Kind Reception at Assouan.--Arrival at Cairo.--Transactions with
the Bey there.--Lands at Marseilles
Without stopping to congratulate each other on their escape and safe
arrival, Bruce's companions, with one accord, ran eagerly to the Nile to
drink, notwithstanding that, in the course of the journey, they had
witnessed the dreadful consequences of such imprudence. Bruce himself
sat down under the shade of some palm-trees. It was very hot, and he
fell into a profound sleep. But Hagi Ismael, who, neither sleepy nor
thirsty, was exceedingly hungry, had gone into the town in search of
food. He had not proceeded far before his green turban and ragged
appearance struck some brother janisaries who met him, one of whom asked
him what he was doing and where he had come from. Ismael, in a violent
passion and broken Arabic, exclaimed that he was a janisary of Cairo;
had come last from Tophet, and had walked through a desert of fire and
flames.
The soldier, hearing him talk in this incoherent, raving tone, insisted
that he should accompany him to the aga--the very thing that Ismael
wanted. He only desired time to acquaint his companions. "Have you
companions," says the soldier, "from such a country?" "Companions!" says
Ismael; "what! do you imagine that I came this journey alone?" "Go,"
says Ismael, "to the palm-trees; and when you find the tallest man you
ever saw in your life, more ragged and dirty than I am, call him
Yagoube, and desire him to come along with you to the aga."
The soldier obeyed, and accordingly found Bruce still reclining at the
root of the palm-tree. "A dulness and insensibility," says Bruce, "a
universal relaxation of spirits which I cannot describe, a kind of
stupor or palsy of mind had overtaken me, almost to a deprivation of
understanding. I found in myself a kind of stupidity, and want of power
to reflect upon what had passed. I seemed to be as if awakened from a
dream, when the senses are yet half asleep, and we only begin to doubt
whether what has before passed in thought is real or not. The dangers
that I was just now delivered from made no impression upon my mind; and,
what more and more convinces me I was for a time not in my perfect
senses, is, that I found in myself a hard-heartedness, without the
least inclination to be thankful for that signal deliverance which I had
just now experienced."
From this stupor he was awakened by the arrival of the soldier, who
cried out, at some distance, "You must come to the aga, to the castle,
as fast as you can; the Turk is gone before you." "It will not be very
fast, if we even should do that," said Bruce; "the Turk has ridden two
days on a camel, and I have walked on foot, and do not know at present
if I can walk at all." He then endeavoured to rise and stand upright,
but it was with great pain and difficulty.
The Turk and Greeks were clothed no better than Bruce; Ismael and
Michael had in their hands two monstrous blunderbuses, and the whole
town crowded after them while they walked to the castle. The aga was
struck dumb on their entering the room, and observed to Bruce that he
thought him full a foot taller than any man he had ever seen in his
life.
After a short conversation, the aga asked for his letters and firman.
Bruce told him that he had left them with his baggage and dead camels at
Saffieha, and he asked the favour of fresh camels that he might go and
fetch his papers. "God forbid," said the aga, "I should ever suffer you
to do so mad an action! You are come hither by a thousand miracles, and
after this, will you tempt God and go back? We shall take it for granted
what those papers contain. You will have no need of a firman between
this and Cairo." "I am," replied Bruce, "a servant of the King of
England, travelling by his order, and for my own and my countrymen's
information; and I had rather risk my life twenty times than lose the
papers I have left in the desert." "Go in peace," said the aga, "eat and
sleep. Carry them," he said, speaking to his attendants, "to the house
of the schourbatchie."
They very shortly received from the aga about fifty loaves of fine wheat
bread, and several large dishes of dressed meat; but the smell of these
last no sooner reached Bruce than he fainted and fell upon the floor. He
made several trials afterward, with no better success, the first two
days; for his stomach was so weakened by excessive heat and fatigue,
that he could not reconcile himself to any sort of food but toasted
bread and coffee.
After staying at Syene six days, Bruce obtained dromedaries, and,
resolutely retracing his steps into the desert for forty miles, had at
last the indescribable satisfaction to find his quadrant and the whole
of his baggage. By them lay the bodies of the slaughtered camels, a
small part of one of them having been torn by the haddaya or kite.
Bruce now closed his travels through the desert by discharging the debts
he had contracted in it. In order to recompense Idris Welled Hamran, the
Hybeer, for his faithful services, he made him choose for himself a good
camel, clothed him, and gave him dresses for his two wives, with a load
of dora. The poor fellow, thus enriched, departed with tears in his
eyes, offering to go back and deliver up what Bruce had given him to his
family, and then return and follow him as a servant wherever he should
go. Bruce, however, had no longer any occasion for his services; indeed,
he could have well reached Syene without him; yet, had any accident
happened in the desert to his other guide, his prudent precaution in
securing this man would have been very evident. But it was his system
always to provide against accidents; and by this means, and his intimate
knowledge of human nature, he had been enabled to reach Syene in safety.
To raise Bruce's character by undervaluing that of other travellers
would be an unworthy jealousy, in which we should be very sorry to
indulge; yet the proper mode of penetrating Africa is a problem of such
vital importance to those who may hereafter attempt it, that we cannot
refrain from observing what a very remarkable difference there is
between the manner in which Bruce and Burckhardt travelled between Egypt
and Nubia. The former possessed the magic art of commanding, at all
times, respect; and the reader has seen what was his behaviour, and the
treatment which he received during this perilous undertaking.
Burckhardt's resolution was unconquerable, and his patience in the
desert almost equal to that of the camel. Science had never a more
faithful servant; but then he neglected to seek information by giving
it, and the disguise under which he travelled concealed not only his
person, but his mind. All civilized men, from the philosopher down to
the mountebank, carry with them a fund either of instruction or
amusement; and the old fable of the basket-maker explains how possible
it is for any one to make himself, at least, useful to uncivilized
tribes; but of this Burckhardt neglected to avail himself, and a few
brief extracts from his travels will show the consequences.
"I gave out," he says, "I was in search of a cousin." "The son of my old
friend of Daraoa, to whom I had been most particularly recommended by
his father, went so far as once to spit in my face in the public
market-place." "Indeed, I never met any of these Egyptians in the
streets without receiving some insulting language from them, of which,
had I taken notice, they would, no doubt, have carried me before the
mek." "One of the slaves of Edris, to whom I had already made some
little presents, tore my shirt to pieces because I refused to give it to
him." "Called me boy." "I cooked my own victuals." "Was pelted with
stones." "I was often driven from the coolest and most comfortable berth
into the burning sun, and generally passed the midday hour in great
distress." "I was afraid to take any notes." "I hid myself to do it,"
&c., &c., &c....
On the 11th of December Bruce embarked at Syene, and without masts being
shipped or any sails set, the vessel or canja floated down the Nile.
There is no greater trial to the constitution than sudden change from an
active to a sedentary life: the human frame seems made for hardship; and
in the army it has been constantly remarked, that troops which have been
long exposed to a bivouac become unhealthy as soon as they go into
quarters.
"On the 10th of January, 1773, we arrived," says Bruce, "at the Convent
of St. George at Cairo; all of us, as I thought, worse in health and
spirits than the day we came out of the desert. Nobody knew us at the
convent, either by our face or our language, and it was by a kind of
force that we entered. Ismael and the Copht went straight to the bey;
and I, with great difficulty, had interest enough to send to the
patriarch and my merchants at Cairo, by employing the only two piastres
I had in my pocket. It was half by violence that we got admittance into
the convent. But this difficulty was to be but of short duration: the
morning was to end it and give us a sight of our friends, and in the
mean time we were to sleep soundly."
Bruce had scarcely enjoyed an hour's repose, when he was awakened by a
number of strange voices, which called upon him to come immediately
before the bey; he insisted, however, on being allowed a few moments to
arrange his toilet.
"I had no shirt on," he says, "nor had I been master of one for fourteen
months past. I had a waistcoat of coarse brown woollen blanket, trousers
of the same, and an upper blanket of the same wrapped about me, and in
these I was lying. I had cut off my long beard at Furshoot, but still
wore prodigious mustaches. I had a thin white muslin cloth round a red
Turkish cap, which served me for a night-cap, a girdle of coarse woollen
cloth, that wrapped round my waist eight or ten times, and swaddled me
up from the middle to the pit of my stomach, but without either shoes or
stockings. In the left of my girdle I had two English pistols mounted
with silver, and on the right hand a common crooked Abyssinian knife,
with a handle of rhinoceros horn. Thus equipped, I was ushered by the
banditti, in a dark and very windy night, to the door of the convent."
The sarach or commander of the party rode on a mule, and, as a mark of
extreme consideration, he had brought an ass for Bruce, the only animal
that a Christian was suffered to ride on in Cairo. As the beast had no
saddle nor stirrups, Bruce's feet would have touched the ground had he
not held them up, which he did with the utmost pain and difficulty, as
they were inflamed and dreadfully sore from the march in the desert.
"Nobody," says Bruce, "can ever know, from a more particular
description, the hundredth part of the pain I suffered that night. I was
happy that it was all external. I had hardened my heart; it was strong,
vigorous, and whole, from the near prospect I had of leaving this most
accursed country, and being again restored to the conversation of men."
He was now introduced to Mohammed Bey. Two large sofas, furnished with
cushions, took up a great part of a spacious saloon. These cushions were
of the richest crimson and gold, excepting a small yellow and gold one
like a pillow, upon which the bey was leaning, supporting his head with
his left hand, and sitting in the corner of the two sofas. Though it was
late, he was in full dress; his girdle, turban, and the handle of his
dagger all shining with the finest brilliants, and a magnificent sprig
of diamonds was in his turban. "The rooms," says Bruce, "were light as
day with a number of wax torches or candles. I found myself humbled at
the sight of so much greatness and affluence. My bare feet were so
dirty, I had a scruple to set them upon the rich Persian carpets with
which the whole floor was covered; and the pain that walking at all
occasioned gave me altogether so crouching and cringing a look, that the
bey, upon seeing me come in, cried out, 'What's that? Who is that? From
whence is he come?' His secretary told him, and immediately upon that I
said to him in Arabic, with a low bow, 'Mohammed Bey, I am Yagoube, an
Englishman; very unfit to appear before you in the condition I am in,
having been forced out of my bed by your soldiers in the middle of the
only sound sleep I have had for many years.'"
After a short conversation, Bruce showed the bey the dreadful state of
his feet: the effect, he told him, of passing the desert. He immediately
desired him to sit down on the cushion. "It is the coldness of the night
and hanging upon the ass," said Bruce, "which occasions this; the pain
will be over presently." Bruce soon left, and was accompanied by a
slave, who presented to him a basket of oranges, which he said were
given by order of the bey.
"In that country," says Bruce, "it is not the value of the present, but
the character and power of the person that sends it, that creates the
value; twenty thousand men that slept in Cairo that night would have
thought the day on which the bey gave them, at an audience, the worst
orange in that basket, the happiest one in their life. It is a mark of
friendship and protection, and the best of all assurances. Well
accustomed to ceremonies of this kind, I took a single orange, bowing
low to the man that gave it me, who whispered me, 'Put your hand to the
bottom, the best fruit is there; the whole is for you: it is from the
bey.' A purse was exceedingly visible. I lifted it out; there were a
considerable number of sequins in it; I put it in my mouth, kissed it,
and said to the young man, 'This is, indeed the best fruit--at least
commonly thought so--but it is forbidden fruit for me. The bey's
protection and favour are more agreeable to me than a thousand such
purses would be.'"
The servant showed prodigious surprise. Nothing appears more incredible
to a Turk, whatever his rank may be, than that any man should refuse
money! The slave therefore insisted that Bruce should return to the bey,
who, having heard of his behaviour, observed that it was evident, from
his dress and appearance, he was in want of money. "Sir," said Bruce
(who had a very important object which he was desirous to gain), "may I
beg leave to say two words to you? There is not a man to whom you ever
gave money more grateful or more sensible of your generosity than I am
at present. The reason of my waiting upon you in this dress was because
it is only a few hours ago since I left the boat. I am not, however, a
needy man, or one that is distressed for money: that being the case, and
as you have already my prayers for your charity, I would not deprive you
of those of the widow and the orphan, whom that money may very
materially relieve. Julian and Rosa, the first house in Cairo, will
furnish me with what money I require; besides, I am in the service of
the greatest king in Europe, who would not fail to supply me abundantly
if my necessities required it, as I am travelling for his service."
"This being so," said the bey, with great looks of complacency, "what is
it in my power to do for you? You are a stranger now where I command;
you are my father's stranger likewise, and this is a double obligation
upon me: what shall I do?" "There are," said I, "things that you could
do, and you only, if it were not too great presumption for me to name
them." "By no means; if I can, I will do it; if not, I will tell you
so."
Bruce saw, by the bey's manner of speaking, that he had risen
considerably in character in his estimation since his refusal of the
money. "I have, sir," said Bruce, "a number of countrymen, brave, rich,
and honest, that trade in India, where my king has great dominions. Now
there are many of these that come to Jidda. I left there eleven large
ships belonging to them, who, according to treaty, pay high duties to
the custom-house, and, from the dictates of their own generosity and
munificence, give large presents to the prince and to his servants for
protection; but the Sherriffe of Mecca has of late laid duty upon duty,
and extortion upon extortion, till the English are at the point of
giving up the trade altogether." Bruce had two other audiences with
Mohammed Bey on this important subject; and, faithful to the interests
of his country, he at last succeeded in concluding an agreement in
favour of the English merchants, by which, instead of paying fourteen
per cent. and an enormous present, the bey agreed to be satisfied with
eight per cent. and no present at all; and, at his own expense, our
traveller had the pleasure of sending the following firman to Mocha:
_Translation of the Firman procured by Mr. Bruce from Mohammed Bey
Aboudahab, for the East India Company. 1773._
"We give thanks to the God of the whole world, wishing a good end to
those who have good conduct, and the contrary to the unjust. God shall
salute the most famous among his creatures and his followers. Next, let
this order be obeyed with the assistance of God in all parts, which is
written from the Divan of Cairo the fortified, and which contains an
agreement with the esteemed Captains and Christian merchants, who are
famed for their honesty: may they have a good end! Be it known to you
all, as many of you as this reaches, that the honoured Yagoube el Hakim
has come to us, and has given us to understand the injustice commonly
practised by his majesty the Sherriffe of Mecca, and by his dependants
in the place of Jidda, and that you wish to come into the port of Suez,
but want security. It is very agreeable that you should enjoy this in
the time of our king,[37] servant of the two holy places, and lord of
the two lands and the two seas; may God always give him strength and
victory! I make you sure, therefore, that you may come to Suez with your
ships, with good profit, under the shadow of God and of our Prophet, and
under our own both far and near; and that you shall not be molested,
neither by us nor our servants, our soldiers nor our subjects; and that
you shall not pay aught but eight per cent. of the said merchandise, or
its value; and fifty pataka for each ship to the commandant of Suez, in
name of anchorage; and that you may come to Cairo itself, and trade for
money or barter, as suits you best, without restraint from any one; and
if it suits you better to trade at Suez, we will order the merchants
thither, without anybody's incommoding or troubling you. So you shall
have repose more than you desired; and these promises are good and
binding, and will not be changed to the contrary, so that you shall not
pay any other expenses to us or to our soldiers. And may the blessing of
God rest on him that follows the right way! The 15th of the month
Zilkaade, 1186 (February, 1773)."
Mohammed Bey being about to leave Cairo to visit his father-in-law in
Syria, now pressed Bruce very much to accompany him; but he naturally
enough says, "I was sufficiently cured of any more Don Quixote
undertakings." He therefore proceeded to Alexandria, where he arrived in
the beginning of March. With as little delay as possible, he embarked on
board a small vessel, the crew of which, during some heavy weather,
proposed to throw his baggage overboard, conceiving that such large
cases must contain dead men, which all sailors consider as unlucky
guests. Bruce, however, manfully protected his hard-earned treasure,
and, after a tedious passage of three weeks, landed safely at
Marseilles.
FOOTNOTE:
[37] The Grand Seignior.