THE larger craft anchor some three or four miles from the Suez pier, so
that it is necessary to drop down in a skiff or shore-boat.
Immense was the confusion at the eventful hour of our departure.
Suppose us gathered upon the beach, on the morning of a fiery July day,
carefully watching our hurriedly-packed goods and chattels, surrounded
by a mob of idlers, who are not too proud to pick up waifs and strays;
whilst pilgrims are rushing about apparently mad; and friends are
weeping, acquaintances are vociferating adieux; boatmen are demanding
fees, shopmen are claiming debts; women are shrieking and talking with
inconceivable power, and children are crying,-in short, for an hour or
so we stand in the thick of a human storm. To confound confusion, the
boatmen have moored their skiff half a dozen yards away from the shore,
lest the porters should be unable to make more than double their fare
from the Hajis. Again the Turkish women make a hideous noise, as they
are carried off struggling vainly in brawny arms; the children howl
because their mothers howl; and the men scold and swear, because in
such scenes none may be silent. The moment we had embarked, each
individual found that he or she had missed something of vital
importance,-a pipe, a child, a box, or a water-melon; and naturally all
the servants were in the bazars, when
[p.187] they should have been in the boat. Briefly, despite the rage of
the sailors, who feared being too late for a second trip, we stood for
some time on the beach before putting off.
>From the shore we poled to the little pier, where sat the Bey in
person to perform a final examination of our passports. Several were
detected without the necessary document. Some were bastinadoed, others
were peremptorily ordered back to Cairo, and the rest were allowed to
proceed. At about 10 A.M. (6th July) we hoisted sail, and ran down the
channel leading to the roadstead. On our way we had a specimen of what
we might expect from our fellow-passengers, the Maghrabi.[FN#1] A boat
crowded with these
[p.188] ruffians ran alongside of us, and, before we could organise a
defence, about a score of them poured into our vessel. They carried
things too with a high hand, laughed at us, and seemed quite ready to
fight. My Indian boy, who happened to let slip the word "Muarras,"
narrowly escaped a blow with a palm stick, which would have felled a
camel. They outnumbered us, and they were armed; so that, on this
occasion, we were obliged to put up with their insolence.
Our Pilgrim Ship, the Silk al-Zahab, or the "Golden Wire," was a
Sambuk, of about 400 ardebs (fifty tons), with narrow, wedge-like bows,
a clean water-line, a sharp keel, and undecked, except upon the poop,
which was high enough to act as a sail in a gale of wind. She carried
two masts, raking imminently forwards, the main being considerably
larger than the mizzen; the former was provided with a huge triangular
latine, very deep in the tack, but the second sail was unaccountably
wanting. She had no means of reefing, no compass, no log, no sounding
lines, no spare ropes, nor even the suspicion of a chart: in her
box-like cabin and ribbed hold there was something which savoured of
close connection between her model and that of the Indian Toni,[FN#2]
or "dug-out."
[p.189] Such, probably, were the craft which carried old Sesostris
across the Red Sea to Deir; such were the cruisers which once every
three years left Ezion-Geber for Tarshish; such the transports of which
130 were required to convey AElius Gallus, with his 10,000 men.
"Bakhshish" was the last as well as the first odious sound I heard in
Egypt. The owner of the shore-boat would not allow us to climb the
sides of our vessel before paying him his fare, and when we did so, he
asked for Bakhshish. If Easterns would only imitate the example of
Europeans,-I never yet saw an Englishman give Bakhshish to a soul,-the
nuisance would soon be done away with. But on this occasion all my
companions complied with the request, and at times it is unpleasant to
be singular. The first look at the interior of our vessel showed a
hopeless sight; Ali Murad, the greedy owner, had promised to take sixty
passengers in the hold, but had stretched the number to ninety-seven.
Piles of boxes and luggage in every shape and form filled the ship from
stem to stern, and a torrent of Hajis were pouring over the sides like
ants into the East-Indian sugar-basin. The poop, too, where we had
taken our places, was covered with goods, and a number of pilgrims had
established themselves there by might, not by right.
Presently, to our satisfaction, appeared Sa'ad the Demon, equipped as
an able seaman, and looking most unlike the proprietor of two large
boxes full of valuable merchandise. This energetic individual instantly
prepared for action. With our little party to back him, he speedily
cleared the poop of intruders and their stuff by the simple process of
pushing or rather throwing them off it into the pit below. We then
settled down as comfortably as we could; three Syrians, a married Turk
with his wife and family, the Rais or captain of the vessel,
[p.190] with a portion of his crew, and our seven selves, composing a
total of eighteen human beings, upon a space certainly not exceeding
ten feet by eight. The cabin-a miserable box about the size of the
poop, and three feet high-was stuffed, like the hold of a slave ship,
with fifteen wretches, children and women, and the other ninety-seven
were disposed upon the luggage or squatted on the bulwarks. Having some
experience in such matters, and being favoured by fortune, I found a
spare bed-frame slung to the ship's side; and giving a dollar to its
owner, a sailor-who flattered himself that, because it was his, he
would sleep upon it,-I instantly appropriated it, preferring any
hardship outside, to the condition of a packed herring inside, the
place of torment.
Our Maghrabis were fine-looking animals from the deserts about Tripoli
and Tunis; so savage that, but a few weeks ago, they had gazed at the
cock-boat, and wondered how long it would be growing to the size of the
ship that was to take them to Alexandria. Most of them were sturdy
young fellows, round-headed, broad-shouldered, tall and large-limbed,
with frowning eyes, and voices in a perpetual roar. Their manners were
rude, and their faces full of fierce contempt or insolent familiarity.
A few old men were there, with countenances expressive of intense
ferocity; women as savage and full of fight as men; and handsome boys
with shrill voices, and. hands always upon their daggers. The women
were mere bundles of dirty white rags. The males were clad in
"Burnus"-brown or striped woollen cloaks with hoods; they had neither
turband nor tarbush, trusting to their thick curly hair or to the
prodigious hardness of their scalps as a defence against the sun; and
there was not a slipper nor a shoe amongst the party.
Of course all were armed; but, fortunately for us, none had anything
more formidable than a cut-and-thrust dagger about ten inches long.
These Maghrabis travel in hordes under
[p.191] a leader who obtains the temporary title of "Maula,"-the
master. He has generally performed a pilgrimage or two, and has
collected a stock of superficial information which secures for him the
respect of his followers, and the profound contempt of the heaven-made
Ciceroni of Meccah and Al-Madinah. No people endure greater hardships
when upon the pilgrimage than these Africans, who trust almost entirely
to alms and to other such dispensations of Providence. It is not
therefore to be wondered at that they rob whenever an opportunity
presents itself. Several cases of theft occurred on board the "Golden
Wire"; and as such plunderers seldom allow themselves to be baulked by
insufficient defence, they are accused, perhaps deservedly, of having
committed some revolting murders.
The first thing to be done after gaining standing-room was to fight for
greater comfort; and never a Holyhead packet in the olden time showed a
finer scene of pugnacity than did our pilgrim ship. A few Turks, ragged
old men from Anatolia and Caramania, were mixed up with the Maghrabis,
and the former began the war by contemptuously elbowing and scolding
their wild neighbours. The Maghrabis, under their leader, "Maula Ali,"
a burly savage, in whom I detected a ridiculous resemblance to the Rev.
Charles Delafosse, an old and well-remembered schoolmaster, retorted so
willingly that in a few minutes nothing was to be seen but a confused
mass of humanity, each item indiscriminately punching and pulling,
scratching and biting, butting and trampling, with cries of rage, and
all the accompaniments of a proper fray, whatever was obnoxious to such
operations. One of our party on the poop, a Syrian, somewhat
incautiously leapt down to aid his countrymen by restoring order. He
sank immediately below the surface of the living mass: and when we
fished him out, his forehead was cut open, half his beard had
disappeared, and a fine sharp set
[p.192] of teeth belonging to some Maghrabi had left their mark in the
calf of his leg. The enemy showed no love of fair play, and never
appeared contented unless five or six of them were setting upon a
single man. This made matters worse. The weaker of course drew their
daggers, and a few bad wounds were soon given and received. In a few
minutes five men were completely disabled, and the victors began to
dread the consequences of their victory.
Then the fighting stopped, and, as many could not find places, it was
agreed that a deputation should wait upon Ali Murad, the owner, to
inform him of the crowded state of the vessel. After keeping us in
expectation at least three hours, he appeared in a row-boat, preserving
a respectful distance, and informed us that any one who pleased might
quit the ship and take back his fare. This left the case exactly as it
was before; none would abandon his party to go on shore: so Ali Murad
rowed off towards Suez, giving us a parting injunction to be good, and
not fight ; to trust in Allah, and that Allah would make all things
easy to us. His departure was the signal for a second fray, which
in its accidents differed a little from the first. During the previous
disturbance we kept our places with weapons in our hands. This time we
were summoned by the Maghrabis to relieve their difficulties, by taking
about half a dozen of them on the poop. Sa'ad the Demon at once rose
with an oath, and threw amongst us a bundle of "Nabbut"-goodly ashen
staves six feet long, thick as a man's wrist, well greased, and tried
in many a rough bout. He shouted to us "Defend yourselves if you don't
wish to be the meat of the Maghrabis!" and to the enemy-"Dogs and sons
of dogs! now shall you see what the children of the Arab are." "I am
Omar of Daghistan!" "I am Abdullah the son of Joseph!" "I am Sa'ad the
Demon!" we exclaimed, "renowning it" by this display of name and
patronymic. To do our enemies justice, they showed no
[p.193] sign of flinching; they swarmed towards the poop like angry
hornets, and encouraged each other with cries of "Allaho akbar!" But we
had a vantage-ground about four feet above them, and their palm-sticks
and short daggers could do nothing against our terrible quarterstaves.
In vain the "Jacquerie," tried to scale the poop and to overpower us by
numbers; their courage only secured them more broken heads.
At first I began to lay on load with main morte, really fearing to kill
some one with such a weapon; but it soon became evident that the
Maghrabis' heads and shoulders could bear and did require the utmost
exertion of strength. Presently a thought struck me. A large earthen
jar full of drinking water,[FN#3]-in its heavy frame of wood the weight
might have been 100 lbs.,-stood upon the edge of the poop, and the
thick of the fray took place beneath. Seeing an opportunity, I crept up
to the jar, and, without attracting attention, rolled it down by a
smart push with the shoulder upon the swarm of assailants. The fall
caused a shriller shriek to rise above the ordinary din, for heads,
limbs, and bodies were sorely bruised by the weight, scratched by the
broken potsherds, and wetted by the sudden discharge. A fear that
something worse might be coming made the Maghrabis slink off towards
the end of the vessel. After a few minutes, we, sitting in grave
silence, received a deputation of individuals in whity-brown Burnus,
spotted and striped with what Mephistopheles calls a "curious juice."
They solicited peace, which we granted upon the condition that they
would pledge themselves to keep it. Our heads, shoulders, and hands
were penitentially kissed, and presently the fellows returned to bind
up their hurts in dirty
[p.194] rags. We owed this victory entirely to our own exertions, and
the meek Omar was by far the fiercest of the party. Our Rais, as we
afterwards learned, was an old fool who could do nothing but call for
the Fatihah,[FN#4] claim Bakhshish at every place where we moored for
the night, and spend his leisure hours in the "Caccia del
Mediterraneo." Our crew consisted of half a dozen Egyptian lads, who,
not being able to defend themselves, were periodically chastised by the
Maghrabis, especially when any attempt was made to cook, to fetch
water, or to prepare a pipe.[FN#5]
At length, about 3 P.M. on the 6th July, 1853, we shook out the sail,
and, as it bellied in the favourable wind, we recited the Fatihah with
upraised hands which we afterwards drew down our faces.[FN#6] As the
"Golden Wire" started from her place, I could not help casting one
wistful look upon the British flag floating over the Consulate. But the
momentary regret was stifled by the heart-bounding which prospects of
an adventure excite, and by the real pleasure of leaving Egypt. I had
lived there a stranger in the land, and a hapless life it had been: in
the streets every man's face, as he looked upon the Persian, was the
face of a foe. Whenever I came in contact with the native
officials,[FN#7] insolence marked the
[p.195] event; and the circumstance of living within hail of my
fellow-countrymen, and yet finding it impossible to enjoy their
society, still throws a gloom over the memory of my first sojourn in
Egypt.
The ships of the Red Sea-infamous region of rocks, reefs, and
shoals-cruise along the coast by day, and at night lay-to in the first
cove they find; they do not sail when it blows hard, and as in winter
time the weather is often stormy and the light of day does not last
long, the voyage is intolerably slow.[FN#8] At sunset we stayed our
adventurous course; and, still within sight of Suez, comfortably
anchored under the lee of Jabal Atakah, the "Mountain of
Deliverance,[FN#9]" the butt-end of Jabal Joshi. We were now on classic
waters. The Eastern shore was dotted with the little grove of
palm-trees which clusters around the Uyun Musa, or Moses' Wells; and on
the west, between two towering ridges, lay the mouth of the valley
(Badiyah, or Wady Tawarik, or Wady Musa) down which, according to
Father Sicard,[FN#10] the Israelites fled to
[p.196] the Sea of Sedge.[FN#11] The view was by no means deficient in
a sort of barbarous splendour. Verdure there was none, but under the
violet and orange tints of the sky the chalky rocks became heaps of
topazes, and the brown-burnt ridges masses of amethyst. The rising
mists, here silvery white, there deeply rosy, and the bright blue of
the waves,[FN#12] lining long strips of golden sand, compensated for
the want of softness by a semblance of savage gorgeousness.
Next morning (7th July), before the cerulean hue had vanished from the
hills, we set sail. It was not long before we came to a proper sense of
our position. The box containing my store of provisions, and, worse
still, my opium, was at the bottom of the hold, perfectly
unapproachable; we had, therefore, the pleasure of breaking our fast on
"Mare's skin,"[FN#13] and a species of biscuit, hard as a stone and
quite as tasteless. During the day, whilst insufferable splendour
reigned above, the dashing of the waters below kept my nest in a state
of perpetual drench. At night rose a cold, bright moon, with dews
falling so thick and clammy that the skin felt as though it would never
be dry again. It is, also, by no means pleasant
[p.197] to sleep upon a broken cot about four feet long by two broad,
with the certainty that a false movement would throw you overboard, and
a conviction that if you do fall from a Sambuk under sail, no mortal
power can save you. And as under all circumstances in the East, dozing
is one's chief occupation, the reader will understand that the want of
it left me in utter, utter idleness.
The gale was light that day, and the sunbeams were fire; our crew
preferred crouching in the shade of the sail to taking advantage of
what wind there was. In spite of our impatience we made but little way:
near evening time we anchored on a tongue of sand, about two miles
distant from the well-known and picturesque heights called by the Arabs
Hammam Faraun,[FN#14] which-
"like giants stand
To sentinel enchanted land."
The strip of coarse quartz and sandstone gravel is obviously the
offspring of some mountain torrent; it stretches southwards, being
probably disposed in that direction by the currents of the sea as they
receive the deposit. The distance of the "Hammam Bluffs" prevented my
visiting them, which circumstance I regretted the less as they have
been described by pens equal to the task.
That evening we enjoyed ourselves upon clean sand, whose surface,
drifted by the wind into small yellow waves, was easily converted by a
little digging and heaping up, into the coolest and most comfortable of
couches. Indeed, after the canescent heat of the day, and the tossing
of our ill-conditioned vessel, we should have been contented with
lodgings far less luxurious. Fuel was readily collected, and while some
bathed, others
[p.198] erected a hearth-three large stones and a hole open to
leeward-lit the fire and put the pot on to boil. Shaykh Nur had
fortunately a line; we had been successful in fishing; a little rice
also had been bought; with this boiled, and rock-cod broiled upon the
charcoal, we made a dinner that caused every one to forget the sore
grievance of "Mare's skin" and stone-hard biscuit. A few Maghrabis had
ventured on shore, the Rais having terrified the others by threatening
them with those "bogies," the Badawin-and they offered us
Kuskusu[FN#15] in exchange for fish. As evening fell, we determined,
before sleeping, to work upon their "morale" as effectually as we had
attacked their physique. Shaykh Hamid stood up and indulged them with
the Azan, or call to prayers, pronounced after the fashion of
Al-Madinah.[FN#16] They performed their devotions in lines ranged
behind us as a token of respect, and when worship was over we were
questioned about the Holy City till we grew tired of answering. Again
our heads and shoulders, our hands and knees,[FN#17] were kissed, but
this time in devotion, not in penitence. My companions could scarcely
understand half the rugged words which the Maghrabis used,[FN#18] as
their dialect was fresh from the
[p.199] distant Desert. Still we succeeded in making ourselves
intelligible to them, vaunting our dignity as the Sons of the Prophet,
and the sanctity of our land which should protect its children from
every description of fraud and violence. We benignantly promised to be
their guides at Al-Madinah, and the boy Mohammed would conduct their
devotions at Meccah, always provided that they repented their past
misdeeds, avoided any repetition of the same, and promised to perform
the duties of good and faithful pilgrims. Presently the Rais joined our
party, and the usual story-telling began. The old man knew the name of
each hill, and had a legend for every nook and corner in sight. He
dwelt at length upon the life of Abu Zulaymah, the patron saint of
these seas, whose little tomb stands at no great distance from our
bivouac place, and told us how he sits watching over the safety of
pious mariners in a cave among the neighbouring rocks, and sipping his
coffee, which is brought in a raw state from Meccah by green birds, and
prepared in the usual way by the hands of ministering angels. He showed
us the spot where the terrible king of Egypt, when close upon the heels
of the children of Israel, was whelmed in the "hell of waters,[FN#19]"
and he warned us that next day our way would be through breakers, and
reefs, and dangerous currents, over whose troubled depths, since that
awful day, the Ifrit of the storm has never ceased to flap his sable
wing. The wincing of the hearers proved that the shaft of the old man's
words was sharp; but as night was advancing, we unrolled our rugs, and
fell asleep upon the sand, all of us happy, for we had fed and drunk,
and
[p.200]-the homo sapiens is a hopeful animal-we made sure that on the
morrow the Ifrit would be merciful, and allow us to eat fresh dates at
the harbour of Tur.
Fair visions of dates doomed to the Limbo of things which should have
been! The grey dawn (8th July) looked down upon us in difficulties. The
water is deep near this coast; we had anchored at high tide close to
the shore, and the ebb had left us high and dry. When this fact became
apparent, a storm was upon the point of breaking. The Maghrabis, but
for our interference, would have bastinadoed the Rais, who, they said
with some reason, ought to have known better. When this phase of
feeling passed away, they applied themselves to physical efforts. All
except the women and children, who stood on the shore encouraging their
relatives with shrill quaverings, threw themselves into the water; some
pushed, others applied their shoulders to the vessel's side, and all
used their lungs with might and main. But the "Golden Wire" was firmly
fixed, and their exertions were too irregular. Muscular force failed,
upon which they changed their tactics. At the suggestion of their
"Maula," they prepared to burn incense in honour of the Shaykh Abu
Zulaymah. The material not being forthcoming, they used coffee, which
perhaps accounts for the shortcomings of that holy man. After this the
Rais remembered that their previous exertions had not begun under the
auspices of the Fatihah. Therefore they prayed, and then reapplied
themselves to work. Still they failed. Finally, each man called aloud
upon his own particular saint or spiritual guide, and rushed forward as
if he alone sufficed for the exploit. Shaykh Hamid unwisely quoted the
name, and begged the assistance, of his great ancestor, the
"Clarified-Butter-Seller"; the obdurate "Golden Wire" was not moved,
and Hamid retired in momentary confusion.