FROM MISS BEATRICE POLES TO MISS EMILY——
"No, I shall never share the enthusiasm of my male companions for
these three creatures. I maintain that they have not even good
figures. Nobody will ever succeed in persuading me that beauty of
form in a woman, consists of all those rounded curves, that
_embonpoint_, that superfluous flesh which is simply fatal to all
walking. As for their plump limbs and absurdly tiny feet, they excite
my compassion. They are merely useless ornaments. Excuse me, somebody
may say, they are of service to them in their dancing. That is the
greatest mistake of all. They dance, if you can call it dancing, with
everything except their feet, with their knees, their arms, their
waists, their heads—their feet have nothing at all to do with it, and
that is just where your argument fails, gentlemen all.
"I am not alluding to myself. As you know, my dear Emily, I always
keep myself in the background as much as possible. I am thinking of
my fellow countrywomen, whose reputation for beauty is world-wide.
Look at the swan-like neck, the slender shoulders, the waist which
their two hands can span with ease, the hips indistinguishable from
the waist, and their long and slim feet. They are women, if you like,
genuine women! And our dancers! What grace, what cuts, what capers! I
think I see them now, as they raise their discreetly slender arms
above the small fair heads. Bah! how infinitely superior they are to
all these bayaderes!
"It may be, for I am always frank with you, that my aversion to these
bayaderes has something spiteful about it. I was positively disgusted
to see those three men, instead of staying on deck with me, shutting
themselves up for a whole evening in the society of these so-called
dancers. In their defence they allege that it is simply a question of
art and æstheticism, and that as observant travellers they are
justified in seeing everything, and making notes on all conceivable
subjects. I do not approve of this class of study. My idea is that
the love of science and art has its limits, and that it should stop
at the bayadere.
"But, my dear Emily, I have just awoke to the consciousness—a little
late in the day, you will say—that you do not in the least understand
this long tirade against the bayaderes of MM. de Morin, Périères and
Delange. You are asking, in astonishment, where I am. You are on the
verge of the belief that I am on my way to Calcutta, instead of being
bound for the centre of Africa. A thousand pardons—I had let my pen
and my ever vivid imagination run on, and had forgotten that when I
left you last I was at Cairo.
"I must tell you, then, that I am steaming along the Red Sea, but
please excuse my entering in detail into the reason why this route
has been chosen. The words, Red Sea, or Arabian gulf, if you prefer
it, will, however, explain how it happens that I mention Africa and
Asia indiscriminately. In reality, I am on neutral ground,
equidistant from the two continents. If I stretch out my arm to the
left towards the East, I am in Arabia; if to the right towards the
West, I am in Nubia. Now you see the position; a very convenient one,
is it not?
"At this moment I am on the left, that is to say on the Asiatic side,
for our steamer has just called in at Djiddah, which may be regarded
as the port of Mecca, that famous resort of pilgrims, whither every
true follower of the Prophet should betake himself at least once in
his life. Our bales and boxes have been sent on by the Nile to
Khartoum; they will not arrive until after us, but quite soon enough,
because if we are on the spot, we shall avoid a considerable expense
in Customs charges. The Egyptians are adepts in the art of living at
the expense of travellers; and, not content with making them pay duty
at Suez, levy other contributions on entering and leaving Souakim.
"Our _personnel_ is as yet not very numerous, and consequently gives
us no trouble. It is composed of three female Nubians and two male
Arabs, who were very strongly recommended to us, and whom we have
engaged as attendants and interpreters. These men are named Omar and
Ali, besides a string of other appellations which I suppress, purely
out of consideration for you. At Souakim we shall secure an escort
and a supply of bearers for the indispensable part of our baggage.
Not until we reach Khartoum, if we get so far into the interior of
Africa, shall we form our caravan.
"The trip along the Red Sea is most interesting. On the morning
following our departure from Suez, in magnificent weather, we saw the
Sinai ranges and the Holy Mountain standing out in bold and clear
relief. We passed, without stopping, by the little town of Tûr,
inhabited by the Copts, those descendants of the primitive denizens
of Egypt, and, twenty-four hours afterwards, we touched at Cosseir,
on the western shore of the gulf.
"From the last-mentioned place we crossed the Red Sea once more for
the purpose of putting in for a few moments at Yambo, in Arabian
territory, a species of holy land, where Mussulman fanaticism reigns
supreme in full force, for, alas! holy land in these parts is only
another name for a spot given over entirely to every description of
intolerance and barbarism.
"From Yambo we followed the coast as far Djiddah, where, as I have
already told you, I am at this moment writing to you. Djiddah, the
tour of which place I have just made, consists of an immense street
filled with bazaars, where are displayed the products of our own
manufacture side by side with samples of Eastern taste. The markets,
specially devoted to satisfying the appetite or voracity of the
pilgrims to Mecca, are exceedingly curious. In them you see piled up
together the fruits and vegetables gathered in Africa and Asia, and
conveyed hither by ships or caravans; heaps of water melons, cocoa-nuts,
dates, yams, sweet potatoes and chick-peas. On long tables are
also ranged pyramids of honey-combs and bowls of couscoussoo, the
favourite dish of Arabia.
"These market-halls and places, and the bazaars are crowded with
Turks, Egyptians, Indians and Africans, to say nothing of dogs,
horses and camels, the latter appearing quite dazed in the midst of
all the coming and going, the babel of sounds, and the multitude of
things, and picking their steps as if they were afraid of breaking
something. Women ventured fearlessly into this crowd, and young Arab
girls, very pretty, though often very thin—I mean to say very pretty,
because they were so slender—walked to and fro gravely, with
uncovered faces, shoulder to shoulder with the hermetically-veiled
Turkish women, whose large slippers of yellow leather gave them a
shuffling gait. Other Turkish women, of a higher class, passed by
here and there, attended by eunuchs and mounted on donkeys.
* * * * *
"Oh! my dear Emily, what an awful calamity, what a terrible
misfortune, has befallen us! M. de Morin is lost to us—M. de Morin,
the life and soul of our party, has fallen a victim to his own
temerity.
"If you only knew—it is frightful—to die at his age—I must leave you—
I am going at once with Madame de Guéran to the French Consulate."