virtually prisoners. This state of siege lasted about +six weeks. At the end of that time the British merchants surrendered +all the opium, at the order of their consular chief, Charles Elliot, +for him to hand it over to the Chinese; it amounted to 20,283 chests +(nearly three million pounds in weight), mostly on board ship at the +time. The Chinese received it at the mouth of the river, near the +Bogue Forts, and there destroyed it, by throwing it overboard, as our +fathers destroyed the tea in Boston harbor. To make sure work of it, +lest it should be recovered and used, they broke open the chests and +mixed it thoroughly with salt water. As it dissolved in the sea, it +killed great quantities of fish, but that opium at least never killed +any Chinamen. + +This brought on war. Much has been said of other causes, but no one +familiar with affairs in the East doubts that the controlling motive +was a desire to force upon China the trade in opium which is one chief +source of the revenue of India. + +The war lasted two years, and ended in a complete victory for the +foreigners. The Bogue Forts were bombarded, and foreign ships forced +their way up the river. Canton was ransomed just as it was to have +been attacked, but Amoy, Ningpo, Shanghai, and Chinkiang were +assaulted and captured. The war was finally terminated in 1842 by a +treaty, by the terms of which China paid to England six millions of +dollars for the opium which had been destroyed, and opened five ports +to foreign trade. This, though a gain to European and Indian commerce, +was a heavy blow to Canton, which, instead of being the only open +port, was but one of five. The trade, which before had been +concentrated here, now spread along the coast to Amoy, Fuhchau, +Ningpo, and Shanghai. + +But the Ruler of Nations brings good out of evil. Wrong as was the +motive of the opium war, it cannot be doubted that sooner or later war +must have come from the attitude of China toward European nations. For +ages it had maintained a policy of exclusiveness. The rest of the +world were "outside barbarians." It repelled their advances, not only +with firmness, but almost with insult. While keeping this attitude of +resistance, as foreign commerce was continually knocking at its doors, +a collision was inevitable. Recognizing this, we cannot but regret +that it should have occurred for a cause in which China was in the +right, and England in the wrong. + +In the wars of England and France with China, Europe has fought with +Asia, and has gotten the victory. Will it be content with what it has +gained, or will it press still further, and force China to the wall? +This is the question which I heard asked everywhere in Eastern Asia. +The English merchants find their interests thwarted by the obstinate +conservatism of the Chinese, and would be glad of an opportunity for a +naval or military demonstration--an occasion which the Chinese are +very careful not to give. There is an English fleet at Hong Kong, a +few hours' sail from Canton. The admiral who was to take command came +out with us on the steamer from Singapore. He was a gallant seaman, +and seemed like a man who would not willingly do injustice; and yet I +think his English blood would rise at the prospect of glory, if he +were to receive an order from London to transfer his fleet to the +Canton River, and lay it abreast of the city, or to force his way up +the Pei-ho. The English merchants would hail such an appearance in +these waters. Not content with the fifteen ports which they have now, +they want the whole of China opened to trade. But the Chinese think +they have got enough of it, and to any further invasion oppose a +quiet but steady resistance. The English are impatient. They want to +force an entrance, and to introduce not only the goods of Manchester, +but all the modern improvements--to have railroads all over China, as +in India, and steamers on all the rivers; and they think it very +unreasonable that the Chinese object. But there is another side to +this question. Such changes would disturb the whole internal commerce +of China. They would throw out of employment, not thousands nor tens +of thousands, but millions, who would perish in such an economical and +industrial revolution as surely as by the waters of a deluge. An +English missionary at Canton told me that it would not be possible to +make any sudden changes, such as would be involved in the general +introduction of railroads, or of labor-saving machines in place of the +labor of human hands, without inflicting immense suffering. There are +millions of people who now keep their heads just above water, and that +by standing on their toes and stretching their necks, who would be +drowned if it should rise an inch higher. The least agitation of the +waters, and they would be submerged. Can we wonder that they hesitate +to be sacrificed, and beg their government to move slowly? + +America has had no part in the wars with China, although it is said +that in the attack on the forts at the mouth of the Pei-ho, when the +English ships were hard pressed, American sailors went on board of one +of them, and volunteered to serve at the guns, whether from pure love +of the excitement of battle, or because they felt, as Commodore +Tatnall expressed it, that "blood was thicker than water," is not +recorded.[12] American sailors and soldiers will never be wanting in +any cause which concerns their country's interest and honor. But +hitherto it has been our good fortune to come into no armed collision +with the Chinese, and hence the American name is in favor along the +coast. Our country is represented, not so much by ships of war as by +merchants and missionaries. The latter, though few in number, by their +wisdom as well as zeal, have done much to conciliate favor and command +respect. They are not meddlers nor mischief-makers. They do not belong +to the nation that has forced opium upon China, though often obliged +to hear the taunt that is hurled against the whole of the +English-speaking race. In their own quiet spheres, they have labored +to diffuse knowledge and to exhibit practical Christianity. They have +opened schools and hospitals, as well as churches. In Canton, a +generation ago, Dr. Peter Parker opened a hospital, which is still +continued, and which receives about nine hundred every year into its +wards, besides some fifteen thousand who are treated at the doors. For +twenty years it was in charge of Dr. Kerr, who nearly wore himself out +in his duties; and is now succeeded by Dr. Carrow, a young physician +who left a good practice in Jersey City to devote himself to this +work. Hundreds undergo operation for the stone--a disease quite common +in the South, but which Chinese surgery is incompetent to treat--and +who are here rescued from a lingering death. That is the way American +Christianity should be represented in China. In Calcutta I saw the +great opium ships bound for Hong Kong. Let England have a monopoly of +that trade, but let America come to China with healing in one hand and +the Gospel in the other. + +Nor is this all which American missionaries have done. They have +rendered a service--not yet noticed as it should be--to literature, +and in preparing the way for the intercourse of China with other +nations. An American missionary, Dr. Martin, is President of the +University at Peking, established by the government. Dr. S. Wells +Williams, in the more than forty years of his residence in China, has +prepared a Chinese-English Dictionary, which I heard spoken of +everywhere in the East as the best in existence. In other ways his +knowledge of the language and the people has been of service both to +China and to America, during his twenty-one years' connection with the +Legation. And if American diplomacy has succeeded in gaining many +substantial advantages for our country, while it has skilfully avoided +wounding the susceptibilities of the Chinese, the success is due in no +small degree to this modest American missionary. + +De Quincey said if he were to live in China, he should go mad. No +wonder. The free English spirit could not be so confined. There is +something in this enormous population, weighed down with the +conservatism of ages, that oppresses the intellect. It is a forced +stagnation. China is a boundless and a motionless ocean. Its own +people may not feel it, but one accustomed to the free life of Europe +looks upon it as a vast Dead Sea, in whose leaden waters nothing can +live. + +But even this Dead Sea is beginning to stir with life. There is a +heaving, as when the Polar Ocean breaks up, and the liberated waves +sweep far and wide-- + + "Swinging low with sullen roar." + +Such is the sound which is beginning to be heard on all the shores of +Asia. Since foreigners have begun to come into China, the Chinese go +abroad more than ever before. There is developed a new spirit of +emigration. Not only do they come to California, but go to Australia, +and to all the islands of Southern Asia. They are the most +enterprising as well as the most industrious of emigrants. They have +an extraordinary aptitude for commerce. They are in the East what the +Jews are in other parts of the world--the money-changers, the +mercantile class, the petty traders; and wherever they come, they are +sure to "pick up" and to "go ahead." Who can put bounds to such a +race, that not content with a quarter of Asia, overflows so much of +the remaining parts of the Eastern hemisphere? + +On our Pacific Coast the Chinese have appeared as yet only as laborers +and servants, or as attempting the humblest industries. Their +reception has not been such as we can regard with satisfaction and +pride. Poor John Chinaman! Patient toiler on the railroad or in the +mine, yet doomed to be kicked about in the land whose prosperity he +has done so much to promote. There is something very touching in his +love for his native country--a love so strong that he desires even in +death to be carried back to be buried in the land which gave him +birth. Some return living, only to tell of a treatment in strange +contrast with that which our countrymen have received in China, as +well as in violation of the solemn obligations of treaties. We cannot +think of this cruel persecution but with indignation at our country's +shame. + +No one can visit China without becoming interested in the country and +its people. There is much that is good in the Chinese, in their +patient industry, and in their strong domestic feeling. Who can but +respect a people that honor their fathers and mothers in a way to +furnish an example to the whole Christian world? who indeed exaggerate +their reverence to such a degree that they even worship their +ancestors? The mass of the people are miserably poor, but they do not +murmur at their lot. They take it patiently, and even cheerfully; for +they see in it a mixture of dark and bright. In their own beautiful +and poetical saying: "The moon shines bright amid the firs." May it +not only shine through the gloom of deep forests, but rise higher and +higher, till it casts a flood of light over the whole Eastern sky! + +FOOTNOTE: + +[12] As this incident has excited a great deal of interest, I am happy +to give it as it occurred from an eye-witness. One who was on board of +Commodore Tatnall's ship writes: + +"I was present at the battle in the Pei-ho in 1859, and know all the +particulars. Admiral Hope having been wounded, was urged to bring up +the marines before sunset, and sent his aid down to take them off the +three junks, where they were waiting at the mouth of the river. The +aid came on board the "Toeywan" to see Commodore Tatnall, tell him the +progress of the battle, and what he had been sent down for, adding +that, as the tide was running out, it would be hard work getting up +again. As he went on, Tatnall began to get restless, and turning to me +(I sat next), said: 'Blood is thicker than water; I don't care if they +do take away my commission.' Then turning to his own flag-lieutenant +at the other end of the table, he said aloud: 'Get up steam;' and +everything was ready for a start in double-quick time. When all was +prepared, the launches, full of marines, were towed into action by the +"Toeywan"; and casting them off, the Commodore left in his barge to go +on board the British flag-ship, to see the wounded Admiral. On the way +his barge was hit, his coxswain killed, and the rest just managed to +get on board the "Lee" before their boat sunk, owing their lives +probably to his presence of mind. It was only the men in this boat's +crew who helped to work the British guns. I suppose Tatnall never +meant his words to be repeated, but Hope's aid overheard them, and +thus immortalized them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THREE WEEKS IN JAPAN. + + +We left Hong Kong on the 15th of May, just one year from the day that +we sailed from New York on our journey around the world. As we +completed these twelve months, we embarked on our twelfth voyage. +After being so long on foreign ships--English and French and Dutch: +Austrian Lloyds and Messageries Maritimes--it was pleasant to be at +last on one that bore the flag of our country, and bore it so proudly +as "The City of Peking." As we stepped on her deck, and looked up at +the stars above us, we felt that we were almost on the soil of our +country. As we were now approaching America, though still over six +thousand miles away, and nearly ten thousand from New York, we thought +it was time to telegraph that we were coming, but found that "the +longest way round was the nearest way home." The direct cable across +the Bay of Bengal, from Penang to Madras, was broken, and the message +had to go by Siberia. It seemed indeed a long, long way, but the +lightning regards neither space nor time. Swift as thought the message +flew up the coast of China to Siberia, and then across the whole +breadth of two continents, Asia and Europe, and dived under the +Atlantic, to come up on the shores of America. + +The harbor of Hong Kong was gay with ships decorated with flags, and +the British fleet was still firing salutes, which seemed to be its +daily pastime, as the City of Peking began to move. With a grand sweep +she circled round the bay, and then running swiftly into a winding +passage among islands, through which is the entrance to the harbor, +steamed out on the broad Pacific. + +We had intended to go to Shanghai, and through the Inland Sea of +Japan, but we sacrificed even such a pleasure (or rather left it till +the next time) to take advantage of this noble ship, that was bound +direct for Yokohama. Our course took us through the Channel of +Formosa, in full sight of the island, which has had an unenviable +notoriety from the treatment of the crews of ships wrecked on its +inhospitable coast. Leaving it far behind, in six days we were running +along the shores of Japan, and might have seen the snowy head of +Fusiyama, had it not been wrapped in clouds. The next morning we left +behind the long roll of the Pacific, and entered the Bay of Yedo--a +gulf fifty miles deep, whose clear, sparkling waters shone in the +sunlight. Fishing-boats were skimming the tranquil surface. The +Japanese are born to the sea. All around the coast they live upon it, +and are said to derive from it one-third of their subsistence. The +shores, sloping from the water's edge, are sprinkled with Japanese +villages. Some thirty miles from the sea we pass Mississippi Bay, so +called from the flag-ship of Commodore Perry, which lay here with his +fleet while he was conducting the negotiations for the opening of +Japan; the headland above it bears the name of Treaty Point. Rounding +this point, we see before us in the distance a forest of shipping, and +soon cast anchor in the harbor of Yokohama. + +Yokohama has a pleasant look from the sea, an impression increased as +we are taken off in a boat, and landed on the quay--a sea wall, which +keeps out the waves, and furnishes a broad terrace for the front of +the town. Here is a wide street called "The Bund," on which stand the +principal hotels. From our rooms we look out directly on the harbor. +Among the steamers from foreign ports, are a number of ships of war, +among which is the Tennessee, the flagship of our Asiatic squadron, +bearing the broad pennant of Admiral Reynolds, whom we had known in +America, and indeed had bidden good-by at our own door, as we stepped +into the carriage to drive to the steamer. We parted, hoping to meet +in Asia, a wish which was now fulfilled. He was very courteous to us +during our stay, sending his boat to bring us on board, and coming +often with his excellent wife to see us on shore. It gave us a +pleasant feeling of nearness to home, to have a great ship full of our +countrymen close at hand. + +In the rear of the town the hill which overlooks the harbor, bears the +foreign name of "The Bluff." Here is quite an American colony, +including several missionary families, in which we became very much at +home before we left Japan. + +Yokohama has an American newness and freshness. It is only a few years +since it has come into existence as a place of any importance. It was +only a small fishing village until the opening of Japan, since which +it has become the chief port of foreign commerce. It is laid out in +convenient streets, which are well paved, and kept clean, and +altogether the place has a brisk and lively air, as of some new and +thriving town in our own country. + +But just at this moment we are not so much interested to see American +improvements as to see the natives on their own soil. Here they are in +all their glory--pure-blooded Asiatics--and yet of a type that is not +Mongolian or Malayan or Indian. The Jap is neither a "mild Hindoo" nor +a "heathen Chinee." His hair is shaved from his head in a fashion +quite his own, making a sort of triangle on the crown; and no long +pigtail decorates his person behind. We recognize him at once, for +never was a human creature so exactly like his portrait. We see every +day the very same figures that we have seen all our lives on tea-cups +and saucers, and fans and boxes. Our first acquaintance with them was +as charioteers, in which they take the place, not of drivers, but of +horses; for the _jin-riki-sha_ (literally, a carriage drawn by man +power) has no other "team" harnessed to it. The vehicle is exactly +like a baby carriage, only made for "children of a larger growth." It +is simply an enlarged perambulator, on two wheels, drawn by a coolie; +and when one takes his seat in it, he cannot help feeling at first as +if he were a big baby, whom his nurse had tucked up and was taking out +for an airing. But one need not be afraid of it, lest he break down +the carriage, or tire out the steed that draws it. No matter how great +your excellency may be, the stout fellow will take up the thills, +standing where the pony or the donkey ought to be, and trot off with +you at a good pace, making about four miles an hour. At first the +impression was irresistibly ludicrous, and we laughed at ourselves to +see what a ridiculous figure we cut. Indeed we did not quite recover +our sobriety during the three weeks that we were in Japan. But after +all it is a very convenient way of getting about, and one at least is +satisfied that his horses will not run away, though he must not be too +sure of that, for I sometimes felt, especially when going down hill, +that they had got loose, and would land me with a broken head at the +bottom. + +But Yokohama is only the gate of Yedo (or Tokio, as it is the fashion +to call it now, but I keep to the old style as more familiar), of +which we had read even in our school geographies as one of the most +populous cities of Asia. The access is very easy, for it is only +eighteen miles distant, and there is a railroad, so that it is but an +hour's ride. While on our way that morning, we had our first sight of +Fusiyama. Though seventy miles distant, its dome of snow rose on the +horizon sharp and clear, like the Jungfrau at Interlachen. + +Arrived at Yedo, the station was surrounded by _jinrikishas_, whose +masters were kept in better order than the cabmen of New York. Wishing +to appear in the capital with proper dignity, we took two men instead +of one, so that each had a full team; and fine young bloods they were, +full of spirit, that fairly danced with us along the street, in such +gay fashion that my clerical garb was hardly sufficient to preserve +my clerical character. We first trotted off to the American +Minister's, Mr. Bingham's, who received us with all courtesy, and sent +for the interpreter of the Legation, Rev. Mr. Thompson, an American +missionary, who kindly offered to be our guide about the city, and +gave up the day to us. With such a cicerone, we started on our rounds. +He took us first to what is called the Summer Palace, though it is not +a palace at all, but only a park, to which the Mikado comes once in a +while to take his royal pleasure. There are a few rest-houses +scattered about, where one, whether king or commoner, might find +repose; or strolling under the shade of trees, and looking off upon +the tranquil sea. Next we rode to the Tombs of the Tycoons, where, +under gilded shrines, beneath temples and pagodas, sleep the royal +dead. The grounds are large and the temples exquisitely finished, with +the fine lacquer work for which the Japanese are famous; so that we +had to take off our shoes, and step very softly over the polished +floors. Riding on through endless streets, our friend took us to a +hill, ascended by a long flight of steps, on the top of which, in an +open space, stood a temple, an arbor, and a tea-house. This point +commands an extensive view of Yedo. It is a city of magnificent +distances, spreading out for miles on every side; and yet, except for +its extent, it is not at all imposing, for it is, like Canton, a mere +wilderness of houses, relieved by no architectural magnificence--not a +single lofty tower or dome rising above the dead level. But, unlike +Canton, the city has very broad streets, sometimes crossed by a river +or a canal, spanned by high, arched bridges. The principal business +street is much wider than Broadway, but it has not a shop along its +whole extent that would make any show even in "The Bowery." The houses +are built only one story high, because of earthquakes which are +frequent in Japan, caused, as the people believe, by a huge fish which +lies under the island, and that shakes it whenever he tosses his head +or lashes his tail. The houses are of such slight construction that +they burn like tinder; and it is not surprising that the city is often +swept by destructive fires. But if the whole place were thus swept +away, or if it were shaken to pieces by an earthquake in the night, +the people would pick themselves up in the morning and restore their +dwellings, with not much more difficulty than soldiers, whose tents +had been blown down by the wind, would find in pitching them again and +making another camp. Some of the government buildings are of more +stately proportions, and there are open grounds in certain quarters of +the city, adorned with magnificent trees, like the ancient oaks which +cast their shadows on the smooth-shaven lawns of England, and give to +English parks such an air of dignity and repose. + +The Castle of the late Tycoon, which may be said to be the heart of +the city, around which it clusters, is more of a fortress than a +palace. There is an immense enclosure surrounded by a deep moat (whose +sides are very pretty, banked with rich green turf), and with +picturesque old towers standing at intervals along the walls. In the +rear of the grounds of the old Castle is the much less ambitious +residence of the Mikado, where he is duly guarded, though he does not +now, as formerly, keep himself invisible, as if he were a divinity +descended from the skies, who in mysterious seclusion ruled the +affairs of men. + +By this time we were a little weary of sight-seeing, and drew up at a +Japanese tea-house, to take our tiffin. The place was as neat as a +pin, and the little maids came out to receive us, and bowed themselves +to the ground, touching the earth with their foreheads, in token of +the great honor that had come to their house--homage that we received +with becoming dignity, and went on our way rejoicing. + +The pleasantest sights that we saw to-day were two which showed the +awakened intelligence and spirit of progress among the people. These +were the Government College, with two hundred students, manned in part +by American professors (where we found our countryman Dr. Veeder in +his lecture-room, performing experiments); and an old Temple of +Confucius which has been turned into a library and reading-room. Here +was a large collection of books and periodicals, many from foreign +countries, over which a number of persons were quietly but studiously +engaged. The enclosure was filled with grand old trees, and had the +air of an academic grove, whose silent shades were devoted to study +and learning. + +After this first visit to the capital, we took a week for an excursion +into the interior, which gave us a sight of the country and of +Japanese life. This we could not have made with any satisfaction but +for our friends the missionaries. They kindly sketched the outlines of +a trip to the base of Fusiyama, seventy miles from Yedo. It was very +tempting, but what could we do without guides or interpreters? We +should be lost like babes in the wood. It occurred to us that such a +journey might do _them_ good. Dr. Brown and Dr. Hepburn, the oldest +missionaries in Japan, had been closely confined for months in +translating the Scriptures, and needed some relief. A little country +air would give them new life; so we invited them to be our guests, and +we would make a week of it. We finally prevailed upon them to "come +apart and rest awhile," not in a "desert," but in woodland shades, +among the mountains and by the sea. Their wives came with them, +without whom their presence would have given us but half the pleasure +it did. Thus encompassed and fortified with the best of companions, +with a couple of English friends, we made a party of eight, which, +with the usual impedimenta of provisions and a cook, and extra shawls +and blankets, required eleven _jinrikishas_, with two men harnessed to +each, making altogether quite a grand cavalcade, as we sallied forth +from Yokohama on a Monday noon in "high feather." To our staid +missionary friends it was an old story; but to us, strangers in the +land, it was highly exciting to be thus starting off into the interior +of Japan. The country around Yokohama is hilly and broken. Our way +wound through a succession of valleys rich with fields of rice and +barley, while along the roads shrubberies, which at home are +cultivated with great care, grew in wild profusion--the wisteria, the +honeysuckle, and the eglantine. The succession of hill and valley gave +to the country a variety and beauty which, with the high state of +cultivation, reminded us of Java. As we mounted the hills we had +glimpses of the sea, for we were skirting along the Bay of Yedo. After +a few miles we came to an enchanting spot, which bears the ambitious +title of the Plains of Heaven, yet which is not heaven, and is not +even a plain--but a rolling country, in which hill and valley are +mingled together, with the purple mountains as a background on one +side and the blue waters on the other. + +As we rode along, I thought how significant was the simple fact of +such an excursion as this in a country, where a few years ago no +foreigner's life was safe. On this very road, less than ten years +since, an Englishman was cut down for no other crime than that of +being a foreigner, and getting in the way of the high daimio who was +passing. And now we jogged along as quietly, and with as little +apprehension, as if we were riding through the villages of New +England. + +On our way lies a town which once bore a great name, Kamakura, where +nine centuries ago lived the great Yoritomo, the Napoleon of his day, +the founder of the military rule in the person of the Shogun (or +Tycoon, a title but lately assumed), as distinguished from that of the +Mikado. Here he made his capital, which was afterwards removed, and +about three hundred years since fixed in Yedo; and Kamakura is left, +like other decayed capitals, to live on the recollections of its +former greatness. But no change can take away its natural beauty, in +its sheltered valley near the sea. + +A mile beyond, we came to the colossal image of Dai-Buts, or Great +Buddha. It is of bronze, and though in a sitting posture, is +forty-four feet high. The hands are crossed upon the knees. We crawled +up into his lap, and five of us sat side by side on his thumbs. We +even went inside, and climbed up into his head, and proved by +inspection that these idols, however colossal and imposing without, +are empty within. There are no brains within their brazen skulls. The +expression of the face is the same as in all statues of Buddha: that +of repose--passive, motionless--as of one who had passed through the +struggles of life, and attained to Nirvana, the state of perfect calm, +which is the perfection of heavenly beatitude. + +It was now getting towards sunset, and we had still five or six miles +to go before we reached our resting-place for the night. As this was +the last stage in the journey, our fleet coursers seemed resolved to +show us what they could do. They had cast off all their garments, +except a cloth around their loins, and straw sandals on their feet, so +that they were stripped like Roman gladiators, and they put forth a +speed as if racing in the arena. A connoisseur would admire their +splendid physique. Their bodies were tattooed, like South Sea +Islanders, which set out in bolder relief, as in savage warriors, +their muscular development--their broad chests and brawny limbs. With +no stricture of garments to bind them, their limbs were left free for +motion. It was a study to see how they held themselves erect. With +heads and chests thrown back, they balanced themselves perfectly. The +weight of the carriage seemed nothing to them; they had only to keep +in motion, and it followed. Thus we came rushing into the streets of +Fujisawa, and drew up before the tea-house, where lodgings had been +ordered for the night. The whole family turned out to meet us, the +women falling on their knees, and bowing their heads till they touched +the floor, in homage to the greatness of their guests. + +And now came our first experience of a Japanese tea-house. If the +_jin-riki-sha_ is like a baby carriage, the tea-house is like a baby +house. It is small, built entirely of wood with sliding partitions, +which can be drawn, like screens, to enclose any open space, and make +it into a room. These partitions are of paper, so that of course the +"chambers" are not very private. The same material is used for +windows, and answers very well, as it softens the light, like ground +glass. The house has always a veranda, so that the rooms are protected +from the sun by the overhanging roof. The bedrooms are very small, but +scrupulously clean, and covered with wadded matting, on which we lie +down to sleep. + +At Fujisawa is a temple, which is visited by the Mikado once or twice +in the year. We were shown through his private rooms, and one or two +of us even stretched ourselves upon his bed, which, however, was not a +very daring feat, as it was merely a strip of matting raised like a +low divan or ottoman, a few inches above the floor. The temples are +not imposing structures, and have no beauty except that of position. +They generally stand on a hill, and are approached by an avenue or a +long flight of steps, and the grounds are set out with trees, which +are left to grow till they sometimes attain a majestic height and +breadth. In front of this temple stands a tree, which we recognized by +its foliage as the _Salisburia adiantifolia_--a specimen of which we +had in America on our own lawn, but there it was a shrub brought from +the nursery, while here it was like a cedar of Lebanon. It was said to +be a thousand years old. Standing here, it was regarded as a sacred +tree, and we looked up to it with more reverence than to the sombre +temple behind, or the sleepy old bonzes who were sauntering idly about +the grounds. + +The next morning, as we started on our journey, we came upon the +Tokaido, the royal road of Japan, built hundreds of years ago from +Yedo to Kioto, to connect the political with the spiritual +capital--the residence of the Tycoon with that of the Mikado. It is +the highway along which the daimios came in state to pay their homage +to the Tycoon at Yedo, as of old subject-princes came to Rome. It is +constructed with a good deal of skill in engineering, which is shown +in carrying it over mountains, and in the building of bridges. +Portions of the road are paved with blocks of stone like the Appian +Way. But that which gives it a glory and majesty all its own, is its +bordering of gigantic cedars--the _Cryptomeria Japonica_--which attain +an enormous height, with gnarled and knotted limbs that have wrestled +with the storms of centuries. + +As we advance, the road comes out upon the sea, for we have crossed +the peninsula which divides the Bay of Yedo from the Pacific, and are +now on the shores of the ocean itself. How beautiful it seemed that +day! It was the last of May, and the atmosphere was full of the warmth +of early summer. The coast is broken by headlands shooting out into +the deep, which enclose bays, where the soft, warm sunshine lingers as +on the shores of the Mediterranean, and the waters of the mighty +Pacific come gently rippling up the beach. So twixt sea and land, +sunshine and shade, we sped gaily along to Odawara--another place +which was once the residence of a powerful chief, whose castle is +still there, though in ruins; its stones, if questioned of the past, +might tell a tale like that of one of the castles on the Rhine. These +old castles are the monuments of the same form of government, for the +Feudal System existed in Japan as in Germany. The kingdom was divided +into provinces, ruled by great daimios, who were like the barons of +the Middle Ages, each with his armed retainers, who might be called +upon to support the central government, yet who sometimes made war +upon it. This Feudal System is now completely destroyed. As we were +riding over the Tokaido, I pictured to myself the great pageants that +had swept along so proudly in the days gone by. What would those old +barons have thought if they could have seen in the future an +irruption of invaders from beyond the sea, and that even this king's +highway should one day be trodden by the feet of outside barbarians? + +At Odawara we dismissed our men, (who, as soon as they received their +money, started off for Yokohama,) as we had to try another mode of +transportation; for though we still kept the Tokaido, it ascends the +mountains so steeply that it is impassable for anything on wheels, and +we had to exchange the _jinrikisha_ for the _kago_--a kind of basket +made of bamboo, in which a man is doubled up and packed like a bundle, +and so carried on men's shoulders. It would not answer badly if he had +neither head nor legs. But his head is always knocking against the +ridge-pole, and his legs have to be twisted under him, or "tied up in +a bow-knot." This is the way in which criminals are carried to +execution in China; but for one who has any further use for his limbs, +it is not altogether agreeable. I lay passive for awhile, feeling as +if I had been packed and salted down in a pork-barrel. Then I began to +wriggle, and thrust out my head on one side and the other, and at last +had to confess, like the Irishman who was offered the privilege of +working his passage on a canal-boat and was set to leading a horse, +that "if it were not for the honor of the thing, I had as lief walk." +So I crawled out and unrolled myself, to see if my limbs were still +there, for they were so benumbed that I was hardly conscious of their +existence, and then straightening myself out, and taking a long bamboo +reed, which is light and strong, lithe and springy, for an alpenstock, +I started off with my companions. We all soon recovered our spirits, +and + + "Walked in glory and in joy + Along the mountain side," + +till at nightfall we halted in the village of Hakone, a mountain +retreat much resorted to by foreigners from Yedo and Yokohama. + +Here we might have been in the Highlands of Scotland, for we were in +the heart of mountains, and on the border of a lake. To make the +resemblance more perfect, a Scotch mist hung over the hills, and rain +pattered on the roof all night long, and half the next day. But at +noon the clouds broke, and we started on our journey. Dr. and Mrs. +Brown and Mrs. Hepburn kept to their baskets, and were borne a long +way round, while the rest of us were rowed across the lake, a +beautiful sheet of water, nestled among the hills, like Loch Katrine. +One of these hills is tunnelled for two miles, to carry the water +under it to irrigate the rice fields of some twenty villages. Landing +on the other side of the lake, we had before us a distance of eight or +ten miles. Our coolies stood ready to carry us, but all preferred the +freedom of their unfettered limbs. The mountain is volcanic, and on +the summit is a large space made desolate by frequent eruptions, out +of which issues smoke laden with the fumes of sulphur, and hot springs +throw off jets of steam, and boil and bubble, and hiss with a loud +noise, as if all the furies were pent up below, and spitting out their +rage through the fissures of the rocks. The side of the mountain is +scarred and torn, and yellow with sulphur, like the sides of Vesuvius. +The natives call the place Hell. It was rather an abrupt transition, +after crossing the Plains of Heaven a day or two before, to come down +so soon to the sides of the pit. + +Towards evening we came down into the village of Miya-no-shita (what +musical names these Japanese have!), where our friends were waiting +for us, and over a warm cup of tea talked over the events of the day. +This is a favorite resort, for its situation among the mountains, with +lovely walks on every side, and for its hot springs. Water is brought +into the hotel in pipes of bamboo, so hot that one is able to bear it +only after slowly dipping his feet into it, and thus sliding in by +degrees, when the sensation is as of being scalded alive. But it takes +the soreness out of one's limbs weary with a long day's tramp; and +after being steamed and boiled, we stretched ourselves on the clean +mats of the tea-house, and slept the sleep of innocence and peace. + +One cannot go anywhere in Japan without receiving a visit from the +people, who, being of a thrifty turn, seize the occasion of a +stranger's presence to drive a little trade. The skill of the Japanese +is quite marvellous in certain directions: They make everything _in +petto_, in miniature--the smallest earthenware; the tiniest cups and +saucers. In these mountain villages they work, like the Swiss, in +wooden-ware, and make exquisite and dainty little boxes and bureaus, +as if for dolls, yet with complete sets of drawers, which could not +but take the fancy of one who had little people at home waiting for +presents. Besides the temptation of such trinkets, who could resist +the insinuating manner of the women who brought them? The Japanese +women are not pretty. They might be, were it not for their odious +fashions. We have seen faces that would be quite handsome if left in +their native, unadorned beauty. But fashion rules the world in Japan +as in Paris. As soon as a woman is married her eyebrows are shaved +off, and her teeth blackened, so that she cannot open her mouth +without showing a row of ebony instead of ivory, which disfigures +faces that would be otherwise quite winning. It says a good deal for +their address, that with such a feature to repel, they can still be +attractive. This is owing wholly to their manners. The Japanese men +and women are a light-hearted race, and captivate by their gayety and +friendliness. The women were always in a merry mood. As soon as they +entered the room, before even a word was spoken, they began to giggle, +as if our appearance were very funny, or as if this were the quickest +way to be on good terms with us. The effect was irresistible. I defy +the soberest man to resist it, for as soon as your visitor laughs, you +begin to laugh from sympathy; and when you have got into a hearty +laugh together, you are already acquainted, and in friendly +relations, and the work of buying and selling goes on easily. They +took us captive in a few minutes. We purchased sparingly, thinking of +our long journey; but our English friends bought right and left, till +the next day they had to load two pack-horses with boxes to be carried +over the mountains to Yokohama. + +The next day was to bring the consummation of our journey, for then we +were to go up into a mountain and see the glory of the Lord. A few +miles distant is the summit of Otometoge, from which one obtains a +view of Fusiyama, looking full in his awful face. We started with +misgivings, for it had been raining, and the clouds still hung low +upon the mountains. Our way led through hamlets clustered together in +a narrow pass, like Alpine villages. As we wound up the ascent, we +often stopped to look back at the valley below, from which rose the +murmur of rushing waters, while the sides of the mountains were +clothed with forests. These rich landscapes gave such enchantment to +the scene as repaid us for all our weariness. At two o'clock we +reached the top, and rushed to the brow to catch the vision of +Fusiyama, but only to be disappointed. The mountain was there, but +clouds covered his hoary head. In vain we watched and waited; still +the monarch hid his face. Clouds were round about the throne. The +lower ranges stood in full outline, but the heaven-piercing dome, or +pyramid of snow, was wrapped in its misty shroud. That for which we +had travelled seventy miles, we could not see at last. + +Is it not often so in life? The moments that we have looked forward to +with highest expectations, are disappointing when they come. We cross +the seas, and journey far, to reach some mount of vision, when lo! the +sight that was to reward us is hidden from our eyes; while our highest +raptures come to us unsought, perhaps in visions of the night. + +But our toilsome climb was not unrewarded. Below us lay a broad, deep +valley, to which the rice fields gave a vivid green, dotted with +houses and villages, which were scattered over the middle distance, +and even around the base of Fusiyama himself. Drinking in the full +loveliness of the scene, we turned to descend, and after a three +hours' march, footsore and weary, entered our Alpine village of +Miya-no-shita. + +The next morning we set out to return. Had the day shone bright and +clear, we should have been tempted to renew our ascent of the day +before. But as the clouds were still over the sky, we reluctantly +turned away. Taking another route from that by which we came, we +descended a deep valley, and winding around the heights which we had +crossed before, at eleven o'clock reentered Odawara. + +And now we had done with our marching and our kagos, and once more +took to our chariots, which drew up to the door--the men not exactly +saddled and bridled, but stripped for the race, with no burden added +to the burden of the flesh which they had to carry. A crowd collected +to see us depart, and looked on admiringly as we went dashing through +the long street of Odawara, and out upon the Tokaido. Our way, as +before, led by the sea, which was in no tempestuous mood, but calm and +tranquil, as if conscious that the summer was born. The day was not +too warm, for the clouds that were flying over the sky shielded us +from the direct rays of the sun; yet as we looked out now and then, +the giant trees cast their shadows across our path. An American poet +sings: + + "What is so rare as a day in June?" + +Surely nothing could be _more_ rare or fair; but even the sky and the +soft Summer air seemed more full of exquisite sensations to the +strangers who were that day rolling along the shores of the Pacific, +under the mighty cedars of the Tokaido. + +Once more I was surprised and delighted at the agility and swiftness +of the men who drew our _jin-riki-shas_. As we had but twenty-three +miles to go in the afternoon, we took it easily, and gave them first +only a gentle trot of five miles to get their limbs a little supple, +and then stopped for tiffin. Some of the men had on a loose jacket +when we started, besides the girdle about the loins. This they took +off and wrung out, for they were dripping with sweat, and wiped their +brawny chests and limbs, and then took their chopsticks and applied +themselves to their rice, while we went upstairs in the tea-house, and +had our soup and other dishes served to us, sitting on the floor like +Turks, and then stretched ourselves on the mats, weary with our +morning's walk, and even with the motion of riding. While we were +trying to get a little rest our men talked and laughed in the court +below as if it were child's play to take us over the road. As we +resumed our places and turned out of the yard, I had the curiosity to +"time" their speed. I had a couple of athletic fellows, who thought me +a mere feather in weight, and made me spin like a top as they bowled +along. They started off at an easy trot, which they kept up, without +breaking, mile after mile. I did not need to crack the whip, but at +the word, away they flew through villages and over the open country, +never stopping, but when they came to slightly rising ground, rushing +up like mettlesome horses, and down at full speed. Thus they kept on, +and never drew rein till they came to the bank of a river, which had +to be crossed in a boat. I took out my watch. It was an hour and a +quarter, and they had come seven miles and a half! This was doing +pretty well. Of course they could not keep this up all day; yet they +will go thirty miles from sunrise to sunset, and even forty, if +spurred to it by a little extra pay. Sometimes, indeed, they go even +at a still greater speed for a short distance. The first evening, as +we came into Fujisawa, I do not doubt that the last fifteen minutes +they were going at a speed of ten miles an hour, for they came in on a +run. This is magnificent, but I cannot think it very healthful +exercise. As gymnasts and prize-fighters grow old and die before their +time, so with these human racehorses. Dr. Hepburn says it exhausts +them very early; that they break down with disease of the heart or +lungs. They are very liable to rheumatism. This is partly owing to +their carelessness. They get heated, and then expose their naked +bodies to drafts of cold air, which of course stiffens their limbs, so +that an old runner becomes like a foundered horse. But even with all +care, the fatigue is very exhausting, and often brings on diseases +which take them off in their prime. Yet you cannot restrain their +speed, any more than that of colts that have never been broken. I +often tried to check them, but they "champed at the bit," and after a +few vain remonstrances I had to give it up, and "let them slide." + +We did not stop at Fujisawa, where we had slept before, for it is a +large and noisy town, but pushed on three miles farther, across a +sandy beach to Enoshima, a little fishing village, which stands on a +point of land jutting out into the sea, so that at high tide it is an +island, and at low tide a peninsula. Indeed, it is not much more than +a projecting rock of a few hundred acres, rising high out of the +waters, and covered thickly with groves of trees, among which are +several Buddhist temples. As we strolled along the top of the cliffs +at sunset, there were a dozen points of view where we could sit under +the shade of trees a hundred feet above the waves, as on the cliffs of +the Isle of Wight, saying with Tennyson: + + "Break, break, break, + At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!" + +The next morning we rambled over the hills again, for it was a spot +where one could but linger. The bay was alive with boats, as + + "The fishers went sailing out into the West." + +On the shore were divers, who plunged from the rocks into deep water, +to bring up shells and coral for us, and a sort of sponge peculiar to +this country, with spicules like threads of spun glass. Under the +cliff is a long cave, hollowed out by the waves, with an arch overhead +like a vaulted roof. Thus under ground or above ground we wandered +hour after hour. + +But all things pleasant must have an end. The week was gone; it was +Saturday noon: and so reluctantly leaving both the mountains and the +sea, and taking to our chariots once more, we struck into the Tokaido, +and in four hours were rolling along the Bund at Yokohama. + +Three days after we made a second visit to Yedo, to visit an American +gentleman who held a position in the Foreign Office, and spent a night +at his pretty Japanese house in the Government grounds. Here being, as +it were, in the interior of the State Department, we got some European +news; among which was the startling intelligence of a revolution in +Turkey, and that Abdul Aziz had been deposed! + +In our second excursion about the city, as we had long distances to +traverse, we took two prancing bucks to each jinrikisha, who ran us +such a rig through the streets of Yedo as made us think of John Gilpin +when he rode to London town. The fellows were like wild colts, so full +of life that they had to kick it off at the heels. Sometimes one +pulled in front while the other pushed behind, but more often they +went tandem, the one in advance drawing by a cord over his shoulder. +The leader was so full of spring that he fairly bounded over the +ground, and if we came to a little elevation, or arched bridge, he +sprang into the air like a catamount, while his fellow behind, though +a little more stiff, as a "wheel horse" ought to be, bore himself +proudly, tossing up his head, and throwing out his chest, and never +lagged for an instant. C---- was delighted, nothing could go too fast +for her; but whether it was fear for my character or for my head, I +had serious apprehension that I should be "smashed" like Chinese +crockery, and poked my steeds in the rear with my umbrella to signify +that I was entirely satisfied with their performances, and that they +need not go any faster! + +While in Yedo we attended a meeting of missionaries, English, Scotch, +and American, in a distant part of the city, and in the evening paid a +visit to Prof. Verbeck, who has been here so long that he is an +authority on all Japanese matters. It was eight o'clock when we set +out to return to our friends in the Foreign Office, and we bade our +men take us through the main streets, that we might have a view of +Yedo by night. The distance was some three miles, the greater part +through the principal street. It was near the time of the full moon, +but fortunately she was hidden to-night by clouds, for even her soft +radiance could not give such animation and picturesqueness to the +scene as the lights of the city itself. The broad street for two miles +was in a flare of gas-light, like one of the great streets of Paris. +The shops were open and lighted; added to which were hundreds (perhaps +thousands) of _jin-riki-shas_, each with its Chinese lantern, glancing +two and fro, like so many fireflies on a summer night, making a scene +such as one reads of in the Arabian Nights, but as I had never +witnessed before. + +But that which is of most interest to a stranger in Japan, is not Yedo +or Fusiyama, but the sudden revolution which has taken place in its +relations with other countries, and in its internal condition. This is +one of the most remarkable events in history, which, in a few years, +has changed a whole nation, so that from being the most isolated, the +most exclusive, and the most rigidly conservative, even in Asia, it +has become the most active and enterprising; the most open to foreign +influences; the most hospitable to foreign ideas, and the most ready +to introduce foreign improvements. This change has taken Japan out of +the ranks of the non-progressive nations, to place it, if not in the +van of modern improvement, at least not very far in the rear. It has +taken it out of the stagnant life of Asia, to infuse into its veins +the life of Europe and America. In a word, it has, as it were, +unmoored Japan from the coast of Asia, and towed it across the +Pacific, to place it alongside of the New World, to have the same +course of life and progress. + +It is a singular fact, which, as it has united our two nations in the +past, ought to unite us in the future, that the opening of Japan came +from America. It would have come in time from the natural growth of +the commerce of the world, but the immediate occasion was the +settlement of California. The first emigration, consequent on the +discovery of gold, was in 1849; the treaty with Japan in 1854. As soon +as there sprang up an American Empire on our Western coast, there +sprang up also an American commerce on the Pacific. Up to that time, +except the whalers from New Bedford that went round Cape Horn, to cast +their harpoons in the North Pacific, or an occasional vessel to the +Sandwich Islands, or that brought a cargo of tea from China, there +were few American ships in the Pacific. But now it was ploughed by +fleets of ships, and by great lines of steamers. The Western coast of +America faced the Eastern coast of Asia, and there must be commerce +between them. Japan lay in the path to China, and it was inevitable +that there must be peaceful intercourse, or there would be armed +collision. The time had come when the policy of rigid exclusion could +not be permitted any longer. Of course Japan had the right which +belongs to any independent power, to regulate its commerce with +foreign nations. But there were certain rights which belonged to all +nations, and which might be claimed in the interest of humanity. If an +American ship, in crossing the Pacific on its way to China, were +shipwrecked on the shores of Japan, the sailors who escaped the perils +of the sea had the right to food and shelter--not to be regarded as +trespassers or held as prisoners. Yet there had been instances in +which such crews had been treated as captives, and shut up in prison. +In one instance they were exhibited in cages. If they had fallen +among Barbary pirates, they could not have been treated with greater +severity. This state of things must come to an end; and in gently +forcing the issue, our government led the way. As English ships had +broken down the wall of China, so did an American fleet open the door +of Japan, simply by an attitude of firmness and justice; by demanding +nothing but what was right, and supporting it by an imposing display +of force. Thus Japan was opened to the commerce of America, and +through it of the world, without shedding a drop of blood. + +The result has been almost beyond belief. A quarter of a century ago +no foreign ship could anchor in these waters. And now here, in sight +of the spot where lay the fleet of Commodore Perry, I see a harbor +full of foreign ships. It struck me strangely, as I sat at our windows +in the Grand Hotel, and looked out upon the tranquil bay. There lay +the Tennessee, not with guns run out and matches lighted, but in her +peaceful dress, with flags flying, not only from her mast-head, but +from all her yards and rigging. There were also several English ships +of war, with Admiral Ryder in command, from whose flag-ship, as from +the Tennessee, we heard the morning and evening gun, and the bands +playing. The scene was most beautiful by moonlight, when the ships lay +motionless, and the tall masts cast their shadows on the water, and +all was silent, as in so many sleeping camps, save the bells which +struck the hours, and marked the successive watches all night long. It +seemed as if the angel of peace rested on the moonlit waters, and that +nations would not learn war any more. + +The barrier once broken down, foreign commerce began to enter the +waters of Japan. American ships appeared at the open ports. As if to +give them welcome, lighthouses were built at exposed points on the +coast, so that they might approach without danger. A foreign +settlement sprung up at Yokohama. By and by young men went abroad to +see the world, or to be educated in Europe or America, and came back +with reports of the wealth and power of foreign nations. Soon a spirit +of imitation took possession of Young Japan. These students affected +even the fashions of foreign countries, and appeared in the streets of +Yedo in coat and pantaloons, instead of the old Japanese dress; and +ate no longer with chopsticks, but with knives and forks. Thus manners +and customs changed, to be followed by a change in laws and in the +government itself. Till now Japan had had a double-headed government, +with two sovereigns and two capitals. But now there was a revolution +in the country, the Tycoon was overthrown, and the Mikado, laying +aside his seclusion and his invisibility, came from Kioto to Yedo, and +assumed the temporal power, and showed himself to his people. The +feudal system was abolished, and the proud daimios--who, with their +clans of armed retainers, the _samourai_, or two-sworded men, were +independent princes--were stripped of their estates, which sometimes +were as large as German principalities, and forced to disband their +retainers, and reduced to the place of pensioners of the government. +The army and navy were reconstructed on European models. Instead of +the old Japanese war-junks, well-armed frigates were seen in the Bay +of Yedo--a force which has enabled Japan to take a very decided tone +in dealing with China, in the matter of the island of Formosa; and +made its power respected along the coast of Eastern Asia. We saw an +embassy from Corea passing through the streets of Yokohama, on its way +to Yedo, to pay homage to the Mikado, and enter into peaceful +relations with Japan. A new postal system has been introduced, +modelled on our own. In Yokohama one sees over a large building the +sign "The Japanese Imperial Post-Office," and the postman goes his +rounds, delivering his letters and papers as in England and America. +There is no opposition to the construction of railroads, as in China. +Steamers ply around the coast and through the Inland Sea; and +telegraphs extend from one end of the Empire to the other; and +crossing the sea, connect Japan with the coast of Asia, and with all +parts of the world. Better than all, the government has adopted a +general system of national education, at the head of which is our own +Prof. Murray; it has established schools and colleges, and introduced +teachers from Europe and America. In Yedo I was taken by Prof. +McCartee to see a large and noble institution for the education of +girls, established under the patronage of the Empress. These are signs +of progress that cannot be paralleled in any other nation in the +world. + +With such an advance in less than one generation, what may we not hope +in the generation to come? In her efforts at progress, Japan deserves +the sympathy and support of the whole civilized world. Having +responded to the demand for commercial intercourse, she has a just +claim to be placed on the footing of the most favored nations. +Especially is she entitled to expect friendship from our country. As +it fell to America to be the instrument of opening Japan, it ought to +be our pride to show her that the new path into which we led her, is a +path of peace and prosperity. Japan is our nearest neighbor on the +west, as Ireland is on the east; and among nations, as among +individuals, neighbors ought to be friends. It seemed a good token +that the American Union Church in Yokohama should stand on the very +spot where Commodore Perry made his treaty with Japan--the beginning, +let us hope, of immeasurable good to both nations. As India is a part +of the British Empire, and may look to England to secure for her the +benefits of modern civilization, so the duty of stretching out a hand +across the seas to Japan, may fairly be laid on the American church +and the American people. + +Our visit was coming to an end. A day or two we spent in the shops, +buying photographs and bronzes, and in paying farewell visits to the +missionaries, who had shown us so much kindness. The "parting cup" of +tea we took at Dr. Hepburn's, and from his windows had a full view of +Fusiyama, that looked out upon us once more in all his glory. We were +to embark that evening, to sail at daylight. Mr. John Ballagh and +several ladies of "The Home," who had made us welcome in their +pleasant circle, "accompanied us to the ship." We had a long row +across the bay just as the moon was rising, covering the waters with +silver, and making the great ships look like mighty shadows as they +stood up against the sky. "On such a night" we took our farewell of +Asia. + +The next morning very early we were sailing down the bay of Yedo, and +were soon out on the Pacific. But the coast remained long in sight, +and we sat on deck watching the receding shores of a country which in +three weeks had become so familiar and so dear; and when at last it +sunk beneath the waters, we left our "benediction" on that beautiful +island set in the Northern Seas. + +We did not steer straight for San Francisco, although it is in nearly +the same latitude as Yokohama, but turned north, following what +navigators call a Great Circle, on the principle that as they get high +up on the globe, the degrees of longitude are shorter, and thus they +can "cut across" at the high latitudes. "It is nearer to go around the +hill than to go over it." We took a prodigious sweep, following the +_Kuroshiwo_, or Black Current, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific, which +flows up the coast of Asia, and down the coast of America. We bore +away to the north till we were off the coast of Kamschatka, and within +a day's sail of Petropaulovski, before we turned East. Our ship was +"The Oceanic," of the famous White Star line, which, if not so +magnificent as "The City of Peking," was quite as swift a sailer, +cleaving the waters like a sea-bird. In truth, the albatrosses that +came about the ship for days from the Aleutian Islands, now soaring in +air, and now skimming the waters, did not float along more easily or +more gracefully. + +As we crossed the 180th degree of longitude, just half the way around +the world from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, we "gained a day," +or rather, recovered one that we had lost. As we had started eastward, +we lost a few minutes each day, and had to set our watches every noon. +We were constantly changing our meridian, so that no day ended where +it began, and we never had a day of full twenty-four hours, but always +a few minutes, like sands, had crumbled away. By the time we reached +England, five hours had thus dropped into the sea; and when we had +compassed the globe, we had parted, inch by inch, moment by moment, +with a whole day. It seemed as if this were so much blotted out from +the sum of our being--gone in the vast and wandering air--lost in the +eternities, from which nothing is ever recovered. But these lost +moments and hours were all gathered up in the chambers of the East, +and now in mid-ocean, one morning brought us a day not in the +calendar, to be added to the full year. Two days bore the same date, +the 18th of June, and as this fell on a Sunday, two holy days came +together--one the Sabbath of Asia, the other of America. It seemed fit +that this added day should be a sacred one, for it was something +taken, as it were, from another portion of time to be added to our +lives--a day which came to us fresh from its ocean baptism, with not a +tear of sorrow or a thought of sin to stain its purity; and we kept a +double Sabbath in the midst of the sea. + +Seventeen days on the Pacific, with nothing to break the boundless +monotony! In all that breadth of ocean which separates Asia and +America, we saw not a single sail on the horizon; and no land, not +even an island, till we came in sight of those shores which are dearer +to us than any other in all the round world. + +Here, in sight of land, this story ends. There is no need to tell of +crossing the continent, which completed our circuit of the globe, but +only to add in a word the lesson and the moral of this long journey. +Going around the world is an education. It is not a mere pastime; it +is often a great fatigue; but it is a means of gaining knowledge which +can only be obtained by observation. Charles V. used to say that "the +more languages a man knew, he was so many more times a man." Each new +form of human speech introduced him into a new world of thought and +life. So in some degree is it in traversing other continents, and +mingling with other races. However great America may be, it is +"something" to add to it a knowledge of Europe and Asia. Unless one be +encased in pride, or given over to "invincible ignorance," it will +teach him modesty. He will boast less of his own country, though +perhaps he will love it more. He will see the greatness of other +nations, and the virtues of other people. Even the turbaned Orientals +may teach us a lesson in dignity and courtesy--a lesson of repose, the +want of which is a defect in our national character. In every race +there is something good--some touch of gentleness that makes the whole +world kin. Those that are most strange and far from us, as we approach +them, show qualities that win our love and command our respect. + +In all these wanderings, I have met no rudeness in word or act from +Turks or Arabs, Hindoos or Malays, Chinese or Japanese; but have often +received kindness from strangers. The one law that obtains in all +nations is the law of kindness. Have I not a right to say that to know +men is to love them, not to hate them nor despise them? + +He who hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the +earth, hath not forgotten any of His children. There is a beauty in +every country and in every clime. Each zone of the earth is belted +with its peculiar vegetation; and there is a beauty alike in the pines +on Norwegian hills, and the palms on African deserts. So with the +diversities of the human race. Man inhabits all climes, and though he +changes color with the sun, and has many varieties of form and +feature, yet the race is the same; all have the same attributes of +humanity, and under a white or black skin beats the same human heart. +In writing of peoples far remote, my wish has been to bring them +nearer, and to bind them to us by closer bonds of sympathy. If these +pictures of Asia make it a little more real, and inspire the feeling +of a common nature with the dusky races that live on the other side of +the globe, and so infuse a larger knowledge and a gentler charity, +then a traveller's tale may serve as a kind of lay sermon, teaching +peace and good will to men. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of From Egypt to Japan, by Henry M. 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