Born 1722.—Died 1752.
HASSELQUIST was born on the 3d of January, 1722, at Isernvall, in
Eastern Gothland, in Sweden. His father, Andrew Hasselquist, who was the
clergyman of the place, died in great poverty while our traveller was
yet a youth; and to add still further to his misfortune, his mother
likewise was shortly afterward so extremely debilitated both in mind and
body as to be compelled to take refuge in the infirmary of Vastona.
Hasselquist would therefore in all probability have been condemned to a
life of obscurity and poverty had not M. Pontin, his maternal uncle,
undertaken the care of his education, and sent him with his own children
to the college of Linköping. But all the friends of Hasselquist seemed
destined to be short-lived. Not long after his entrance at college the
loss of this kind benefactor reduced him to the necessity of teaching
for a livelihood until he should be of the proper age to enter into the
university.
In 1741 he entered a student at the university of Upsal; but poverty,
which when not overwhelming acts as a spur to genius, was still his
faithful companion, and compelled him for a subsistence to exercise his
talents in the way of all others best calculated to give them amplitude
and vigour. He became a tutor. At the same time, however, he enjoyed the
advantage of attending the lectures of the various professors; and the
knowledge thus acquired was immediately digested, examined, and
enlarged, to be transmitted in other lectures to his own humble pupils.
Physic and natural history, for which, according to Linnæus, he had an
innate inclination, were his favourite studies. He had likewise, it is
said, a taste and some talents for poetry. An enthusiastic devotion to
the sciences, which, as the world goes, is often allowed to be, like
virtue, its own reward, is sometimes advantageous, however, when it
happens to be exhibited in the proper quarter. This was experienced by
our traveller. His ardent passion for knowledge, which neither poverty
nor a feeble constitution could subdue, at length, after a five years’
struggle, attracted the attention of the university authorities, who in
1746 obtained him a pension from the king. And in the course of next
year he proved, by his “Dissertation on the Virtues of Plants,” that the
progress he had made in the sciences amply justified the favour which
had been shown him.
It was in the same year that he first conceived the idea of travelling
in the East. Linnæus, in one of his botanical lectures, having
enumerated the countries, the natural history of which was known, as
well as those which were placed in the contrary predicament, happened to
make mention of Palestine among the latter; for at that period it was as
much a “terra incognita” to science as the most remote districts of
India. He expressed his astonishment that theologians and commentators,
whose business it is to understand the Scriptures, should have so long
neglected the natural history of the Holy Land, by which so much light
might be thrown upon them,—the more particularly as many divines had
made the botany of other countries their study. These remarks were not
lost upon Hasselquist. He immediately formed the design of repairing the
neglect of former ages, and had no sooner taken this resolution than he
communicated his intentions to Linnæus. The latter, who seems to have
regarded him with something approaching to paternal affection,
experienced considerable astonishment at his design, and made use of
many arguments to turn him from the prosecution of it; dwelt upon the
length of the way, the difficulties, the dangers, the expenses, and,
worst of all, his delicate state of health and consumptive habit. But
who was ever deterred by arguments from the prosecution of a favourite
scheme? Hasselquist’s mind had already tried the strength of all these
reasons, and found that, like the bands of flax round the limbs of
Samson, they had no force when opposed to the efforts of the will. His
health, he maintained, could be improved only by travelling and change
of climate,—dangers he appears, like a true traveller, to have classed
among imaginary obstacles; and as to the expense, why, rather than
relinquish the idea he would travel on foot. In short, says Linnæus, it
was clear that he was absolutely determined on travelling.
Hasselquist was not ignorant, however, that whether on foot or on
horseback, moving from place to place is no easy matter without money.
Not being one of that erratic race “who had no stomach but to fight,” he
reflected that beefsteaks and plum-pudding, or some solid equivalents,
would be no less necessary in Palestine than in Sweden; and therefore
made an essay of his genius for overcoming difficulties by encountering
those which beset his first step. It would seem that in Sweden there are
many persons of distinction in whom the indolence sometimes superinduced
by the possession of wealth extinguishes a natural passion for
travelling, who, previous to entering upon that path which leads from
this world to the next, lay aside a small sum which they find too heavy
to take with them, for the benefit of those adventurous souls who have
but slight acquaintance with those pleasures which take a man by the
sleeve when he is about to put his foot in the stirrup, and smile away
his resolution. For some of these whimsical legacies Hasselquist made
application; but as they were not particularly burdensome to the persons
in whose hands they had been placed, he applied in vain. Among his
brethren of the faculty he was more successful; and in addition to the
funds with which they furnished him, he obtained from the professors of
civil law and theology certain small pensions which the king had placed
at their disposal. And although extremely moderate, considering the
object which he had in view, these resources seem to have appeared
sufficient in the eyes of our traveller.
This first difficulty removed, he began to prepare himself for the
proper execution of the task he had undertaken, by the study of the
Arabic and other oriental languages; and that he might not interrupt his
academical studies, continued to be present at the public lectures,
underwent the usual examinations, and maintained the requisite theses;
so that, though absent, he might yet receive the honours to which his
merit entitled him. Having in the spring of 1749 acquired the degree of
licentiate, he proceeded to Stockholm, where he delivered a course of
lectures in botany, which procured him the patronage of all the lovers
of that science. The Levant Company, moreover, in consideration of his
extraordinary merit, offered him a free passage to Smyrna on board of
one of their ships.
His project having succeeded thus far almost beyond his hopes, he
embarked on the 7th of August, 1749, at Stockholm, and sailed down the
Baltic, landing at various points on the coast of Sweden for the purpose
of examining the plants and other natural productions of the country.
The voyage down the Baltic was attended with storms; but the pleasure
imparted by the extraordinary features of the scenery, the sandy,
columnar mountains of Gothland, the dazzling peaks of Iceland, and the
gloomy beech forests of Malmo caused him to attend but little to the
inconvenience they occasioned. In traversing the German Ocean and the
English Channel, they approached so near our shores that the chalky
cliffs and hills which run along the coast were visible; and on entering
the Strait of Gibraltar, they discovered on the one hand the mountains
of Africa, bare of vegetation, and looking like prodigious heaps of
limestone, or moving sand; and on the other those of Spain, with
cloud-capped summits, and lighted up at night by numerous watchfires and
limekilns. The coasts of Sicily, of the Morea, of Candia were seen in
passing, and on the 15th of September they came to an anchor in the
harbour of Milo.
Though Hasselquist was by no means destitute of a relish for the
beauties of nature, he was not precisely travelling in search of the
picturesque. His affections were fixed upon those “children of the
spring,” as flowers are termed by an old poet, which in the country
where he now was long survive their parent; and was exceedingly
delighted, on landing, to observe that numerous plants were still in
flower, though others had already been deprived of their beauty by
autumn. Among the former were the autumnal dandelion, the anemone
coronaria, both white and blue, and the oleander, with a species of
rhamnus with small white flowers.
The harbour of Milo is almost wholly surrounded by high mountains, upon
one of which stand an ancient castle and village in a position
singularly picturesque. On arriving at the town, over a road formed of
flint and limestone, he was greatly struck by the air of poverty and
misery which everywhere appeared; the houses differed in nothing from
prisons, except that their inmates could go in and out when they
pleased; and all around were ruins of splendid edifices, which added to
their misery, by reminding them of the very different condition of their
ancestors. However, poor as they were, they continued to bring up
immense numbers of children, with which the whole town swarmed like a
beehive. The costume of the women was extraordinary. More cynical even
than the Spartan virgins, whose scanty tunic the reader may admire in
Mr. Hope’s Costume of the Ancients, the women of Milo went entirely
naked to the waist, from whence depended a short petticoat which was
very far from reaching the knee. The crown of the head was covered with
small pieces of linen, but the hair hung dishevelled to the girdle.
From Milo they sailed for Scio, which Hasselquist regarded as the most
beautiful spot in the world; and, after narrowly escaping shipwreck in
the gulf, reached Smyrna on the 27th of September. Here he was received
and entertained with the utmost kindness and hospitality by M. Rydelius,
consul of Sweden, to whom he was nearly related, and who during his stay
exerted whatever influence he possessed in furtherance of his designs.
M. Peyssonel, likewise, the French consul, showed him very particular
attentions, and imparted to him much curious information respecting many
of the natural productions of the East.
Among Hasselquist’s favourite researches was an inquiry into the state
of the medical science and profession in the countries he visited. In
ancient times, he had read that the professors of the healing art had
been regarded as the possessors of celestial knowledge; temples had been
erected and medals struck in gratitude for the benefits they had
conferred on mankind; but at the period of his visit to Smyrna things
had greatly changed for the worse. Some few sparks of their ancient
genius still burst forth occasionally among the Greeks; but in general
they had to struggle up through mountains of prejudice and ignorance;
and, indeed, were it not that the love of gain rather than of science
occasionally led a few adventurers into the civilized countries of
Europe, in which, however, each age despises the science of the one that
preceded it, scarcely a trace of medical knowledge would subsist in the
Levant. One of the results of his inquiry was, that of all countries
islands are the most fertile in illustrious physicians. Cos was the
birthplace of Hippocrates, and England of Mead and Sydenham. Scio, too,
was fertile in able physicians. He does not, however, pretend to assign
any reason for the fact.
The Franks of Smyrna began their carnival with the year, during which a
long series of costly balls and suppers were given. Among the musicians
employed on these occasions it would be to little purpose, our traveller
remarks, to seek for an Orpheus or a Linus; but the favourite dance of
the Greek women, which surely could not be the Romaika, or “dull
roundabout,” of the tiresomeness of which Lord Byron complains, greatly
delighted our traveller. Fifteen young women arranged themselves in a
half-moon, and, skilfully keeping time with the sounds of the lute and
violin, performed a number of graceful movements, following their
leader, who directed their steps by the waving of a scarf which she held
in her hand, through various intricate figures, admirably imitating the
mazes of a labyrinth. The girls accompanied their movements with songs,
which Hasselquist, though a snake and beetle collector, seems to have
enjoyed exceedingly. Of the dress of the dancers, he merely observes
that it was in the ancient mode,—that is, if we may judge from vases and
bas-reliefs, a single tunic covering only one of the breasts, and open
at the sides from the girdle downwards.
With the month of February commenced the spring; and Hasselquist, who
was really actuated by passion for the objects of his studies, willingly
quitted the city and its amusements to ramble abroad among the fields
and woods. Here the orange, the pomegranate, the fig-tree, the olive,
the palm, and the cypress intermingled their foliage; and it would,
perhaps, be necessary to have imbibed something of the tastes of a
naturalist to conceive the pleasure with which our traveller, to whom
most of them were new, beheld them put forth their blossoms, or
otherwise manifest their being under the influence of spring. One of the
greatest ornaments of the gardens in the environs of Smyrna, which are
enclosed by hedges of willows planted along the brink of a ditch, is a
species of ivy, which, when it finds a proper support, bends round into
arches, or hangs from tree to tree in festoons, in so rich and beautiful
a manner, that Hasselquist, who seems to have had a high notion of
royalty, thought it ought to have adorned the garden of a king. Nature,
however, is no respecter of persons. Kings or no kings, Turks, Jews, and
gentiles are all one to her. In fact, if we may judge of her political
opinions by facts, Nature abhors the foppery and rhodomontade of courts,
since, when she has any magnificent or sublime spectacle to exhibit to
mankind, she retires to scenes where palaces would be exceedingly out of
place, and piles her eternal snows, or pours down her cataracts, or puts
her terrible sand-columns in motion in barrenness and solitude.
The spring once begun, every day disclosed some new beauty to the
naturalist. Wherever he turned his eyes, thickets of almond trees
covered with snow-white blossoms, or fields over which anemones and
tulips were sprinkled thick as daisies or buttercups in an English
meadow, met the view. The anemone, in particular, was everywhere
abundant, in all its varieties of purple, deep-red, and scarlet, with a
ring of white round the base of its leaves. One of Hasselquist’s
favourite walks of this season was the vast Turkish cemetery in the
neighbourhood of Smyrna. Here, amid cypresses and a profusion of
balsamic and aromatic trees and shrubs, he philosophized on the
generation and decay of plants, ignorant, poor fellow, that within the
small sweep of the horizon which bounded his view his own mortal remains
would soon be deposited, and that the seeds of the flowers before him
would shortly germinate upon his grave.
Having sufficiently examined the environs of Smyrna, Hasselquist set out
on the 11th of March for Manisa, the ancient Magnesia, on a botanizing
excursion. The face of the country in this part of Anatolia was more
wild and savage than could be conceived by those who had never visited
the East. Mountains and valleys resembling the surface of a stormy sea
suddenly converted into solid ground, covered with mosses and wild
apple-trees, traversed by deep ravines, by chasms, by mountain torrents,
and beautified in various places by the pale flower of the oriental
saffron; such were the scenes which the roots and acclivities of the
ancient Sipylus presented to the view of our traveller. On arriving at
Manisa he was well received by the governor, an extremely young man, who
had sixteen women in his harem. Indeed, a physician is generally treated
with consideration by the Turks; and our youthful governor, who happened
just then to stand in need of his services, conducted himself with
distinguished politeness towards the _hakim_, or doctor. In return,
Hasselquist merely requested permission to botanize at his leisure in
the environs of the city, a favour which was very readily granted him.
In a letter to Linnæus, within a few days after his return to Smyrna, he
observes: “I have been botanizing on the Mount Sipylus of the ancients,
which is one of the highest mountains in Asia, and covered all the year
round with snow. I have likewise collected several insects, which no
person ever disturbed before; among which I was surprised to observe
many which are described in the ‘Fauna Suesica.’ I send you a small fly
which I found yesterday in a fig. It was enclosed in the germ of a
female fig, which it had entirely devoured. I am ignorant whether this
be the insect that impregnates the fruit; but shall endeavour, before my
departure, to acquire all the information in my power respecting the
fig-tree insects. I have a chameleon and several turtle-doves in my
apartment, and I have for some time been employed in observing their
manners. It would give me great pleasure if I could send you a few of
those doves to adorn your gardens at Upsal; and as it is not difficult
to preserve them, I shall endeavour to fulfil my desire. I have
collected an abundance of the _cornucopiæ_,[2] that rare plant which you
so strongly recommended me to search for in the environs of Smyrna. I
have completed the description of it, and shall send you a few
specimens. When its seeds are ripened, I shall not fail to send you a
quantity of them for the garden of the Academy.”
Footnote 2:
A singular species of grass.
Hasselquist sailed from Smyrna about the end of April, and on the 13th
of May arrived at Alexandria. His first care, of course, was to visit
the gardens of the city. The Egyptian Mussulmans, it is well known,
imagine that the horse is too noble an animal to be bestrode by any but
true believers; and therefore, those honest Mohammedans who cannot
afford to indulge that sublime contempt for all those who differ from
them in opinion, which is one of the principal luxuries of their
betters, pay great attention to the rearing and management of asses, the
only coursers which Franks can safely make use of in Egypt. In
consequence, the asses of the Delta surpass all other asses in beauty;
and many of them, according to the testimony of our traveller, who,
however, seems to have been somewhat partial to the race, are even
valued at a higher price than horses. It was necessary to make these
preliminary remarks upon asses before we could venture to exhibit our
physician parading the streets of Alexandria on such a charger, exposed
to the smiles of those Nilotic nymphs whose notes of rejoicing he
afterward in revenge compared to the croaking of the frogs in the
Rosetta canal.
From Alexandria he ascended along the canal to Rosetta. The fields, then
under water, had been sown about a week previously with rice, but it was
already three inches high; the frogs, which lay in myriads at the bottom
of the canal, croaked most hideously; the mosquitoes stung; the
buffaloes, offended at his red garments, attempted to gore him. However,
by the aid of patience and a janizary, he at length reached Rosetta,
from whence he proceeded up the Nile to Cairo. Here, at the house of Mr.
Burton, the English consul, he saw a tamarind-tree, the leaves of which
closed up in the evening at sunset, and expanded again with the dawn.
Among the curious practices of Egypt he noticed, in this city, one of
the most extraordinary: that is, that the women sometimes hatch eggs by
keeping them perpetually under their armpits, until the desired effect
is produced.
Though there are nations whose incivility is proof against the most
courteous behaviour, a traveller may almost always conjecture from the
character of his own manners the sort of reception he shall meet with in
whatever country he may visit. Hasselquist’s manners were gentle and
inoffensive, and accordingly he found even the Turks polite. Shortly
after his arrival at Cairo he was taken by the English consul to witness
a grand feast given by a Turkish gentleman on the occasion of his son’s
circumcision. It had already lasted thirty days, during all which time
he had kept open house, and accompanied his repasts by fireworks,
illuminations, concerts, and dances. The fireworks, though inferior to
those sometimes set off in Europe, were extremely fine; and the
illumination was brilliant and ingenious. However, the most curious part
of the spectacle, in the opinion of Hasselquist, were the spectators
themselves, who, seated in a ring on the ground, looked with invincible
gravity at the various efforts which were made to amuse them. The
Christian guests, immediately on their arrival, were presented with
coffee and carpets, and they sat down and imitated the silent manner of
the other guests. Hasselquist was assured that the expense of this feast
of thirty days would not amount to less than eight thousand ducats; but,
in return, the master of the house received presents of immense value on
the occasion, not less, it was reported, than thirty camel-loads.
A few days after this circumcision-feast our _hakim_ enjoyed an
opportunity of observing one of the inconsistencies of Mohammedan
manners. A company of _almé_, or dancing girls, came to perform before
the window of the consul’s house, and, in a country where other women
never go out without a veil, exhibited themselves in a state bordering
upon that of nature. From the age of Herodotus down to the present day,
the Egyptians have always possessed the reputation of being among the
most lascivious nations upon earth, and their patronising the
performance of these dancing girls, who exhibit themselves with an
effrontery which our opera dancers have not hitherto ventured to
imitate, is a proof of it. These _almé_, whose ability is estimated by
the greater or less facility with which they inflame the passions of the
spectators, are generally country girls, and sometimes married women.
They are of a dark complexion. Their dress consists of a single tunic,
round the edges of which are suspended a number of small bells and
hollow pieces of silver, which, tinkling as they proceed through their
voluptuous movements, serve instead of music.
Dr. Southey, a man of universal reading, laments that we have been less
curious respecting the modes by which the human body is rendered proof
against the poison of venomous serpents, than in learning from savages
the modes of preparing their destructive drugs. Hasselquist, who was
altogether of the same opinion, assiduously endeavoured, during his
residence in Egypt, to extract from the Psylli the secret of their
profession, a secret which has been religiously preserved during two
thousand years; but, as he could offer these serpent-charmers no
equivalent for the danger they would have incurred by imparting it, for
they must inevitably have provoked the enmity of their brethren, his
efforts were necessarily unsuccessful. It is customary with persons who
affect superior wisdom to make short work with all affairs of this kind,
by putting on an air of absolute incredulity, by which they would
intimate that they have fathomed the secrets of nature, and are
perfectly competent to prescribe the limits beyond which her operations
cannot pass. These sages, on the subject of the Psylli, at once cut the
Gordian knot by asserting that before they take any liberties with
venomous serpents, they carefully extract the tooth to which the poison
bag is attached, and thus, with all their boasted skill, perform nothing
more marvellous than those who handle live eels. This, however, is not
the fact. Hasselquist examined the serpents upon which they had exerted
the force of their charms, and found that the poison-tooth had not been
extracted.
The most favourable time for observing the performances of these
singular people is in the month of July, when the violent heat of summer
hatches myriads of serpents, scorpions, lizards, and every abominable
reptile among the sands of Egypt, and sends them forth rejoicing in the
vigour of their youth and the potency of their virgin poisons. About the
beginning of this month a female serpent-charmer, understanding his
desire to possess specimens of some of the most deadly of the subjects,
went forth into the fields, accompanied by an Arab, and took up
specimens of four different species, that is, of the common viper, the
cerastes of Alpinus, the jaculus, and a kind of sea-serpent, which she
brought to our traveller. The French consul, and all the French in Cairo
who happened to be present on her arrival, were struck with terror; and
crowds of people immediately collected to behold this daring magician,
for as such she was regarded, handle with careless impunity reptiles
which no other person present would have touched for the wealth of the
universe. In thrusting them into a bottle she held them in her hand as
she would have held her stay-lace (if she had had one); and when they
crept out again, not admiring their close lodgings, and apparently
irritated at the attempt to imprison them, she still seized them with
the same coolness, and thrust them in as before.
That these Psylli, for they are doubtless the same race with those who
exhibited the force of their spells over the serpent tribes in ancient
Rome, possess some important secret there seems to be no reasonable
ground for doubting, and it seems equally probable that it might be
extorted from them by the force of that golden spell which commands all
others; but all that Hasselquist was able to learn was, that the
serpent-charmers carefully avoided all other venomous reptiles, such as
scorpions, lizards, &c., while those whose profession it was to deal
with the latter kept aloof with equal solicitude from the contact of
serpents; that, previously to their going out in quest of their prey,
they never failed to devour a quantity of serpents’ flesh, both boiled
and roasted; and that, in addition to all this, they had a number of
superstitious practices, among which the most efficacious was the being
spitten upon by their sheikh; though Hasselquist seriously opines that
this last circumstance could be of no manner of utility! Perhaps,
however, the whole secret lies in the using of serpents, or whatever
other reptiles they profess to charm, for food; for by this practice
they communicate to their perspiration, and, in fact, to their whole
body, a snakish odour, which reconciles the reptiles to their touch, and
causes them to regard their charmers and destroyers as genuine members
of their body politic.
Hasselquist could not, of course, omit while at Cairo to visit the
pyramids. The country about Gizeh, to which he proceeded by water, was
so fertile and so admirably cultivated, that it was an object of
perpetual admiration; and in winter the whole of this part of Egypt
appears, when contemplated from an eminence, to be nothing but one vast
sea of verdure, extending in every direction farther than the eye can
reach. On arriving in the neighbourhood of the pyramids, he was
hospitably entertained by an Arab sheikh, who was encamped there with
his tribe. Two kids were slain, and reduced to an admirable pilau; and
with a rough board for a table, a rush mat for a table-cloth, and their
fingers for spoons, the whole party made a frugal but wholesome supper.
It is necessary, says our traveller, that in such cases we should
accommodate ourselves to the ways of the people, which if we do, there
is no nation upon earth among whom we shall find so much friendship,
frankness, and benevolence as the Arabs.
Having passed the night with these hospitable Bedouins, he pushed on to
the pyramids over a plain covered with villages, and was soon standing
in wonder and admiration at the base of the principal of these gigantic
temples of Venus. When the effervescence of his astonishment had
somewhat subsided, he entered with his Arab guides into the interior,
which, no less than the external appearance, he found greatly to exceed
the most exaggerated idea he had formed of their prodigious grandeur
from descriptions or designs. After groping about for an hour and a half
by torchlight through those mysterious chambers sacred to the generative
power of nature, of which beauty has always been one of the principal
symbols, from the sting which its appearance infixes in the human soul,
he issued forth filled with enthusiasm, under the influence of which he
attempted to climb up to the apex of the temple. The sun, however, had
rendered the granite steps burning hot, so that when he had ascended
about half-way he began to imagine he was treading on fire, and
relinquished his design. On another occasion, during the inundation,
when he made a second attempt, a violent wind arose, and swept with so
much fury round the pyramids, that Hasselquist began to fear it might
convert him into a bird, and whirl him off to the Red Sea or Nubia, and
finally gave up his undertaking. The fact is, his bodily strength failed
him in both cases.
He had been assured at Cairo and elsewhere that in the burning sands
surrounding the pyramids no living thing, whether animal or vegetable,
was to be found. This account he did not altogether credit, believing
that Providence had condemned no spot on earth to utter sterility; and
on narrowly examining the sands, he found among them one plant, the
_chondrilla juncea_, a species of small lizard, and the _formica-leo_,
or lion-ant, which had formed considerable establishments in the
neighbourhood of the pyramids. These laborious little insects were
running by thousands over the sands, each having in his claws a small
bit of flint, a grain of sand, or a tiny morsel of wood, to be used in
the construction of their dwellings. Several of these Hasselquist
discovered. They were built in round holes in the loose soil, in a
globular form, about twice the size of a man’s fist, and were entered by
a cylindrical opening at the top not larger than the hollow of a
goose-quill. To prevent surprise, numerous small openings led to
subterraneous apartments below, through which, when their upper chamber
was demolished, they always retreated with safety. It was no small
compliment to the genius of these diminutive architects that their works
could attract attention in the vicinity of the most sublime among the
artificial wonders of the world, and appear, as they did to Hasselquist,
still more wonderful than those prodigious creations of man.
Restrained in the indulgence of his curiosity by the extreme scantiness
of his finances, poor Hasselquist was for the most part compelled to
confine himself to the environs of Cairo. Had his means permitted him to
execute the designs he had formed, few travellers would have surpassed
him in curious or useful researches; though neither his tastes nor
physical powers inclined him to undertake those daring personal
adventures which in many travellers are almost the only things deserving
of notice. His entering at the risk of his life into a mosque at Old
Cairo proves, however, that he was courageous even to foolhardiness when
he had an object to gain. But this achievement rather disgusted him with
enterprises of that kind; for when he had put his head in jeopardy to
gratify his curiosity, he found absolutely nothing to reward his
hardihood.
Having visited the mummy-pits, and studied with great care the natural
history of Cairo and its environs, he descended the Nile to Damietta.
The soil of this part of Egypt, even when the inundation fails, is
rendered extremely fertile by the heavy dews, for which it is indebted
to its vicinity to the sea, and by the rain which falls at intervals
during the whole winter and spring. It was about the middle of March
when he arrived in this city, and already the male-palm had begun to put
forth its blossoms. The female tree flowered a few days later. One of
the latter, a magnificent tree, equal in height to a Norway pine, grew
in a garden directly opposite his window. On the evening of the 20th of
March it had not yet put forth its blossoms; but when he rose next
morning before the sun, he found it had flowered during the night, and
saw the gardener climbing up to its summit with a handful of the male
flowers in his hand, which he scattered over those of the female tree.
This was done while the dew was yet falling; and our enthusiastic
naturalist regarded the sight as one of the most delightful in nature.
He set sail from Damietta on the 1st of April, and in four days arrived
at Jaffa, in the Holy Land. Here he was entertained at a convent of
Catholic monks, the principal of whom, a Spaniard by nation, was greatly
scandalized at learning that motives foreign to devotion had directed
his steps to Palestine. Next day, however, he escaped from their
impertinent inquiries, and set out for Jerusalem. The country from Jaffa
to Rama consists of a succession of small hills alternating with narrow
valleys and wide plains, some cultivated, others barren. The soil was a
light reddish sand, and so filled with moles that there was scarcely a
yard of ground in which there was not a molehill.
On arriving at Jerusalem he visited all the holy places usually shown to
strangers, and then set out with the other pilgrims for Jericho and the
Dead Sea. Descending along the banks of the Jordan, the waters of which
he found very inferior to those of the Nile, he arrived on the barren
shores of the Asphaltic Lake, consisting of a gray sandy clay, so
extremely soft that their horses often sunk in it up to their knees. The
whole plain was covered with salt like the soil of Egypt, and various
kinds of plants and flowers were found growing on it. The apples of
Sodom, those
——Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye,
But turn to ashes on the lips,—
were found in abundance near Jericho. This apple is the fruit of the
_solanum melongena_ of Linnæus, and is sometimes actually filled with
dust or ashes. But this happens when the fruit has been attacked by the
_tenthredo_ insect, which, absorbing all the moisture of the pulp,
converts the harder particles into dust, while the skin retains its form
and colours.
Having returned with the pilgrims to Jerusalem, he proceeded to visit
the other sacred places celebrated in the New Testament,—Bethlehem,
Nazareth, Mount Tabor; on which last spot, he observes, he drank some
excellent goat’s milk. From thence he proceeded to the Lake of Tiberias,
where to his great surprise he found many of the fishes of the Nile. At
Japhia, or Jaffa, a village near Nazareth, he found great quantities of
the plant which he supposed to be the mandrake, or _dudaim_ of the
Scriptures. This plant was not then in flower, nor could he procure an
entire root for want of a mattock. It grows in great plenty throughout
Galilee, but is not found in Judea. The Arabs denominate it “devil’s
meat.”
From thence he descended to the seacoast, visited the ruins of Tyre, and
proceeded by night to Sidon. Here he found various objects highly
interesting to a naturalist in the immense gardens of this city, from
whence prodigious quantities of fruit are annually exported. The
mulberry-tree is found in great abundance in this part of the country,
which has led the inhabitants to pay great attention to the rearing of
silk-worms, which here, as at Nice, are hatched in little bags which the
women wear in their bosoms by day, and at night place under their
pillows. In botanizing among the neighbouring hills he was invited by a
shepherd to share his dinner. It consisted of half-ripe ears of wheat
roasted over the fire, a sort of food mentioned in the Scriptures, and
warm milk. The practice of eating unripe corn in this manner likewise
prevails in Egypt, where Turkey wheat and millet are substituted for the
proper wheat.
On the 23d of May, 1751, he sailed from Sidon in a small French ship
bound for Cyprus, and on the 28th cast anchor in the harbour of Larnaco.
Though he visited this island with no intention of travelling in it,
being once there he could not forbear making a few excursions into the
interior, of which the first was to the mountain of Santa Croce, the
loftiest in the country. In the rusty-coloured limestone rock which
forms the basis of this mountain are mines of lead, copper, and
rock-crystal; which last, of which some fine specimens are found near
the ancient Paphos, was at first mistaken for a diamond-mine by the
Turks. A few days after his return from Santa Croce he visited
Famagosta, once, when in possession of the Venetians, a splendid city;
but now a heap of miserable ruins.
From Cyprus he sailed to Rhodes and Scio, and thence to Smyrna, carrying
along with him an incredible quantity of curiosities in the three
kingdoms of nature, which he had collected in Egypt and the Levant. His
sole desire now was to return by the first occasion which should present
itself to Sweden; but his strength had been so much impaired by the
fatigue of travelling and the heats of Palestine, that he was
constrained to defer his departure from Smyrna. His disorder, however,
which was a confirmed consumption, proceeded rapidly; and although, as
is usual with persons labouring under that disease, he continued to
preserve hope to the last, his struggles were soon over. His death
happened on the 9th of February, 1752, in a small country-house in the
neighbourhood of Smyrna.
His friends in Sweden, by whom he was much beloved, were greatly
afflicted at the news of his death; and to add to their sorrow, they
learned at the same time, that having during his residence in the East
contracted a debt of one hundred and fifty pounds, his collections and
papers had been seized by his creditors, who refused to give them up
until the debt should be paid; and that thus his name and reputation
seemed likely to perish with his body. Neither Linnæus nor any other of
Hasselquist’s friends in Sweden were able to raise this small sum; when
the queen, being informed of the circumstance, generously advanced the
money from her own private purse; and therefore it is to the munificence
of this lady that we owe one of the most curious books of travels of its
kind that have ever appeared. In about a year after this the collections
and papers arrived at the palace of Drottningholm; and Linnæus, who was
no novice in these matters, declares that he was exceedingly surprised
at the number and variety of the curiosities, among which were the rarer
plants of Anatolia, Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus; stones and earths from
the most remarkable places in Egypt and Palestine; the rarer fishes of
the Nile; the serpents of Egypt, together with its more curious insects,
drugs, mummies, Arabic manuscripts, &c.
The editing of Hasselquist’s manuscripts was confided to Linnæus
himself, and unquestionably it could not have been intrusted to better
hands. The work, in fact, remains, and will remain, a lasting monument
of the superior talents of the traveller, and of the taste, munificence,
and affection of his friends.
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