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_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.