Return to Alexandria. Ruins about that city. Pompey’s pillar.
Cleopatra’s needles. Modern improvements in Alexandria. Arsenal.
Harbor of Alexandria. Rail road to Suez. New law for protecting his
subjects. Presentation to the Pasha. Description of his person.
Our return to Atf occupied four days, one day more than our voyage up
the stream; as the wind still blew strong from the northward during the
day, our progress was chiefly during the night, when we took advantage
of the lull, and dropped down with the current.
On our reaching Alexandria, an officer of the Pasha waited on Commodore
Patterson, to offer him the use of one of his palaces, a large airy
building on the edge of the harbor, and enjoying the sea-breeze
during most of the day. The Pasha himself had returned from Syria,
and on application for an audience, the morning of the 5th of August
was appointed for this purpose. The interval was spent in making
and returning visits of ceremony, in inspecting the arsenal, and in
examining the ruins about Alexandria. Of the latter there is the
greatest abundance, extending for miles from the present city; but in
most places presenting only a confused mass, which can give little
satisfaction to the visitor. The Catacombs are a succession of chambers
extending to an unknown distance, and dangerous to visit, on account
of the facility with which a person may be lost in their labyrinths.
Pompey’s Pillar, a Corinthian column, 9 feet in diameter, and of 90
feet elevation, to which is added a capital of ten feet in height,
stands on a low eminence about two miles back of the present city; a
dedicatory inscription to the Emperor Dioclesian is to be seen on the
pedestal, but it is difficult to say by whom the column was erected.
In an angle of the present city walls, on the eastern side, are the two
obelisks which usually go under the name of Cleopatra’s Needles. They
were probably brought from Heliopolis or Thebes, to adorn an ancient
gateway, or the entrance to a temple. They are eight feet on each side
at the base, and are 64 feet in length; are of red granite, and covered
with hieroglyphics. One is prostrate and broken; but the other is still
erect, and is in good preservation.
The modern city of Alexandria is more an European than a Turkish or
Arab city; it is full of Franks, and a large portion of it is laid
out after the European fashion; this is particularly the case with an
open square, around which they have just finished some large edifices
in the Grecian or Roman style of architecture. I cannot say that I
consider this imitation of European cities in Eastern countries a
great improvement. About a mile and a half from the city is a garden
belonging to Ibrahim Pasha, but open to the public; it is irrigated by
water raised from the canal, and is full of thriving fruit or shade
trees, under which is found a delightful retreat from the scorching sun.
While these improvements of a civil nature were going on in and about
the city, the arsenals exhibited a very active scene. They were then
forming a dry dock, and so deficient were they in tools, that the
materials excavated were passed up and thrown out by hand; the number
of the workmen, however, making amends for the want of instruments.
They expected to complete it in two years, when they would immediately
commence two others; the stone for them has all to be brought from
Cairo. There were five building ways complete, and two in progress; on
the stocks were three ships of 100 guns each, ready for planking; and
the day after our arrival the keel of a sixty gun frigate was laid with
religious ceremonies; the Pasha himself, and his officers of state,
attending on the occasion. The timber is brought from Syria, where
they procure both oak and pine in the greatest quantities, and of an
excellent quality. Their ships are even more wall-sided than our own;
but in all other respects they follow the French style of building;
and according to a fashion now beginning to prevail in the navy of
that country, keep all the decks for cannons clear of staterooms and
other encumbrances; the whole battery being quite clear, fore and aft,
and at all times ready for action. The officers’ rooms are all placed
on the orlop, which is well supplied with air-ports. Their largest
ship carried 138 guns, and was constructed to meet one belonging to
the Sultan, and carrying 144. Owing to a difficulty in getting her out
of the harbor, they were, at the time of our visit, reducing her to
one deck less. The harbor of Alexandria is spacious and of sufficient
depth, but the entrance is winding and difficult, and the channel is
obstructed with knowls of rock, over which there is but four fathoms’
water. The Pasha had sent to England for steam machinery for breaking
down these rocks, and as they are of sand-stone, he will probably
succeed. In the arsenal are rope-walks, two stories in height, and
large ranges of store-houses well supplied. The whole establishment
exhibited a neatness, and order, and efficiency, that greatly pleased
our officers. The seamen receive, first class $2, and the second class
1.50 per month, together with clothing and a ration. The officers
are well paid, and on receiving their commission, receive with it an
anchor, together with one, two, or three stars, made of diamonds,
the number being according to their rank; these, worn on the breast,
constitute their only distinctive uniform. The admiral, rear-admiral,
and all officers of a lower grade, are natives; the vice-admiral is a
Frenchman, and so also is the chief naval constructor.
However strongly we must condemn the iron despotism of the Pasha of
Egypt as regards his subjects, in all public improvements there is very
much that we may approve. In addition to the schools at Toura, and in
the citadel, each of four hundred lads supported at the public expense,
there is one also at Castleaine, in Old Cairo, kept in a large palace,
and containing 1000; another at Boulec containing 600; and another is
to be got up in the same place, to contain also 1000; all of which
are at the expense of the government. At Boulec is also a surgical
and medical school, under the care of a German of great ability. In
addition to the public improvements which I have noticed, it is in
contemplation to construct a railway from Cairo to Suez, the route for
which has already been surveyed. The day before we sailed, the Pasha
directed his chief engineer, Mr. Galloway, to proceed to England,
and make contracts for iron rails, cars, engines, &c.; the estimated
expense of the whole work was 806,400 dollars; he intends, by and by,
to extend this rail road to Alexandria.
With regard to his subjects, he has made an excellent law, by which
no one is allowed to be punished capitally without his permission. A
short time before our visit, a man of wealth, and high in rank, having
put one of his slaves to death, was sent for, and ordered forthwith
into the presence of the Pasha. The fact was admitted, but he pleaded
that the man had been his own slave, and that therefore he had felt at
liberty to do with him as he might choose. “No,” was the reply from
the Pasha; “though he was your slave, he was still _my subject_;” and
to make the case an impressive one, he ordered the master himself
immediately to be led to execution. There is a doubt, however, whether
his object, in this instance, was so much to protect “his subjects,”
as to rid himself of a citizen who had several times given him some
trouble, and whose wealth he coveted; the property of criminals,
capitally punished in this country, always falling into the hands of
the sovereign.
The city of Alexandria stands on a piece of land resembling the letter
T, with a harbor on each side; and on the strip or point running
westward, stands the palace of the Pasha. On the morning of the 5th,
the Commodore, Captain Nicolson, and as many of the officers as could
be spared from duty, took boats, and landed at a flight of stairs
leading up to the inner court.
The building, in which is the audience hall, is large, but has nothing
striking in its exterior; and the hall itself is in a style of
plainness that seems to show a mind overlooking all artificial helps to
greatness.
The Pasha was seated at one angle, and on our entering, put the
Commodore at his left hand, which in these countries is the seat of
honor; he received us sitting, but stood up when the Commodore rose to
leave the room, which, I believe, is an unusual compliment. After the
compliments usual on such occasions, coffee and sherbet were brought
in by the attendants, but pipes were omitted. I was informed that,
on the occasion of the recent introduction of an English traveller,
some difficulty had arisen on this score; if I recollect right, the
gentleman had declined the pipe, which was considered by the Pasha
as an insult. At all events, since that time pipes have always been
dispensed with at his interviews with foreigners.
The Commodore thanked him for the numerous instances of hospitality and
kindness which we had experienced, and spoke in terms of admiration
of his various improvements, to all which he made suitable answers;
and expressing himself also in terms of strong friendship for our
country, and hinting a desire for more intimate relations. He showed
considerable knowledge of our institutions, and put many pertinent
questions with regard to the productions of the country, our modes
of cultivation, &c.; and expressed great surprise when the Commodore
stated the size to which the coffee tree grows in the West Indies, it
being in Egypt and Arabia only a shrub, which must be renewed every
five or six years.
Mohammed Ali is about 60 or 65 years of age, about five feet eight
inches in height, and heavy; though he can scarcely be called
corpulent. His forehead is large and rough; the eyes gray and small,
with a deep wrinkle running upward from the outer angle; they are very
keen and restless; and I believe there was not one of our large party
upon whom they were not repeatedly fixed during this interview. He
converses with earnestness, and laughs frequently, but his laugh is
discordant and unnatural. The nose is aquiline, the mouth depressed at
the corners, and garnished with a superb silvery beard. The expression
of his face when he smiles is rather pleasant; but at other times a
person in his presence feels as he would do near an open barrel of
gunpowder, with a shower of red-hot cinders falling around him.
* * * * *
SYRIA.
* * * * *
SYRIA.