: 4 E.oLvn . Zil 'is^ .-NARRATIVE OF A VOYAgl^ TO ^ ¦ " MApEtRX^NERIFFE, ^^^^^ ANP ALONG THE (^ SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, INCLUDING A VISIT TO ALGIERS, EGYPT, PALESTINE, TYRE, RHODES, TELMESSUS, CYPRUS, AND GREECE. WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS OF EGYPT AND PALESTINE, AND ON THE CLIMATE, NATURAL HISTOBT, ANIItJUXTIES, ETC. OP THE COUNTRIES VISITED. BT W. R. WILDE, M.R.I. A. Licentiate of the Royal College of Sargeons in Ireland, Member of the Dublin Natural History Society, &c, IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. L . ? DUBLIN WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND COMPANY. LONGMAN, ORME, BROWNE AND CO. LONDON. 1840. !.:- ilctvv^ , 83'^ "T^ Dublin ; Printed by John S, Folds, S, Bachelor's Walk. TO ROBERT MEIKLAM, ESQ. M.R.Y.S My dear Meiklam, In remembrance of the many deHghtful days we have spent together in visiting the sacred and classic scenes of other lands, and in gratitude for the facilities and assistance you afforded rae, and the interest you evinced in the researches and investigations in which I was engaged during our tour, I have now to perform the pleasing task of dedicating to you the accompanying volumes. That you may long continue to enjoy that health which our voyage was so much the means of restoring, is the anxious desire of Your attached Friend, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The appearance of a new Book of Travels na turally suggests the questions, what claims has the author on public attention ? what new feature does his book exhibit, or what discoveries has he made ? My answer is, that I have travelled in a different capacity from many of the able tourists who have described the interesting scenes which form the subject of my present volumes. In September, I837j my friends Sir Henry Marsh and Professor Graves, proposed that I should accompany, as medical attendant, a gen tleman who was about to make a voyage for the benefit of his health. Anxiety to see the world, cou pled with the fact of my own health being then in a precarious state, induced me gladly to accept of this kind offer. At their suggestion, I undertook to col lect information relative to the climate of the places we should visit, and also to keep a register of their VI PREFACE. temperature. At the solicitation of other friends, 1 made a daily note of those objects which struck me as interesting in the countries we visited. From these notes the present volumes have been arranged ; but, instead of dragging my readers through the daily routine of our adventures and misadventures, I have in general, endeavoured rather to condense the substance of what I saw and observed in Foreign Lands, into a more connected narrative. Voyaging, as my friend Mr. R. Meiklam did in his own yacht of 130 tons, with all the com forts such a mode of transit could command, and bending our course wherever climate or curiosity attracted us, we probably suffered fewer privations and mischances than fall to the lot of the generality of travellers, and at the same time, we were per fectly at leisure to examine, without interruption or hindrance, whatever objects of interest we met with on our route. Whatever of the marvelloits my narrative may have lost by these means, I trust it may have gained corresponding advantages of a more solid description. — How far I have been enabled to avail myself of the advantages I have mentioned, or of those which all medical men enjoy in eastern countries, it is for the reader to determine. On the characteristics of climates in reference to disease, little has been added to our stock of infor- preface. mation, since the publication of Sir James Clarke's work, which, moreover, did not touch upon those shores of the eastern extremity of the Mediterra nean, which it was my fortune to visit. Of Madeira and the Canaries, 1 feel that too much cannot be saidj and upon comparing my own notes with the opinions and investigations of others, I am daily more con vinced, that for invalids they are vastly superior to any other climate within the same distance of our shores. I trust, that persons in search of health will glean from my pages some useful information relative to the accommodations and best seasons for visiting the various places we touched at, in the Levant, and elsewhere. To new discoveries, my book makes but little pretension ; but I confess that the researches con cerning the topographies of ancient Tyre and Jeru salem, have cost me much labour and investigation, and I trust they may be thought of some interest, both by the Biblical Student, and the general reader. Many of the tombs and monuments upon the coast of Asia Minor, which I have examined and described, seem to have been comparatively overlooked by former travellers. Though much has lately been written about the change now taking place in Egypt, it is a subject upon which the British public can never be too well viu preface. informed, and cannot take too deep an interest, considering how materially our means of rapid com munication with our Indian possessions, must be in fluenced by the condition of that country. A considerable delay, consequent upon the state of the author's health, and numerous avocations, has occurred in carrying the work through the press, which will account to the reader for some of my observations upon the war in India. It remains yet to be seen whether our present successes shall be permanent, or my views be correct. The war now carrying on between the French and Ab-del Kadir is merely what I had foreseen and described in the Chapter on Algiers. The Appendix contains some disquisitions upon subjects which I trust will interest the Antiquary, and the Student of Natural History, though perhaps too abstruse for the general reader. Of the many imperfections in style and language, I am but too conscious ; but I trust my readers will make some allowance for a first work, written under many disadvantages, and amidst conflicting avocations. 199, Great Brunswick Street, Dublin, January, 1 840. CONTENTS OF VOL. L CHAPTER I. CORUNNA. PAGE Departure from England — The Bay of Biscay — Corunna — Costumes — Troops — The Hercules Tower — Story of Old Russian George — Visit to the Field of Battle — Sketch of the Action and Retreat — Similarity to that of Xenophon — Sir C. Napier — A Fish Market. — Appearance of the Country — Zoology — A Brigand's Story — Trade — Cigar Manufactory — Hospital — Hereditary Executioners — The Tomb of Moore — Departure from Spain 1 CHAPTER II. LISBON. Arrival in the Tagus — Lisbon — Church of the Estrella — A Harbour Scene — The Dogs — The Palacio de Cortes — Ruins of the Inquisi tion — Cathedral — Holy Crows — A Black Virgin — Theatricals — Hospitals and State of Medicine — Belem — Its Palace — Convent — Tomb of Alfonzo VI Mosaic Altar of St. Roch — The Carmo — Description of the City — Costumes — Gallegos — Aqueduct of Alcan tara — A Suicide — Dock-yard — Visit -to Cintra — Description of the Country — A Postillion — Splendid Views — Moorish Castle — Penha Convent — Cork Convent — The Monks and State of Religion — Col- lares — Palace of Cintra — Montserratt — Beckford — A Pic Nic — Mafra — Story of its Erection — Marble Chapel^Library — English Navy Officers — A Friar — Portuguese Cookery — Climate — Depar ture 40 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. MADEIRA. PAQG Voyage to Madeira — Arrival at Funchal — Avalanche — Boats — Our Residence — Sleighs — Wine Carriers — Beauty of the Vegetation — Hill Scenery — The Zebra Spider — Cochineal — Fruit-market — Fish The Tunny — Costumes and Appearance of the Madeiranese — Aspect of the Country — Botany — Scenery at the Brazen Head — Recession of the Sea — A German Botanist — Eels — A Drag Anchor — Steep ness of the Roads — Burroqueros — ^Polanquins — Cama de Lobos— ^ Moonlight Views in the Mountains — The Day Breeze — Gardin de Sera — Tea Plantation — Guides — View of the Coural des Frieras — Its Descent — Regions of Vegetation — Magnificent Scenery — Reflec tions on its Beauty — Climate of the Island — Accommodation — Ap plication to Invalids — Disease Improved by it — Time to Visit it — Effects of Vegetation — Equability of Temperature — Insular Position — Class of Patients Benefitted^ — Consumption— ^Dr. Heineken — Duties on English Goods — Means of Going out — English Merchants — Wines — Reading-room — Royal Monopolies — Discovery of the Island — Story of the Lady Anna — The Cedar Crop — Nuns of Santa Clara — Feather Flowers — Maria Clementina — A Grave-yard Farewell 83 CHAPTER IV. TENERIFFE. Visit to Teneriffe— View of the Peak— Fishermen— Santa Cruz- Dromedaries — The British Flag&— Vegetation— Cochineal— Volca nic Rocks — Birds — Inhabitants — Museum— Guanehes— Scenery Laguna—Oratava— Beauty of the Landscape- Port of Oratava The Botanic "Garden— The Dragon Tree — Ascent of the Peak Guides— Spartium Plains- Pumice-stone Plains— Magniflcent Sce nery— Estanza des Ingleses— Extreme Cold— View of the Sunrise— The Cone— The Crater— Smoke Holes— Sulphur— Prospect from the Summit— The Regions of Vegetation— Descent— Climate- Return to Madeira -.9^ CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER V. GIBRALTAR. PAOK Dcpai'ture from Funchal — Sea-sickness — Means of Preventing — A Calm — Life on Board a Yacht — Shores of Africa — Gibraltar — Ap pearance of the Place — Batteries — Market — A Street Scene — A Graveyard — The Alamada — The Evening Gun — Society — Officers Private Theatricals — Helen Macgregor — The Galleries — Capers — Smugglers — Climate 167 CHAPTER VI. ALGIERS. Enter the Mediterranean— Luminosity of the Sea — Coast of Barbary — City of Algiers — Quarantine^Ramadan — Phosphoric Lights — Health Officers — Narrow Streets — Fountains — Bazaars — Trades — Costumes — Moors — The Burnoose — Kadees — Jews — Their Govern ment — Costumes — The Sarmah— Henna — Turks — Arabs — The Swauves and Spahees — Their Dress — French Soldiery — Black Moors Bedawees — Kabyles — Algerine Ladies — Negroes — Chierology — De cay of the Kingdom — The Ottoman Empire — Census . . . 183 CHAPTER VII. ALGIERS. The Dey's Palace — Executions — Moorish Houses— Their Analogy to Syrian — The British Consul-General — Political Agents — A Market — ^Public Works — Cultivation — Colony of Del-Abreem — Plain of Metijah — Intercourse with the Natives — Colonization — Produce — Society — A Ball — The Opera — Visit to a Mosque — Its Inte rior — Religion — Population — Moostapha — Basha — C ommerce — Peculation — Hospitals — Climate — Invalids^A Shooting Excursion . — Game — Occupation by the French — Benefit Conferred upon the Country — Want of Confidence — Achmet Bey — Expense of the Set tlement — Expedition of 1830 — History of the Campaign — The Naval Attack — Comparison with Lord Exmouth's — Animosity to wards the French — Position with Regard to England — Concluding Observations 205 xu CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. SICILY. PAto The Coast of Sicily— Marsala— Quarantine— MedusEe — Their Powers of Sight — Cuvier — A Dolphin Hunt — Arrival at Malta — Harbour of La Valetta — Departure from Malta — Candia — Shores of Egypt 233 CHAPTER IX. EGYPT. View of Alexandria — A Turkish Pilot — The Egyptian Fleet — Sol diery — An Eastern Bazaar — Donkey Boys — Cleopatra's Needle — Its Prostration — Its Removal — A Palm Grove — Ruins of the An cient City — ^Pompey's Pillar — Nautical Hieroglyphics — English Sea men — The Cemetery — Tombs — Eastern Lamentation — Surveyor of the Navy — The Dock-yard — Commissioners — Vessels on the Stocks — The Navy — Arsenal — Artisans — Mosque — Matrimonial Specula tion — ^Price of Labour — A Line-of-battle Ship — Naval Uniform — The Hospital — Consular Residences — The Slave Market — Fish — Dromedaries — Remarks on their Natural History .... 241 CHAPTER X. EGYPT. Harbour of the Mahmoudie — A Kanghia — The Canal — Egyptian Plagues — Cotton Plant — Appearance of the Country — Game — Mode of Cleaning the Canal — Atfe — The Nile — Boatmen — The Euglish Ensign — Composition of the Soil — Scenery — Husbandry Birds — The Fellaheen — Their Costumes — Arab Females — Their Dress — An Egyptian Eye — Old Women — Habitations — Sheykhs Self-mutilation — Cyclopean Population — Conscription — Boolac Approach to the Capital — Cairo — Hotel de Jardin — The Lions Citadel — View from it — Mosque of the Basha — Joseph's Well Palace of the Basha — The Hareem— The Arm Factory — Massacre of the Memlooks— Mosque of Sooltan Hassan — Description of its Interior — The Streets — Inhabitants — Shop-keepers — Nightly Still ness — The Mooeddiu's Chant 273 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XI. EGYPT. PAGE. Subm-bs of Cairo — The Mekka Pilgrimage — Camels — Bedawees — Tombs of the Memlooks — Mokattam Rocks — Tombs of the Kaliefs — Mausoleum of Mohammad Alee — Ancient Customs — The Mad house — Description of its Inmates— Reflections on Insanity — The Slave Market — Abyssinian Girls — Nubians— Their Ideas of Modesty — Mohammadan Slavery — Comparison with Christian — Hotels of Cairo — Coffee Manufactory — A Kahweh — Tobacco — Its Use — ^Pipes — Hemp — Description Used — Inquiry into the Use of Eastern Stimu lants — Temperance Societies — Egyptian Ladies — Eastern Coquettes — A Plague Dog — Intrepidity of an English Physician — Visit to Shoubrai — Beauty of the Road — Gardens of the Hareem — Oriental Luxury — Baths — A Kiosk — ^Mooslim Hospitality — The Basha — His Retinne — A Conversazione — The Egyptian Society — An English Minister 305 CHAPTER XII. EGYPT. Visit to the Hospital — The Eye-wards — Egyptian Ophthalmia — Its Causes — Treatment — College and School of Medicine — :Students — Professors — Dissections — Museum — Instruction — The Maternity — Benefits of the Institution — The Magician^Description of the Ex hibition — The Incantation — Its Failure — Trial of the Powers of Magic — Proofs of its Deception — Inference — The Serpent-charmer The Coluber Haje — Snake-eating — A. Subscription Ball — Female Dress The Snfa — Gambling — Compliment to the British — Old Cairo — The Ferry — Plains of Geza — The Gossamer— Taxes — The Crops Pyramids of Aboosier — ^Plains of Memphis — Irrigation — The Desert — Rocks — Opinions Concerning Birds — Insectiverous Hawks — The Scarabseus — Its Habits — Its Sacred Character — The Sacking of the Tombs — Sackara — Catacombs — A Deformed Mum my Tomb of Bergami— Hieroglyphics— Antiques . . . 337 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. EGYPT. PAGE. Visit to one of the Pyramids of Sackara — Its Entrance — Chambers — Roof— Remarks upon the Pyramid — Buckshese — Tomb of Beer- dor-etho — The Plain of Memphis^Iuquiry into the Probable Site of that City — Opinions of Authors — Reflections on its Destruction —Scene in a Tomb — Mooslim Ablutions — Mummy Pits — Difficulty of Exploring — Urns of the Ibis — Desert Grouse — Hyena.? — Ap proach to the Great Pyramids — The Sphynx — A Pic-nic at the Py ramids — Ascent of that of Chephrenes — Its Construction — Diffi culties of the Ascent — Coating — Description of Herodotus — Dan gerous Position — View from the Summit — Mode of Descent — ^Pyra mid of Cheops — The King's Chamber — Acoustic Tubes — A Picture — Upper Chambers^ — Their Use and Construction— ..Crystaline Incrustation — Colonel Vyse — Interior of Belzoni's or Chephrene's Pyramid — Return to Alexandria^— Inspection of the Catacombs — Description of the Excavations — Their Probable Date — Lake Mareotis — Shells 375 APPENDIX. On a New Method of Preserving Fish for Zoological Collections . 413 On Travel — The Education suitable for Travellers, and the Advan tages that would arise to Science from Travelling Fellowships In the University of Dublin •¦....,.. 416 The Guanehes 420 Analysis of Crystalized Sulphur from the Crater of Teneriffe . . 426 Lancelets 42g Remarks on the Linen of the Ancient Egyptians .... 428 Physical History of the Kabyles 437 Remarks upon the Mode of Sucking in Cetaceee .... 442 On the Removal of Cleopatra's Needle 449 Pompey's Pillar .... 455 The Binny of Bruce 453 On the Membrane of the Camel's Mouth 457 Observations on the Trochilus of Egypt 453 The Scarabseus ¦•••..... 459 A Deformed Mummy ^ga The Sacred Ibis .g . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. I. PAGE. The Crusader Yacht passing the Straits of Gibraltar . Frontispiece. Tomb of Sir John Moore ........ 35 Costumes of Madeira 94 Costumes of Algiers 204 Arab Village on the Nile 282 Egyptian Eyes . . ' 288 The Magician 350 The Scarabseus 368 The Ibis Urn 390 Distant View of the Pyramids ....... 392 View firom the Summit of the Pyramid of Cheops .... 399 Humerus of a deformed Mummy ....... 463 VOL. II. Telmessus Frontispiece. The Knight's Tower — Rhodes ¦•..... 34 Maori 7X Fa9ade of a Tomb .......... 82 Soothsayer's Cave 92 Chart of Tyre 117 Acropolis of Tyre .......... 119 Tomb at Tyre 123 Plan of Jerusalem 222 The Golden Gate — Jerusalem 268 Ground Plan of Tombs 302 Interior of a Tomb 306 Jerusalem 309 The Aceldama 342 Interior of a Tomb in the Aceldama 344 Skulls 345 Section of the Pool of Bethesda 398 Shell Breccia at Tyre • 482 NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE. CHAPTER I. CORUNNA. Departure from England — The Bay of Biscay — Corunna — Costumes — Troops — The Hercules Tower — Story of Old Russian George — Visit to the Field of Battle — Sketch of the Action and Retreat^Similarity to that of Xenophon — Sir C. Napier — A Fish Market — Appearance of the Country — Zoology — A Brigand's Story — Trade — Cigar Manufactory — Hospital — Hereditary Execu tioners — The Tomb of Moore — Departure from Spain. The boats were hoisted to the davits, the anchor .catted, and the last cheering note of the sailors' " Ye ho, my hearties, O !" had ceased on board the Crusader yacht on the evening of the 24th of September, 1837, as her light sails bent to the wind, and she slipt past the white cliffs of the Isle of Wight, to seek for her inmates in warmer climes that health which an English winter cannot afford. A nine-knot breeze soon took us out of the chops of the channel to where the god of the stormy waters holds his court — " the sleepless Bay of Biscay" — where we rocked and tossed about for the ensuing three days — the wind heading us hourly, and the sea rolling a tremendous swell. Old VOL I. B THE BAY OF BISCAY. Neptune seemed to welcome this my first visit to his dominions with all due honours ; but notwithstanding the sea-faring philosophy of our own lordly poet, "My soul did sicken o'er the heaving wave." How my spirits sank within me as lying in my berth on the weather-quarter, every swell broke upon the bulwarks, and the scattered wave, splashing over the deck, ran hissing along the vessel's side. What sensations it begets, especially during those dark and dismal hours of night, when, in addition to the elemental war without, the ocean's roar, and the howling wind, each bulk-head and spar would express its sufferings in the most mournful complainings. At times, these hitherto plaintive wailings would wax " louder, longer, louder still," till, rising in full chorus, they would become as outrageous and discordant as a menagerie at feeding time ; and then would come an interval of rest — a moment of intense stillness, as if the winds and waves took breathing time, and paused to watch the effect of their last effort upon our gallant bark, or mark how they could best apply the succeeding one. On Wednesday a small bird (one of the fly catchers) hovered about the vessel, at least seventy miles off land : unable to bear up longer, it fluttered a few minutes among the rigging, fell exhausted upon the deck, and died almost immediately. Next day, a dove made its appearance, endeavouring to reach us. Poor thing ! it came, like Noah's of old, COAST OF GALLICIA. not with an olive leaf, and the welcome tidings of land, but to tell us, that she, too, could find " no rest for the sole of her foot." The wind continuing to head us and freshening into a gale, we made but little way, and, to complete our miseries, the main mast sprung at the deck ! This misfortune was remedied during the day, the mast having been fished and rendered secure enough to carry a tri- sail, under which we made land on the following morning, September 29th, and a more welcome hail never saluted my ears. The sea moderated, and we determined on running into Corunna to refit. How weary one feels on first coming on deck, after a few days' sea-rocking ; a lassitude very similar to that experienced in coach travelling. We had perceived it gradually getting warmer for the last two days, and now the difference of climate was much greater than we could have sup posed, from so slight a difference of latitude. The north-west coast of Gallicia, along^ which now lay our course, is bleak and rugged, though not deserving the term of bold or iron-bound. The famous Hercules light, which forms so striking an object on this coast, soon pointed to where the swollen waves. of Biscay give place to the calm and secure waters of the united harbours of Corunna and Ferrol. The numberless wind-mills that crown every eminence, in full work, with their snow-white sails glancing in the sun, carried us back to the days of Quixotte and Spanish knight-errantry. The A SPANISH PILOT. sight of them, indeed, always created a smile ; and perhaps it may be here observed, that much of the extravagance we are inclined to impute to the poor Don, from our notions of the magnitude of wind mills at home, is greatly diminished by those of this country being so exceedingly small. Many are constructed solely of wood, and, viewed in the indistinctness of twilight, do not require the imagination of even the hero of Cervantes to transform them into giants. A most wretched pilot-boat came alongside, from the ragged and noisy crew of which we selected a pilot ; the exact similarity in featuTe, expression, and coal-black hair to those of a like class on the western coast of Ireland, who boast a Spanish origin, struck me instantly. The only peculiarity in costume of these people, besides the invariable red sash and its accompanying chuchilla, was their prodigious wooden shoes, which, on emergency, would almost serve them to float in. I need hardly inform those who have ever entered a foreign port, that our pilot's first inquiry, on coming aboard, was after the rum bottle. Pilotage here is very high, although but small skill is required. Little is seen of the town before entering the harbour, except one of the forts and a spire or two; but on rounding the point, the whole bursts upon your view, lying principally along the beach and on the water's edge. Corunna — that name so stamped on the page of CORUNNA. British history — what recollections does it not revive as we ride before these once bristling walls ? Within view are the heights, whence so destructive a fire was poured down upon our gallant country men, and the tomb of their renowned leader crowns one of the bastions beside us. After waiting for some hours, the health and excise officers arrived. These officious gentry being satisfied as to the purity of our bills of health, which, as they were in Latin, neither they nor our skipper knew one word of, we were permitted to land. The harbour is fine, secure and almost land-locked. The town forms a crescent around it, and when seen at a little distance, presents a rather novel appearance, owing to the irregularity of the white washed houses,- the green windows, verandahs, numerous balconies, together with red-tiled roofs and tall chimneys. There is little commerce^ and but few vessels ; those being principally small Spanish brigantines, feluccas, and guarda costas. Two packets sail monthly to the Havannah. There are no docks, those originally commenced having long since been abandoned ; and like all continental fortified cities, the gates are shut at sunset. The streets of Corunna are wider than those of most Spanish towns ; the shops poor, the trade incon siderable, and although containing 20,000 inhabi tants, the place has a deserted and desolate appearance. The town is divided into old and new ; the former, situated on the hill surrounding THE PRADO. the citadel, is the residence of the aristocracy ; while the new, which runs along the water's edge, is mostly composed of shops. There is a very tolerable prado, where the inhabitants walk at dusk, to smoke cigaritas, inquire into the merits of the last report,* discuss the chances of the war, and the certain destruction of the Pretender, as they term Don Carlos, being all violent Christines ; and " Spain's dark glancing daughters" issue forth attended by their duennas to court the moonlight, exercise their fans, and return the salutations of the passing cavalleros. This place was at one time strongly fortified ; it is now but " mould'ring walls and towers defence less," and in many places the guns lie dismounted in the embrasures. At the entrance of the harbour stands the castle of Saint Antonio, on a rock about a musket-shot off shore. It is in tolerably good condition, and serves at present as a state prison for the Carlists. The costume of the females is very pretty, and amongst the upper orders black seems the prevailing * Lies are rife here; one evening during our stay we were surprised at the sight of the town illuminated, accompanied with great rejoicing. We found it was for a victory said to have been gained over the Carhsts near ^ladrid, in which the rebel force was totally annihilated. A few days after other accounts arrived, by which it appeared that an engagement had taken place, but with a different result, four Christinos having been killed, the rest running awav, "to live to fight another dav." FEMALE HEAD-DRESS. colour ; but as you descend the scale of society it is of every hue. The women have all good figures, particularly straight, some indeed so much so, as to give the appearance of constraint, the back considerably bent in, and the waist proportionably prominent, making the greater number appear as if they were setting at defiance the orthodox rules of Miss Martineau. If this were observable amongst the lower orders only, one would be inclined to attribute it to the universal habit of carrying burdens on the head, especially the water-pots, which are of the, most elegant antique shapes ; but it is not so. The head 'seems with the women to be the ^om^ d^ appui, the object of all their care, from the highest to the lowest. No matter how badly they are dressed in other respects, the head is always neat and elegant. I have seen many going without shoes, whose head-dress might be envied by an Ei^glish lady of the highest fashion. The hair is of a shining jet black, eithel: madonnaed or drawn tightly off the forehead, made as smooth as possible all over the head, and collected at the back into one tail, or sometimes two, often reaching far below the long slender waist. One small curl, pressed flat on each temple, is kept in its exact position for great occasions, by a black patch the size of a shilling. Ringlets and curls are unknown, and I never saw the hair turned up — that object so longed for by the sex in our own country — so anxiously SPANISH LADIES. looked forward to by all industrious mammas, and forming such an eventful epoch in a young lady's life — the bridge from youth to womanhood, the very next step to " going out." They wear no bonnets, but the graceful mantilla of black silk, trimmed with velvet and edged with lace, is drawn half-way over the head, and hangs low down on the figure. It is a very beautiful and becoming piece of female attire. In a few instances I saw white lace ones worn by Carlists : caps are unknown. The petticoat of the lower order is composed of grey or brown cloth, wrapped several times round them, which quite spoils the figure. All the better classes carry fans, which they keep in constant motion, and the dexterous management of which, I should think, forms no small item in the accomplishments of a Spanish lady of fashion. The hands are kept demurely crossed upon the breast. The complexion of all ranks is very dark, more so than one would be inclined to attribute to the influ ence of a few hundred mile's' difference of latitude. I cannot take it upon my conscience to say, that the women of Gallicia are handsome ; their features are indeed regular and tolerably well formed, with straight noses, &c. ; but the want of colour and animation deadens all interest, unredeemed even by the black and brilliant eye which is universal. The country girls are an exception ; they fully compensate for a somewhat less tasteful toilette, by a complexion bright, animated, and blooming. The PEASANTRY. gentlemen citizens are all enveloped in the cloak, above which are just seen a pair of formidable moustaches ; but I never could divest myself of the idea of their having the deadly, treacherous stilletto hidden in its dark folds. They seem partial to the brightest colours ; scarlet trowsers being a favourite piece of dress. The dress of the farmers is much more picturesque and national, but gaudy and of all hues ; principally red and light brown. Their high-peaked hats are much and tastefully ornamented with feathers, artificial flowers, and ribbons of every brilliant colour. They wear the hair in long ringlets behind, and falling over the shoulders ; the jacket, red or yellow, with parti-coloured sleeves, is profusely decorated with braid and buttons. These, with their Dutch breeches of enormous folds, give them a most grotesque appearance ; but with all this finery, they generally go barefooted ; few wear the moustache, that adornment being resigned to the more dandified citizen, who cultivates it to a most luxuriant extent. The dress of the muleteer is peculiar ; his dark brown leathern jacket, purple velvet breeches, and great leggings, together with the sombrero or large slouched hat, which shadows his handsome dark features, deck a form often of the finest mould, and capable of bearing every hardship. These men, remarkable for the honesty of their dealings, are incessantly traversing the whole extent of the Peninsula, and many of them realize large fortunes. 10 SOLDIERY. They form a community of themselves, and for the most part live in a town a few leagues inland. You may meet them in great droves along the roads, each having under his care from six to twelve mules, laden with tobacco and merchandise, and tied in a row, with the drivers sitting sidewise on one, and singing their own wild and beautiful melodies. The farmers and the inhabitants generally of this country are a small race, but I never any where saw so many deformities, such as diseased spines and hips, club feet, &c. &c. The children are squalid in the extreme ; but with the exception of one or two blind crones at either gate of the town, there are very few beggars, though there is no asylum for them. The soldiery are the most miserable, half-starved, 'and ill-looking set of fellows I ever beheld ; ragged and shoeless. Just fancy a barefooted corps ! The national, or city guard, is a disgrace to any party of ragamuffins. The dress, an old blue jacket, dirty yellow cross-belts, sacken trowsers that never saw a wash-tub, and a little grey forage cap, no stockings, and rarely shoes ; this is full dress. The artillery are somewhat better, but their long light- grey bedgowns, and high narrow black caps make them look like so many chandlers' boys with tin cans on their heads. The officers are little better, though they twist their moustaches, puff paper cigars, look fierce, and strut about with all the BULLOCK-CARTS. 11 " pomp and circumstance of war." A hungry Scot, a well-fed English, or a half-drunken Irishman ought to be able to thrash a dozen of them. The portion of the army stationed here consists of three corps, a regiment of the line, the national guard, and the tin-can gentry aforesaid, whose barracks stand on a height above the town. Yotr see the old women sitting at their doors plying with great industry the distaff and spindle, the only spinning machine in use here. There are no public conveyances of any kind, and the only carriage is a most ill-constructed sort of cart, drawn by two half-starved bullocks of a tawny colour, and usually much too young to work ; they draw it by a rude pole and collar, and are themselves half dragged along by a most wretched, ragged driver ; the wheels are two wooden rollers turning in wooden blocks, and as the axles are never greased, the screeching is the most intolerable that ever assailed my ears. It would be hard, I think, for any people on the earth but themselves to find an excuse for such a detestable nuisance ; but they not only tolerate, but encourage it, as they say the sound drives on the animals, and it certainly looks as if they embraced this as a dernier resort with the miserable brutes. In the morning, when the different articles are bringing to market, you hear the bullock-carts in perfection ; indeed it is utterly impossible to hear any thing else, and when you ride into the country, their screaming is heard 12 RELIGIOUS EDIFICES. in all directions. The horses and asses in this part of Spain are smaller than in any other ; their saddles are immense pads, which, reaching from the tail to the neck, produce a callous protuberance, bare and polished on the crests. The horses have a good dash of Arab blood in them, and the Moorish or Memlook stirrup is still in use here. The religious edifices are hardly worth a notice, except probably on Sunday, when the aisles, &c. being unincumbered with pews, are crowded with their congregations, who, fetching in with them baskets of fish, frait, vegetables, and wares of all kinds, give the place the air of a market. As to pictures, if any ever graced the walls, they will most likely be found in the cabinets of Paris, pro bably in that of Marshal Soult ; and as most of the religious orders have been abolished, you scarcely ever meet with a priest or friar in the streets. There is very little national music heard, none save the occasional twilight-note of the guitar, touched by some fair signorita, half-hidden behind a green verandah. We visited the Hercules Tower, situated on the extremity of the Peninsula, about a mile to the south-west of the town. It is a magnificent square tower, rising at least two hundred feet above the level of the sea, which breaks here with tremendous violence ; it stands upon a base of about eighty feet, and is exceedingly well built of hard, close white granite, and has an electric conducting wire HERCULES TOWER. 13 extending from a small pillar elevated above the lantern to a house about twenty yards off. An inscription over the doorway informs you that it was built by the merchants or board of trade of the province of Gallicia. It has been erected since 1809, and must be of inestimable value to mariners, as it is seen from an immense distance, and marks the common entrance to the harbours of Corunna and Ferrol ; but what adds still greater interest to it in the eye of the traveller, is the fact of its enclosing within its massive walls, one of the most interesting monuments of antiquity — the pharos of Hercules, the oldest existing specimen of this kind in Europe, and amongst the very few now any where to be found. The origin of this (the original tower) and its name are involved in much obscurity. The tra dition here is, that it was built by Hercules himself. Humboldt mentions, that Laborde had discovered an inscription near its foundation, stating, that " this pharos was constructed by Caius Severus Lupus, architect of the city of Aqua Flavia (Cheves), and that it was dedicated to Mars. Strabo, indeed, affirms that Gallicia, the country of the Galici, had been peopled by Greek colonies. Ac cording to an extract from the geographies of Spain, by Asclepiades, the Myrlean, an ancient tradition stated that the companions of Hercules settled in these countries." There are many traditions in this part of Spain 14 HERCULES TOWER. about Hercules* and his companions ; and at Betanzos, a few leagues hence, there is some curious old architecture, and also a museum, where they go so far as to exhibit the very arms of the hero, and the leather money used in his time ! It is some times called the "Iron Tower," and near it, about a mile and a half from the town, one of the embarka tions of the English troops took place. On our way to it we saw an old Moorish castle upon a rock, not far fron,i the shore, and north-west of the town. We thence passed over a wide common with little of vegetation, but covered with innumerable land shells, a small and very beautiful species of the com mon helix, with a variety of small motley green lizards, (the lacerta agilis,) and grasshoppers of all hues, chirping and springing about in all directions in the warm sunshine. The datura stramonium * There can be no doubt, however, that the Hercules here referred to was the Phcenician, and not the Grecian. Orosims, a writer of the fifth century, gives an account of a very fine column or pharos, which tradition in his day said had been erected by Hercules on the coast of the Celtiberian Gallicia, as a guide to ships coming there from Britain. Mr. G. Higgias supposes the town of Corunna took its name from this column, and says, -"there is every reason to believe that the sea coast was possessed by the Sidonian race the whole way from Sidon to Corunna, with the exception perhaps of the Delta of Egypt. Under these circunistances, it is very evident, that a voyage to Britain must have been very easy, even with very indifferent ships." We must recollect that the Sidonian colonists spread themselves chiefly along the African shore, and crossed over to Tartessus in Spain by the pillars of Hercules. Cartago being probably their first settlement in Europe, except Greece. RUSSIAN GEORGE. 15 grows here in great luxuriance, and is now in both fruit and flower, and also a small shrubby daphne, with a white flower, and reddish berry. The meadow safron [colchicum autumnale) grows in great profusion, the hills about the light-house being literally covered, and as it is now in full blow, its light pink flowers produce a very lively appearance. We must not forget to mention the charming bella donna lily which lends its graceful form to beautify nature's verdant carpet. The soil is of a light and sandy character, and is principally cultivated with Indian corn. , On the morning of the 2nd of October we set forward to view the memorable field of Corunna, accompanied by old George Daboish as our guide. Before we proceed further, we must introduce this personage to our readers. His history is remarka ble — by birth a Russian — an Italian by descent — married to a Spaniard — and, although naturalised in Spain, claiming England for his country. Few men in his condition have seen more of what is termed life. He has with truth, " braved many a rough sea's storm" in his day — the very sport of the element he made his home. At an early age he was bound to the master of an English merchant man trading to the Black Sea ; out of which he was, shortly after, pressed on board a British man-of-war. From this he took French leave at Cork, and having travelled across the country for some days, alone and pennyless, he found him- 16 RUSSIAN GEORGE. self at what he not inaptly calls the mutiny of Vinegar Hill. He re-entered the merchant ser vice, and some years afterwards was wrecked returning from the West Indies as mate — having suffered unspeakable hardships in an open boat for three weeks, during which time they were reduced to the horrible alternative — " When out they spoke of lots for flesh and blood. And who should die to be his fellow's food." From this state of misery and privation they were providentially rescued by one of our Kinsale hookers ; to the inhabitants of which place he stiU retains feelings of the utmost gratitude. He again entered the navy, and immediately after served at the Nile ; was wounded at Trafalgar, on board the Bellerophon ; boasts the honour of an acquaintance ship with Nelson, and was present when Parker suffered at the yard-arm, after the mutiny at the Nore. He served in one of the transports in this bay, at the time of the retreat, and seems perfectly acquainted with all the transactions concerning it. After this he betook himself to the merchants' service ; soon rose to be a master, and had acquired some wealth, but was again shipwrecked, and he alone of all his crew saved. He was thrown ashore, and beside him lay his ship's compass, the sole rem nant of all his earthly possessions. He still pre serves it with the greatest veneration, and exhibits it with delight to strangers. George's story. - 17 The ocean's greedy wave had robbed him of his home ; the rocks and sands had spoliated his wealth ; the drenching spray had damped, but could not quench, the fire of his enthusiasm, so characteristic of his calling, till love, all-powerful, induced him to resign the ocean for one of the dark-eyed maids of Corunna. He married, and here, by years of industry and perseverance, he rose to comfort, if not to wealth. Short-lived was his day of happiness. In the year 1823, when the French bombarded this town, his house, which stands outside the walls, was struck by a random ball, and in the very spot * where he had concealed all his treasure, (some thousands of dollars,) which the French soldiers soon pounced upon, and fearing their vengeance for concealing his own property, he had actually to swim to one of the Spanish vessels in the harbour. Still he has wea thered the storm, and supports himself in some comfort by the proceeds of a small posada sacrata, or lodging-house. He is now a stout old man of seventy-six — a fine honest tar of the olden days of long queues and wide trowsers. He has seen much of the world, and, what is rare in his profession, profited by it ; to use his own expression, " a man who travels much seldom dies a fool." He is master of most of the European languages, and speaks English well. His long yarns of the days * It is still to be seen, and this account is verified by the British Consul. VOL. I. C IQ VISIT TO THE BATTLE FIELD. of Nelson, and the various scenes he had been par taker in, were highly amusing. He is universally known in Corunna, as " old Russian George." The heights of Corunna are about four miles from the town; the tract of intervening ground is very uneven, and thrown into a succession of mounds and small enclosures, intersected in every direction by dirty lanes, the banks of which rise, in many instances, high above the head ; while the deep and narrow bridle-paths admit of only two passengers abreast. You proceed, eastward, along the Madrid road, for about two miles ; when turning to the right into one of the deep lanes, you traverse these miserable tracks for another mile and half, until you reach a range of secondary hills, distant about half a mile from the summits of the heights. On the former of these was posted the British line ;* its right resting upon one of the by-roads leading to Elvina, and its extreme left stretching downwards to the great Madrid road ; while, on the heights above, and commanding a point blank range of their opponents, stood the French during the time of the engage ment. At a farm-house situated some way down the hill, on the edge of a pine wood, and to the right of Elvina, was planted the battery which proved so destructive to our troops. The hamlet of Elvina, from which the enemy * See Moore's History of the Campaign, and Napier's Penin sular War. ELVINA. 19 was driven, is a wretched collection of about ten or a dozen scattered houses, at which three or four ways meet. It is a filthy, sunken hole — its only attraction, at present, being a small old church, of ' Saracenic architecture, a few hundred yards to the left of the village. Its door-way and windows are of the deeply groined arch," having the impost orna mented, on the left side, with a rudely carved ram's head, bearing the crescent on the forehead. Near this the most trying part of the contest took place, and, beside one of the walls that surround it. Major (now Sir Charles Napier) when in advance of his men, and severely wounded, was timely rescued from the bayonets of several French soldiers by the generosity of one of their drummers, for which Napoleon justly conferred on him the order of the legion of honour. Beyond the church the road turns to the left, with high fences on both sides, but still greatly exposed to the French battery which was planted on 'the hill in front and a little to the right. Here, at a sudden turn of the lane, about one hun dred yards from the church, is pointed out the spot where fell one of the ablest of British soldiers — the immortal Moore. The farm-house is still in existence at the angle of the pine wood, to which his attention was directed, when a cannon-shot carried away a greater part of the shoulder-joint. We erected a small cairn of stones on the sad spot. After this we directed our course by the 20 REVIEW OF THE RETREAT. above-mentioned farm-house, from the battery of which came the principal assault, and gained the heights occupied by the enemy's lines ; and cer tainly it was a position of extraordinary strength and advantage, commanding a view of not only the whole extent towards the town, but of the inland country to a great distance. And here it may be asked, why did Moore abandon those very heights, which he held till a day or two before the French took possession of them ? The conclusive answer is this ; that although it is granted that he could have retained his position as long as his sup plies lasted, even against a very superior force, yet having only 15,000 men, a number quite inadequate to completely defend the whole extent of heights, and on his right a great expanse of open country, he would have ensured the destruction of his own army, by rendering his wings liable to be turned. Again, it may be asked, why, having left this vantage-ground, did he not throw his army into the town, a tolerably fortified place ? For this reason ; that, independent of his being still liable to an attack on the walls, guns could in many places be brought to the water's edge, especially near to fort St. Lucia, (as was done on the next day,) and the embarkation greatly embarrassed, or completely prevented. And, be it remembered, that Moore had already determined on removing the British army from Spain. Corunna, as seen from this point, presents the REVIEW OF THE RETREAT. 21 apex of a triangle, of which the French lines formed the base, while the British kept them at bay in the centre. Had the transports arrived from Vigo, as was expected, on our men reaching this on the 13th, every thing could have been gotten safely on board before the arrival of the main body of the enemy, as we were two days' march a-head, and so Soult been outwitted ; his plan having evidently been to keep harassing us on the march, and deferring the attack until the moment of embarkation. As it was, the delay served to add lustre to the British arms, and to restore whatever of order and discipline might have been wanting among the troops, from the extreme hardships of so long a forced march. The French were completely repulsed at every point, and with considerable loss — but, alas ! the vic tory was purchased with the»blood of its noble hero. The question of the retreat has been ably and suc cessfully discussed by many historians, but by none more so than by him from whose justly celebrated and accurately correct work, I make the following extract : " Thus ended the retreat of Corunna, a trans action which, up to this day, has called forth as much of falsehood and malignity as servile and interested writers could offer to the unprincipled leaders of a base faction, but which posterity will regard as a genuine example of ability and patriotism."* The spot where stood the magazine, blown up by our troops, is now a vineyard, with scarcely a stone * Col. William Napier's History of the Peninsular War. 22 THE MAGAZINE. to mark its site. The explosion is described as having been terrific, almost all the windows in Corunna having been shattered, and occasioning a great swell in the harbour, so as to endanger the shipping, many of which dragged their anchors. A citizen told us, that Moore had sent them notice of the intended explosion, to apprise the invalids, and to desire they should open their windows ; showing, in this slight instance, the coolness and forethought of the general, as well as the humanity and kindness of the man. Eulogium on such a man from an unprofessional pen like mine, would be superfluous, "but just, supported as it is by the ablest of mili tary opinions, those of Napoleon, Wellington, and Soult. I cannot help observing that with one of those whom the world has long since proclaimed immortal, his achievements place him in close parallel. The retreat of Xenophon bears the most singular resemblance in almost every particular, saving in duration, to that of Moore. Both were betrayed and deserted in a strange land, far from home, and by the very people they came to save. Both had an enemy to encounter, brave, vigilant, cautious, and far superior in numbers, who, while they incessantly hovered round and harassed them, cutting off their stagglers and supplies, never would accept the offered engagement. Both tra versed countries barren and mountainous, in the depth of winter, and, to complete the resemblance, both, when in sight of that sea which to them was a PARALLEL WITH XENOPHON. 23 haven of rest, were forced into a desperate struggle ere they were allowed by the flush of victory, to seek that safety her stormy bosom afforded.* The field of battle, and the general face of the country are poor and barren, mostly of granite rock, with scarcely any soil, what little exists is clothed with that beautiful heath the erica ciliaris, and small scattered clumps of pine, like fox-covers, crown the summits of all the hills around. It was a lovely day, 70° in the shade, but which the light sea breeze prevented from being oppres sive. This is the harvest of Indian corn, the principal food of the lower classes, and all are en gaged in bearing it home. You hear nothing around * Note furnished to the author by Sir Charles Napier : " The following reminds one of the fact related by Xenophon. As in one column the army of Moore reached a height between Betanzas and Corunna, a view of the sea suddenly burst upon our sight, and 'the sea! the sea!' was vociferated by the soldiers in front of the column, and repeated to the rere. I heard that Sir John Moore said to his aid-de-camp — " now for the first time, in this retreat, I think myself unlucky ; for I see no ships, and I may be obliged to fight a battle." He regretted the being forced to sacrifice his troops in a battle fought to secure his embarkation, and which promised no other important result but that of adding another proof of the courage possessed by British soldiers. His object had been to draw the French army, under Napoleon, to the north of Spain, and thus give the Spa niards an opportunity to rise and form their armies in the south. This masterly manoeuvre was ably and successfully executed. His next object was to embark his small army without a battle — this was not possible — he fought, conquered, and fell, leaving his character recorded in the annals of his country, as one of her most consummate warriors, and greatest men," 24 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. you but the screeching of the bullock- carts, which, though so insupportable in your immediate vicinity, OSes much of its discordance by distance. We passed on our way home, through a delightful valley, crowded with vineyards, figs, orange, and chesnut trees, the latter of which, hung over with ears of Indian corn spread out to dry, looked as if loaded with their own golden fruit ; but the houses, and the peasantry themselves, were wretchedly dirty, and many of the wine-presses " contrived a double debt to pay," and were converted into pig-troughs. There is a tolerable fish-market at Corunna, but uncertain, owing to the severe gales which rush in here from the Bay of Biscay. The grey mullet is very plenty in this harbour, and, on a calm day, is easily shot by throwing a bit of bread on the water, at which several will jump together. I have fre quently killed five at one shot. That most delicate of all sea-fish, the red mullet, is also got here in great abundance, but not large, as is the saury and sea pike, several varieties of sea bream, dories, red gurnet, and eels. But the principal fish, from its numbers and its commercial importance, is the sardinha, {clupea sardina.) The mode of taking them is peculiar, a large flat-bottomed boat, holding upwards of thirty people, is anchored where the shoal is expected, and a net of great length and excessively small meshes is shot out by a small boat, which, having enclosed the fish, is hauled into the large one, by an upright windlass, or capstan ; FISHERIES. 25 the net is nearly half a mile long, and the multitude captured at a single haul is almost incredible. Im mediately on being taken, they are cleansed, the heads cut off, and packed dry in tubs or baskets, with salt and bay leaves for exportation. The most accurate attention is paid to the packing and curing of these little fishes, which has insured for them a ready market in every part of the Mediterranean, whither they are sent in vast quantities, as well as to the interior of Europe. Our extensive sprat and herring fisheries on the Irish and British coasts might derive a profitable lesson from the Spaniards, both in their mode of catching and curing. There are occasionally other fish caught in these nets, as the beautiful Spanish bream, sauries, &c., and at the mouth of the Rio Burgo a few sea trout and salmon in the season, but not in sufficient numbers to warrant the statement, that it is a habitat of that river. It may be supposed, that a few stray down the coast, after the great migratory mass have ascended the British rivers. Turbot is a rarity, and of inferior quality, but there are several species of wrasse taken in the bay. This part of Gallicia is considered a good vine country ; but though the grape is large and well flavoured, the wine is wretched stuff. The fruit- market is generally cheap and good, but the hail and fogs in the early parts of this year have quite spoiled the melons ; the peaches are very good, and the onions the finest I ever saw — they are of a 26 FRUIT MARKET. beautiful crimson hue, and with pumpkins of im mense size ; gourds and peppers form the food of the lower classes, and give the market-place, where they are for sale, a singular appearance to an Eng lish eye. The town being a fort, no gardens are allowed round it. Chesnuts are in great quantities, and eaten by every body. You meet with the stoves at all the corners, and the incessant, though not inharmoni ous cry of "castanas ricas," salutes you every where. The only wild fowl I saw was the red-legged partridge, which, though larger and whiter, is not nearly so well-flavoured as the common English species, and is in taste little removed from a barn door fowl. Our shooting excursions afforded an op portunity of seeing the country around, which is very uninteresting, being a succession of barren hills, similar to the battle-field. This repulsive aspect, however, is enlivened by the occasional fertility of the valleys, which makes the contrast the greater. Here the farms are surrounded by groves of magnificent chesnuts, and contain vineyards, fields of Indian corn, and neat enclosures. The science of agriculture is but little known in this part of Spain, and proper cultivation could do much ; the primitive plough, formed of a simple beam, with a cross-stick at the end, to which the share is fastened, shows their lamentable state of ignorance in this all-important branch of knowledge. The mattock is the principal implement of husbandry. The sheep are wretched in the extreme, being not larger than CLIMATE. 27 a three-months' lamb in England ; the wool - is mostly black, short, cOarse, and mixed with hair^ and the mutton consequently very bad. The beef is good, though small, probably from working the oxen so young. Altogether, Corunna would be a cheap place to live in, and the climate, just now, is very pleasant and healthy. The dews, though heavy, do not commence till late in the evening, but the winter months are often excessively severe, as those who suffered in 1809 but too well know. The cold of that winter, however, was far beyond the average ; the heat during the day is generally about 70° Farh. Civil war, with all its desolating train, has not yet reached these parts ; the land is cultivated as usual, and the people appear fully as happy, and affairs go on as smoothly as if no such thing existed in the country. In fact, the poor classes seem to know and care little about it ; their condition will be little benefitted whoever conquers ; and with the exception of the evening's discussion, which takes place on the prado amongst some of the officers or the politicians, on the arrival of the last lie, or the dark glances of a few suspected Carlists, grouped in little coteries around a padre, or lurking behind a crumbling bastion, to take a furtive look at the castle of St. Antonio, which holds so many of their friends and comrades within its dark, damp, and wave-washed dungeons, none seem to trouble them selves about the subject. 28 THE WAR. The rocky shores in the neighbourhood afford interesting walks to the naturalist; the water is beautifully clear, and the rocks, as far as they are washed by the tide, covered with small pinkish madrapores, and the most splendid actiniae of every colour, different varieties of star-fish, medusae, and other molluscous animals. Two species of cuttle fish (sepicB octopus and officinalis) are in great plenty, exposed for sale in the market, and considered excellent food. In my wanderings along the shores, I occasionally found the slender green locust, (locusta viredissima,) and always remarked that, on pinning it in my hat or my case, it imme diately commenced depositing its eggs, as if fearful of its destructive race becoming extinct. The English mails now go to Vigo, and those to Madrid are, owing to the present state of the country round the capital, very uncertain — they are carried on horseback by couriers, who are frequently robbed. A circumstance occurred in connection with one of these robberies, a few years ago, so characteristic of Spanish law and injustice, that I cannot help recording it, as related to me by a friend there resident at the time. Towards the latter end of October, 1835, the insurgents of Gallicia posted a notice, that all per sons found conveying the mail of her majesty the Queen of Spain should be shot. The government courier proceeding from Corunna to Madrid, soon after this notice, was murdered, the bags cut open. A brig.\nd's story. 29 and the letters destroyed, it was supposed by a Car- list named Lopez. Count Pablo Morillo, then captain-general of that province, enraged at such conduct, declared, that if they shot another courier he would shoot the bro ther of Lopez. These brothers had been previously tried for an offence in no way connected with politi cal affairs ; were both acquitted ; but the unhappy victim to injustice was detained in prison on suspicion, while his brother joined the insurgents as their chief. The captain-general would not listen to the advice offered him by many, and amongst these several of the consuls of the place, to issue a proclamation of his intention to shoot the brother of Lopez if they committed a similar act. In a few nights after, on a Saturday, a courier, with both his horses, was shot two leagues from Corunna. The count, a most violent man, would hear no remonstrance, and instantly , ordered this unfor tunate man for execution, and would not even allow him time to prepare for the other world, but hurried him off, desiring the confessor to do so on his way to the spot where the courier was shot thes night previous. At two o'clock on a Sunday, this man was led out, accompanied by a prisoner named Ramos — the one to be shot, the other to witness the fate he next was to suffer, should another courier fall by rebel hands. When they arrived at the place of execution. 30 AN EXECUTION. and Lopez was told by the provost-marshal his excellency's order, he replied — " What do I know of all this — I have been in prison a year, and know nothing of my brother's crimes, why should I suffer for him — but I have long thought I should— I am ready-^and sat down on the chair." * * * * The company of Urbanos returned, after this sad scene, with Ramos riding on an ass, sunk and un manned — both prisoners were in the queen's uni form as officers. It were but to be expected that the brigand, Lopez, would commence a fearful retaliation — ^he still haunts the mountain passes in this neighbour hood, the terror of those who have wealth to lose — the Rob Roy of Gallicia. Although the thirsty soil may have drunk up the stream of life that flowed from the wounds of this innocent man — the hot vapour rising from off that purple tide has ascended on high, an evidence against this guilty land. The only trade of any extent carried on in Corunna is the fabrica tobacos, or cigar manufac tory — a government monopoly — none of the sooth ing weed being permitted to be used except what is made into cigars, and bad enough they are — All smoke ; " the naked beauties" of the mild cigar are not, however, preferred by the people, who cut it up into small pieces, rolling it in little square bits of maize (rice) paper, and puff away with great satisfaction. There are no pipes. The manufac-- tory is worked, solely, by females, and when in FABRICA TOBACOS. 31 full operation, gives employment to 3500 hands, be sides the officers and overseers of the establishment. The workers are of all ages from eight years up wards ; and in one of the rooms we entered, there were 800 at work ! Thdy sit at tables, with a smooth thick board placed before them, of about a foot square. The leaf is first damped, and then a certain quan tity weighed out to each individual, and for which she is obliged to return a certain number of cigars. The operation is commenced by unfolding the leaves, and cutting them into pieces of about six inches by three, until they have a sufficient number of these '^folders" prepared. The smaller broken pieces, and cut-off ends, are all collected in another heap to form the centre of the cigar, while the stalks and larger veins of the leaf are put aside and for warded to Hamburg to be manufactured into snuff. The only instruments used by the makers are knives, shaped like a shoemaker's, and a pair of scissors. Having smoothed the leaf with the handle of the knife, they take some of the shreds and smaller pieces, and placing them in one corner of the folder, roll it obliquely over them, keeping them even with the right hand, till they come to the end, when the remainder of the leaf is cut off, and the point twisted. The cigar is then measured, the top clipped off, and a roll or two on the board being given to it with the hand, it is finished. So quickly is all this done, by expert workers, that it i^ almost impossible to exa- 32 FABRICA TOBACOS. mine 'the process, except by watching it in a beginner, as some can make as many as three cigars in a minute. Not a bit is lost, all the parings being put into the interior of the next. When the central parts are too small, rolled too hard, or have too much of the stalk or veins remaining, it both impairs the flavour, and prevents the kindly smoking of the cigar. Expert workers will make as many as eighteen bunches, of fifty-one each, a day, but this requires great practice ; the average number is about twelve bunches, or 612. After it is manufactured, the tobacco is again weighed, and the people are all searched by the matrons on leaving off work. The good workers can earn three shillings a day, and the ordinary ones from two shillings to two and sixpence, which, considering the cheapness of provisions in this part of Spain, is a high rate of labour. They all seemed very merry, and kept up an incessant clatter. The fingers of those long engaged in this work, become exceedingly slender and delicate ; such a display of elegantly decked heads and sparkling black eyes I never saw, and yet they looked unhealthy, as might naturally be expected from the confinement and per nicious atmosphere of the factory, the rooms being low, badly lighted, and worse ventilated. The great heat and poisoned air were to us quite intoxicating, al- thoughit is astonishing how the youngest bear it with out being narcotized. Consumption is very common among them, and the numerous deformities I have FABRICA TOBACOS. 33 already remarked are generally in the offspring of those engaged in the Fabrica. As we walked through the establishment, we were constantly saluted with that common ejaculation of an English seaman, " I say, I say" — indeed I know not the country, where a British ship has ever been, that the people have not picked up this favourite expres sion of Jack's. The produce of the manufactory is immediately transported into the interior, on mules, immense droves of which are always waiting to be loaded at the Fabrica. I may be excused this long history of the cigar, when it is considered that this factory is one of the largest known, one of the greatest sources of revenue to the government, and that at this moment one half, at least, of the inhabitants on the face of the earth use tobacco in one shape or other. Not meaning any slander on the above respecta ble institution, I may observe, that there is a very extensive foundling hospital in Corunna, the recep tion-cradle of which is not permitted to rust on its hinges. Infanticide is unknown. Some of the handsomest structures in the town are the public fountains ; that in the fruit-market is particularly good, surmounted by a figure of Fame ; a fit emblem of such a place, the usual receptacle of news, and diffuser of scandal. Here is an extensive and well-situated hospital, divided into three compartments, civil, military, and that for prisoners, containing 1 50 beds ; the wards VOL. I. D 34 THE HOSPITAL. low, and fortunately not crowded ; especially dirty, and all the patients smoking. The diseases were mostly medical— affections of the chest, &c. ; but fever and epidemics are rare. Injuries and accidents are of uncommon occur rence — no doubt, owing to the absence of all wheel- carriages and machinery, the frequent cause of them at home. The medical men are all graduates of Madrid ; the prescriptions are obliged by law to be written in Spanish ; and the respective branches of medicine and surgery are more distinct than in other countries. Some diseases peculiarly surgical are very prevalent in Corunna. The capital punishment here is the garotte, and consists in the culprit being placed, sitting, against a post, through which a noose is run, put round the neck, and a sudden twist produces instant suffocation. The finisher of the law is constantly met lounging about the streets ; that honour is here hereditary, tjii^'i^fortunate man's father, to save his own neck, haviiig bound to this office himself and posterity, then consisting of three sons in rather good circum stances, who have thus been, compelled to become executioners in different parts of Spain. The convict prison is worth a visit, as exhibiting a den of filth and misery, impossible to describe, and filled with desperadoes, whose looks, if looks be an index of the mind, tell tales of " Murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes That strike the very soul with horror but to name them." THE TOMB OF MOORE. 35 October 9th. The cold of winter is beginning to be felt ; it is time to be off, so we will make our last visit to the tomb of Moore. This is situated on a raised plot of ground, containing about an acre, the " Campo del Carlos," beside the citadel, and commanding an extensive view of the bay and adjoining heights. The monumentitself is of white granite, and stands in the centre, chaste, simple, and architectural. At each corner of the tomb is a small brass howitzer, bearing the emblems of the French republic, and on the panel, on either side, is the inscription, lOHANNES MOORE, EXCERCITUS BRITANNICI DUX, PR/ELIO occrsus A. D. 1809. The ground is clothed with the dwarf-mallow, and a row of aspen poplars surrounds the enclosure ; their stunted heads, bowed to the blast, seemed to mourn over the tomb of the departed hero. 36 THE TOMB OF MOORE. All must acknowledge the taste, the feeling, and the generosity of the gallant Marshal who raised the monument, and penned the inscription to the memory of a fallen enemy. Little of memento is, however, required by the Englishman who visits it — little to be written of the character of that great man, who died, as he lived, gloriously — a gallant soldier, a sincere friend, and an ornament to the country that gave him birth ! In order to preserve the tomb, a wall about breast-high was erected by the British government, in 1 824. This has had the very opposite effect from what was intended, as it not only obstructs the view, but actually conduces to its defilement, the interior being a receptacle for every description of filth and abomination — the exemplification of a well- known Persian proverb. True it is, that the Spanish authorities put up a notice, many years ago, inflict ing a small fine upon offenders ; but no further trouble is taken. Ah Spain ! is this your grati tude — this the respect you pay to the remains of the man who came to free you from slavery and oppression ? You deserted him while living, and you dishonour his sepulchre when dead. The English Consul should do something to rescue this spot from desecration — " Where cold and unhonoured his relics are laid." The body of Moore was interred here, in compliance with a wish he was often heard to express, that he SPANISH INGRATITUDE. 37 should be buried where he fell ; and besides, it was not only the nearest spot, but indeed the only one that the circumstances of that memorable night afforded. " Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone. And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him ;" but if blame could have been attached to him, it may have been for accepting a command so limited by ministers at home, and so hemmed in by the trammels of diplomacy abroad. Whatever the spot on his bright escutcheon Slander would imprint with her unhallowed breath, it was nobly effaced by his life's-blood on the battle-field of Corunna. Look at the conduct of the Spanish generals — look at the letters of Mr. Frere, from Madrid — look at the broken promises, the never-fulfilled treaties. Where was the Marquis de Romana ? Just one day's march a-head, eating up whatever of food was to be obtained in the country. It was, in truth, a vic torious retreat. Within the barrier, and underneath part of the monument, are buried some of the family of a former vice-consul ; and, though they but mingle in the clay common to all mankind, I do think it was rather presumptuous, even for the representative of majesty at the port of Corunna, to displace the stones erected by Soult, and disturb the ashes of the " mighty dead," so hallowed by the immortal 38 A VICE CONSUL. lines of Charles Wolfe, and so endeared to us by every grateful recollection. Saint Paul's has her tribute to consecrate his actions, and Glasgow has erected a statue to her citizen ; but surely England will do something more, either by removing his body to Westminster, or by erecting a testimonial upon the spot where he fell. It is not too late for those private friends, and companions in arms, who fought under his banner and stood beside him in the battle-field, to bestir themselves in this noble work. It is waxing late ; the evening gun has just proclaimed sunset, and the broad belt of golden light which marked its parting beam is fast dying in the west. The vessels of war are answering the deep-mouthed echoes from the fort, as their last boom is dying o'er the calm waters, and the shrill whistle of the boatswain is heard above the castanets and the merry dance in the trading craft immediately beneath. Our gallant schooner has completed her repairs, and with her taut-ropes, taper, raking masts, and beautifully-modelled hull, forms a striking con trast to the sluggish, dirty vessels by which she is surrounded. As the deep shades of evening de scend, they veer round like a herd of startled deer, and head the shifting night-breeze. The moon is rising from the ocean behind the hills of Ferrol — the silence of the city and the glimmering light in the different houses remind me that it is time to return on board. FAREWELL. 39 All is now ready, and to-morrow we sail. Un happy Spain, farewell. Thou art, indeed, the land of brilliant promise, but baneful produce. Hast thou no remembrance of thy once proud station ? No Columbus or Murillo to stimulate thy degraded sons? Where is thy once commercial glory? Where the spirit that discovered a world, and the chivalry which drove the Saracen from thy shores ? Who can look upon thy proverbial perfidy — thy ceaseless wars upon the liberty of thought, of conscience, and the spread of knowledge, and not behold in thy present bloody struggles a just and terrible retribution ? 40 CHAPTER II, LISBON. Arrival ia the Tagus — Lisbon — Church of the Estrella— A Harbour Scene — The Dogs The Palacio de Cortes — Ruins cf the Inquisition — Cathedral — Holy Crow? — A Black Virgin — Theatricals — Hospitals and State of Medicine — Belem — Its Palace — Convent — Tomb of Alfonzo VI. — Mosaic Altar of St. Roch— The Carmo — Description of the City — Costumes — Gallegos — Aqueduct of Alcantara — A Suicide — Dock-yard — Visit to Cintra — Description of the Country — A Postillion — Splendid Views — Moorish Castle — Penha Convent — Cork Convent — The Monks and state of Religion — CoUares — Palace of Cintra — Montserratt — Beckford — A Pic Nic — Mafra — Story of its erection — Marble Chapel — Library — English Navy Officers — A Friar — Portuguese Cookery — Climate — Departure. We left Corunna on the morning of the 10th and entered the Tagus on the 12th ; the atmosphere misty, and the wind blowing a stiff breeze down the river, which presented just here a noble expanse of water, but so muddy, from its admixture with sand and dirt, that it had quite the appearance of ill- made chocolate both in colour and consistence. The current is rapid, and the waves continued to break over us till we anchored alongside the town, yet, the fear of wet jackets could not drive us below, or compel us to forego the glorious sight that momen tarily opened to our view. THE TAGUS. 41 On either side of the river the breakers on the great and little Ketsups are tremendous. The larger of these sand-banks is now guarded by a handsome fort, surmounted by the Bougie light, which forms a pretty object as you enter the river. The sea breaking with fury on the edge of the sands, and the spray flying to a great height, the remnant of the waters rushes on like an immense rocket far in upon the bank, and expends its strength in foam. In beating up the river, you are struck with the strong line of demarcation that exists between the river and sea waters, ' owing to the rapidity of the current, and to the different degrees of density. The distant rock of Cintra, Fort St. Lucia, and Belem Castle, were passed in succession on the left bank, the ground being but little cultivated, and having a tawny brown appearance. On the right, the banks are higher, presenting the section of a number of sand-hills at right angles with the river. There seemed to be an aggregate meeting of wind-mills on one of the adjoining hills — I counted flfty-two. We " brought up" about breakfast- time, and shortly afterwards went on shore at the Quai de Soudre. This large square, which is open to the river, is the great mart of Lisbon, and now crowded with English navy-officers of all ranks, from the " Executive- Chief " down to the cheeping mid, the usual buyers and sellers that throng the avenues to the principal port of a large city; and the never-failing gang of loungers to be found 42 CHURCH OF THE ESTRELLA. wherever hotels, wine-shops, and billiard-rooms exist. The public gardens and other promenades offer little of interest : ill-constructed fountains, dry, and surmounted by figures of tritons, fishwomen, and river gods out of all proportion, straight hedge rows, and spirally clipped box trees, give to the whole scene an air of stiffness and formality. These disagreeable features are compensated for by the contrast of some magnificent specimens of the lovely datura arborea, still adorned with their large snow-white pendant bells. In the evening we walked out to Buenos Ayres, the " west-end" of Lisbon ; situated high above the river ; beautiful in its prospect ; healthful in its air ; and the only pos sibly clean spot throughout this city of ups and downs, which looks just as if the earth had become suddenly arrested in some wave-like convulsion. On our way home we passed by one of the most con spicuous objects here, the church of the Estrella, or Coraco de Jesus, built by one of the queens of Por tugal, in honor of the heart of our Saviour, which she fancied she possessed, enshrined in a splendid alabaster vase ! The dome is a conspicuous object as you enter the harbour. It is a noble building, crowning one of the highest parts of the city, and a miniature of the church of Mafra — externally the walls are rather too highly decorated, and its order of architecture hard to define ; if any be adhered to, it is the Corinthian. The doors being open, we INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH. 43 entered, just as the candles on the altar were lighted for vespers. The ornamental work of the interior is chaste and beautiful ; of different coloured mar bles, wrought in panels, and surrounded by fret work, all of the highest polish. The dome and arched roof are also of marble. A single sentinel leaned on his musket at one of the side altars; a few scattered groups of females knelt around some pa tron saint; and the solemnity and silence that reigned throughout the building added to the awe and reve rence inspired by the hour, the scene, and situation. Presently the priest entered, and bowed before the altar ; a cloud of incense rose around him, while a most enchanting strain of slow, soft music, stole upon the stillness, and crept religiously along the aisles, swelling gradually till it filled the whole building. On either side of the organ was a close grating, behind which the nuns and monks of the adjacent convent were placed, and poured forth a full tide of harmony. I could not avoid coupling ideas of the personal beauty of the fairer portion of the recluses with the exquisite melody of their voices. How striking is a first visit to a Roman Catholic house of worship abroad ; where the pomp of ceremony, the splendour of decoration, and the enchantment of sound, serve to exalt religious en thusiasm, and to lend to a purer devotion those ficti tious charms, made by exciting appeals to the senses. We returned on board as the evening gun was fired ; and after tea enjoyed our cigar on deck. 44 A HARBOUR SCENE. We were far enough out to lose the hum of the city, and not too far to prevent us catching the mo dulated notes of the bands playing in the Quai de Soudre. There are few scenes of greater interest than a large harbour such as this, with its ships and crafts of all kinds and nations ; the stir and bustle of the day, now hushed into such perfect stillness, and their busy inmates quieted in sleep, save the restless night-watch pacing the deck, or the stealthy gliding of the custom barge guarding against contraban- dista. Here lay our men of war, in the centre of the river ; their topmasts lowered for the night ; their black hulls and mathematically squared yards, looking like so many monsters of the deep, waiting but the provocation to vomit forth destruction. The merchantmen, and feluccas, whose long latteen yards shoot up like immense leafless quivering reeds ; and numbers of country boats, with their high Chinese prows, lie scattered on all sides of us. What a glorious sight ! lighted up by a moon of such resplendent brightness, as to dazzle the eye, and render every object clear and distinct almost as an English sun. Not the pale and sickly " waning moon," seen in our own misty climate, but the rich effulgence of a midnight's glory. Just now from the fort came the bugle- call, float ing clear and distinct on the light wind ; that beau tifully martial sound brings with it sensations the most thrilling, as carried down the stream, its THE DOGS. 45 echoes fall in cadences along the broken banks, and are lost far out amid the ocean's] roar. The tide has turned — the ripple has ceased against our bows, and all is silent as the grave. Moments like these raise man above himself into that world of thought, that bids him look from nature up to nature's God. But if he be within ear-shot of Lisbon, he will have little time to moralize after eleven o'clock, when the dog-howl begins. This continues without intermis sion till morning ; it is one of the most hideous noises that ever grated on man's ear — their cry is not "the house-dog's honest bark," but a wild un earthly howl, broken, at times, by the abrupt note of passion, or the prolonged yell of anguish, dis tinctly recognizable even at this distance. Occa sionally a civil war breaks out, by some tribe invad ing the territories of another ; and then the uproar is truly terrific. In these struggles the vanquished are instantly devoured by the conquerors. Notwithstanding all this canine discord, the dogs appear at present the most stable part of the con stitution of Portugal : their government is republican, formed of several petty states, and were it not for those nightly outbreaks, I would say was well regu lated. Living in small communities, principally in the ruins of convents, old houses, 'and many of the places desolated by the great earthquake, they own no masters ; answer to no names; and, like all outcasts, have become an abandoned, dissolute, and uncivilized race, scorning the power as well as the 46 THE DOGS. protection of man — the true Ishmaelites of the canine race. They have a peculiarly wild and ferocious aspect ; and seldom stir out during the day ; but at night, troops of fifteen or twenty of these ravenous creatures come rushing along the deserted and ill- lighted streets; stopping to revel on some recent offal ; and should any unhappy stranger fall amongst them, he is instantly set upon and devoured on the spot. The dogs of Lisbon are nothing in number now to what they were some years ago, when it was absolutely dangerous to open the doors once the dog- howl began. They are, however, under the present police surveillance, a necessary evil ; there being no sewers, or any means of removing nuisance and offal in this most filthy of cities, and no paving cor poration to compel cleanliness, these dogs are, therefore, the only scavengers. The clergy endea voured at one time to keep down their numbers, till the occupation of this place by the French, who compelled them to turn scavengers themselves — . since this they have rather encouraged their increase, to prevent the recurrence of a similar de gradation. Another cause of the vast number of dogs formerly arose, from the people up the country having, during the vintage, regularly shipped them down the river to Lisbon, to prevent them destroy ing the grapes, and sending for them when the har vest was over. This has, however, been stopped : and the government lately issued an order to have all dogs destroyed by the police, not wearing a collar THE INQUISITION. 47 with the owner's name, &c. Since then, numbers have been destroyed by poison : and, dying in the -streets, at every turn, are quite disgusting, and enough to cause a pestilence. In fine, though greatly diminished, they are still very numerous. But as sewers are now being made through the prin cipal streets, the necessity for them will soon cease. It is very remarkable, that, notwithstanding the number of dogs, hydrophobia is hardly known. The square of the inquisition is a handsome area, and there stand the scorched and blackened walls of that blot upon humanity, now burned to the ground. It was last used as a treasury, but the vengeance of heaven seemed to follow it, and it was reduced to ashes, for the second time, last year. On its being first transferred to the government, every effort was made by the clergy to obliterate all traces of the wretched inmates of those dismal cells ; yet many were the names discovered ; and, on >the destruction of those walls, several skeletons were found built up in their substance, sad memen toes of the deeds of infamy practised on the unfor tunates brought within its accursed precincts. The Palacio de Cortes is a handsome building ; and was, like all other fine edifices here, once a convent. The number of the Cortes is about sixty ; they meet in the broad, open day, and their sittings are free to all; but the voice of the speakers is quite lost in the gallery, by a row of attic windows which have been opened round it. There is a good like- 48 THE CATHEDRAL. ness of the queen over the president's chair. A decorum and politeness reigned throughout this quiet assemblage of gentlemen, not always to be found amongst the midnight legislators of St. Ste phen's Chapel. The members receive a salary from their constituents ; and the president calls on each member, in his turn, to address the house. The chamber of peers is now abolished, and none of the ministry can hold a seat in the Cortes. Many of the states were so indifferent or so penurious as to forfeit their elective franchise for the time, and had no representatives. The cathedral is large, with a finely-groined roof; the walls of the interior covered with the never- ending blue tile. This crockery prevails every where, but the rage for it has somewhat abated of late ; the subjects painted on it are generally of heathen mythology, and in some places it is pleasant, cleanly, and cool. In hospitals, parti cularly, it is valuable, being so easily cleaned, and not so liable to retain infection, as whitewash. Owing to their once extensive slave trade, and large negro population, there are more black people seen in Lisbon than in any city in Europe, and their prejudices are more studied than elsewhere. In this cathedral there are two altars flanking the upper central one ; on that to the right, is an image of the Virgin and child, white, and highly decorated with artificial flowers, &c. ; while on that to the left is one similar in every respect, save that the faces THEATRICALS. 49 and hands of both mother and child are black. Behind this central altar, the holy crows of Saint Vincent are quartered ; the priests are rather chary of exhibiting them at present, and the day I visited here, only one made his appearance. It was the general report that the other had gotten a severe fit of the gout. All the world knows the story of the patron saint of Lisbon, Saint Vincent, who having been murdered abroad, and the crew of his vessel dying, his body was brought safely into the Tagus by two crows, one taking the helm, while the other manned the yards. Since then, a pair of crows is quartered on the city arms, and those in this cathedral are said to be their lineal descendants. The theatre is, I understand, a wretched concern, but the opera is justly celebrated ; the house is beautifully proportioned, and said to be, next to that at Milan, the finest in Europe. The stage is larger in proportion than any I ever saw ; the whole lighted by a magnificent chandelier in the centre. The opera was good, and the ballet really admirable ; it is the principal part of the performance ; at the finale of it, was a naval fight, which seemed to give great satisfaction, and was much enjoyed by the gallant Admiral Napier, who was present, and was received with loud cheers on his entrance. The drop-scene is a beautiful representation cf the aqueduct of Alcantara. The house was well attended, and the dress-circle principally filled by English residents, and the officers of our fleet. VOL. I. E 50 HOSPITALS. The hospital of San Joseph is an admirable insti tution, of immense size, and well kept. It was formerly a convent of Jesuits, and the chapel is now in ruins, having suffered much in the earth quake of '55. It is the general hospital for the city, is capable of containing upwards of 1500 patients, and is divided into medical, surgical, lu natic, and obstetric departments. There are four wards, of vast extent, exceedingly clean and well ventilated, with four rows of beds in each ; and at eleven o'clock, when the patients have dined, the shutters are closed and all made quiet for them to enjoy their siesta. The tiled floors are watered every morning, which keeps them very cool, and the walls are completely and appropriately covered with blue pottery. There is a small lecture and dissecting- room, but no museum ; and anatomical subjects are supplied from the hospital, and are very cheap. The school of surgery, also under this roof, was made royal by the late king, whose picture hangs in the hall, where, at the time of my visit, candidates were undergoing a public viva voce examination for the professorship of the practice of physic. The college is authorised to grant licenses, and permits its members to prescribe in medicine ; but medical degrees can be conferred at Queensboro' only. The hospital is advantageously situated on a consi derable height, and altogether struck me as being a noble establishment. There is another small hospital for elephantiasis, a disease which is vcrv common here. BELEM. 51 I sailed down the river to visit Belem, in company with an Irish gentleman, who served in the army here during the late war, and who is still kept out of his pay, and left to live as best he can, like many others, from general officers downwards, who left their country and bore the blows, while this thankless people reaped the profit. The palace stands upon a very fine elevated terrace, commanding a charming view of the river ; and on a square underneath, the troops are occa sionally reviewed by the queen. The grounds are laid out in the old quaint style of clipped hedges, and trees cut in every fantastic form; yet, though it is the perfection of stiffness and formality, I cannot but confess it looked agreeable, for while we may be disposed to com plain of the curtailment of nature's free and fair pro portions, one is compelled to admire the uncommon art, neatness, and dexterity bestowed on the pro duction of all these strange and grotesque forms. Yews and box of the large kind seem to be most generally patronised by the gardeners ; the latter grows in great luxuriance. In one place, you behold it cut into the shape of a huge melon ; in another, into a gigantic pine-apple : here it assumes a beautiful spiral, and there you see it take the shape of some antique monster. The hedges are about a foot high, and laid out in most curious patterns, leaving a very small space within for flowers. 52 BELEM. Handsome fountains adorn the gardens ; and on the parterres are some good specimens of Portuguese statuary, particularly one of the Grecian Daughter. A tank of vast size, at the top of the gardens, con tains the largest mullet I ever saw, some at least twenty to thirty pounds weight, in fresh water. . The aviary contains nothing but a few sparrows ; the dens for the wild beasts are all locked up, and empty ; and the whole place has a forsaken, de solate aspect. The palace itself has a mean exterior, and is, as usual, half covered with Dutch pottery ; a fine suite of rooms runs along the front of the building, of good proportions, and very tolerably furnished. The walls are completely covered with pictures, some of considerable merit, but all unframed. The likeness of Don John is seen every where, on the ceilings, in the corridors, above, below, to the right, and to the left ; and, indeed, he was no beauty, having much of the negro cast of countenance. It was once the favourite residence of the royal family, but the present poor queen is not allowed by her ministers the enjoyment of even this quiet retreat. The adjoining convent is worthy of a more at tentive inspection than I had time to- bestow on it. It is now used as an asylum for 1500 poor children. The workmanship of the church attached is extra ordinary ; the external walls are a perfect fret-work of ornament, and the flying buttresses are covered with vines carved in bas-relief, twining about and ITS CHURCH. 53 clinging to them, through the foliage of which peep out the faces of innumerable angels and seraphs. The clustering of figures on the walls is, if any thing, too thick ; the eye becomes wearied, not find ing a single unoccupied spot whereon to rest. The architecture, preserved in the doors and windows, is gothic, but the sculpture and ornament are unique. The whole has somewhat the colour of reddish blotting paper, a description of sand-stone very liable to be destroyed by atmospheric influence. A poor priest sat begging at the door, still retain ing the broad-brimmed hat and thread-bare russet habiliments of his order. He, however, was not permitted to enter within the precincts of what had formerly been his home, and had belonged to his once-powerful order, and he looked wistfully through the gates, as they closed behind us. In the interior, the crowded ornament was dropped, and gave place to a chasteness and simpli city of decoration designed in the most perfect taste. Six pillars of grey polished marble on each side formed the aisle; these reared their exceed ingly tall slender shafts aloft, and branching at top into the form of a palm, spread out their broad thin foliage to support a roof of matchless elegance. The pulpit, like the pillars, is of grey marble, and covered with the same elaborate lace-work. The whole is a splendid specimen of arabesque, and strikes the beholder as being the product of enchant ment rather than the work of mortal hands. It is 54 THE TOMB OF ALFONZO. amongst the largest edifices of the kind in Portugal. I had almost forgotten to mention the altar, on which stands the tabernacle, celebrated by all tra vellers as being one of the largest pieces of plate in existence, at least six feet square. It is of silver, beautifully wrought in the most delicate filigree, but much tarnished. Behind the altar is the vault, containing the tomb of the unfortunate Alfonzo the VI. With much difficulty I persuaded the sexton to open the vault — we descended, and great indeed was the old man's amazement at my removing the lid of the large trunk-shaped coffin. The dryness of the atmosphere has preserved his body in great perfection, evaporating the fluids, and leaving the flesh and skin black, shrivelled, and adhering to the bones ; the lips being retracted from this cause, ex posed the teeth, which were white and in the finest preservation— the head was small, and the forehead narrow, retreating, and unintellectual. He is dressed in his robes of state, profusely ornamented, with a rich embroidered cap on his head, and round all is wrapped a fine muslin robe, spangled with gold. On each side of him are deposited an infanta of Portugal, his children. The tomb of Don Manuel, who raised this beauteous pile, in honour and com memoration of the voyage and achievements of Vasco de Gama, in the new world, stands on the left of the altar — it is hewn out of an enormous block of black marble, highly polished, and is of great elegance of design and workmanship. THE ALTAR OF ST. ROCH. 55 Before leaving Lisbon, we must visit St. Roch, which embodies all that is curious and beautiful in the city ; it is now very difficult of access, but well repays all the trouble expended in gaining admis sion. The general appearance of the interior of the church offers little to comment upon — the roof and walls are gaudily painted ; the latter embellished with tasteful pilasters, and altars in white marble, inlai4 with bronze, more curious than beautiful ; but the grand object of attraction, the famous altar of St. John, stands in a recess to the left, and is concealed from view by a rich crimson curtain, removed, for the inspection of the public, only on one day in the year — the feast of St. John. We were conducted through a dark narrow gallery, and having been led to the centre, opposite the altar, the curtain was slowly withdrawn ; and such a sight ! After standing in silent admiration some minutes — " Oh, how very grand!" burst involuntarily from us all. It is a perfect gem in Mosaic, where all the splendid marbles of the Peninsula are displayed in the most skilful arrangement. We stood in a small chamber, railed off from the rest of the church ; the massive doors on either side through which we entered are of burnished brass, and of most exqui site open-work ; the walls are encrusted with dark marble, from which stand out, in clusters, pillars of polished marble, judiciously contrasted with pilasters of a darker hue, placed behind. The capitals are of the Corinthian order, and wrought in brass, as 56 THE ALTAR OF ST. ROCH. are also the pedestals. The grouping of jasper, verde-antique, porphyry, Gibraltar stone, and -many other marbles of the most beautiful colours, in the different columns, produced the most delightful and imposing effect. Above, the canopied roof, panelled in dark marble, is supported by white cherubs, stand ing as if about to take wing from the pillars: the floor is mosaiced in a rich carpet pattern ; and at the far ther end stands the altar, a single block of lapis lazuli of great size, flanked by pillars of the same precious material, resting on three porphyry steps. Its upper border is inlaid with a row of brilliant amethysts. But we must hasten to the grand magnets, the three mosaic pictures — the centre or altar-piece is the baptism of our Saviour in the Jordan, after Michael Angelo ; the figures are as large as life, and are copied with such fidelity, that the hand is involunta rily stretched forth to assure yourself they are not oil' and canvas. The figures are brought out in the most beautiful and natural relief ; and the whole, particularly the reflection of the Saviour's feet in the running water, are given with such truth as to fill the spectator with the utmost admiration. Those on the sides are the Annunciation, after Raphael, and the Conception, after Guido. Two large and costly candelabra of silver-gilt, stand before the altar. The whole is the workman ship of the celebrated Italian artist, Justi. It was executed at Rome, and cost a sum much greater than is to be found in the treasury of Portugal at THE CARMO. 57 this moment. I feel I cannot do this splendid work the justice it deserves; but I know I am reminding those who have seen it of a great treat. Should any of my readers be in Lisbon, and pressed for time, let them sacrifice all else to see St. John's chapel at St. Roch and Belem Cathedral. This altar was one of the objects which the spoliating hand of Junot had selected to grace the French capital, but for the timely interference of the English. Of the buildings destroyed by the earthquake in '55, some fine ruins still remain ; among the rest, the Carmo, which crowns one of the seven hills of Lisbon, and forms a striking object from the parterres of the Rua St. Roch. It was the finest specimen of architecture in Portugal — the lanceo- lated gothic. One is lost in amazement to see the row of tall, thin, clustering pillars, which divide the nave and aisle, still standing, while the roof was utterly destroyed, and many of the walls shaken to their foundation. What a ruin it would be in England! Here it is a filthy s^w-pit, half filled with dirt and rubbish, and the top of the splendid doorway nearly on a level with the street. Beside the door is an inscription, stating it to have been consecrated by bishop Ambrosia, in 1 523, and beneath this is a small cross, under which is a notice, purporting that " whoever kissed this cross should have an indul gence of many days" — the reverence once paid to it was such as to wear away the stone with kisses — 58 DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY. while now the mud of one of the filthiest streets in Lisbon so covers it that I was obliged to poke away this nuisance with a stick to obtain a view of it. I may with justice sum up a description of this place in the faithful and energetic lines applied to Cologne by Coleridge, whose name will soften down the asperities that might otherwise grate on ears polite — " A town of monks and bones. And pavements fanged with murderous stones. And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches — I counted two and seventy stenches." In a word, the city is worthy of a people degraded by ignorance and the grossest superstition. Were I asked for a description of Portuguese character, I would say, it was one partaking of every bad quality belonging to a native of the Peninsula, without one of those redeeming virtues, which, in some degree, render interesting and valuable the character of their neighbours. I would rather turn to the sunny side of the pic ture, and conduct the reader to any thing worth seeing, without his being assailed by any of the thousand and one stinks of Lisbon. By the way, talking of the sunny side of the picture, I may ob serve that the sunny side of the streets may be always known by the number of those prehensile operations going forward in the windows of both rich and poor, and fully accounting for the decrease THE GALLEGOS. 59 of the monkey tribe, since the days of Beckford, when they were hired out to perform those little offices upon the head that filial piety now takes upon itself. The women do not dress so neatly as those in Corunna, and are but little better looking ; many being blonds, retaining a Spanish cast of counte nance, by no means improving. The costume of both sexes is more mixed, and not so national as that we had lately seen. The heads of all the females are enveloped in immense thin muslin hand kerchiefs, puffed out to about two feet square at the top, and not inaptly resembling the hoods occasion ally worn at funerals in our own country. The rest of the figure is completely enveloped in a long, dark brown mantle. Lisbon is well supplied with water, from the numerous beautiful fountains spread about the city, and the water is conveyed from house to house, in small barrels, by the Spanish water-carriers — the Gallegos — hundreds of whom swarm round every fountain, and form the most interesting groups to be met with. They are Gallicians, and although the water is sold for about a farthing a barrel, many have been known to amass sums large enough to enable them to purchase estates on returning to their native country. They are remarkable for their honesty ; and the hardships they undergo are extraordinary ; many sleeping in the open air round their fountains at night. The water is conducted 60 THE AQUEDUCT. by the famous aqueduct, a distance of many miles ; and, where it crosses the valley of Alcantara, a short way outside the city, is certainly one of the finest objects in Portugal. The first view of it in this place disappoints ; but on a longer inspection, you become gradually impressed with its true and immense proportions. The water is conducted over the deep ravine, through which a rapid torrent, now dry, runs in the winter, mea suring 2873 feet, on a duct of thirty-five arches. These arches are some of them round, some of them lanceolated : the height of the central one from the water-course below is 226 feet, and its breadth 108 feet. One may form a faint idea of its elevation and span, by knowing that the largest ship of the line, in full sail, could pass under it. The whole length, from the source at Canessas to Lisbon, is 56,300 feet, or lOf miles. It is built of grey mar ble, and looks as clean and sharp as if constructed but yesterday. Those arches support the water-way, on either side of which is a foot-path, broad enough for two to walk abreast between it and the parapet. In the centre are two water-channels, each 18 inches broad, one of which is closed each alternate year, for the purposes of cleansing and repair. They are roofed in, ventilated by numerous gratings, and surmounted by a handsome turret over every second arch. The parapet is barely breast high. This walk is the scene of frequent robberies, as few would like to wrestle on so slight a THE VALLEY OF ALCANTARA. 61 footing, and over such a depth, with a Portuguese bravo. While looking over the highest part, and remarking the diminutive appearance of the people in the valley, my guide told me it was the favourite resort of suicides, who come to fling themselves over, and the spot is certainly most inviting to those tired of life, and willing to rush into certain destruction. The view from the top does not so much please as astonish you ; it is only while standing below, and at a little distance, that- the grandeur of this stu pendous pile breaks fully on the senses. In this situation, a prospect presents itself seldom to be equalled in loveliness ; when looking up the valley, through the arches, you behold its deep gorge and precipitous sides crowded with orange groves, quintas, and windmills. The mingled effect of light and shade, mellowed by the declining sun, that threw the shadow of the neighbouring heights across the vale, deepening the green of the different plantations, and again lightly reflected by the red-tiled houses on the road to Cintra, pro duces a combination of natural and artificial beauty of the rarest description. One object, and one alone, shed a gloom over the face of smiling nature. As we turned through one of the arches, to exa mine some plants at a little distance, we suddenly came upon the corpse of a man, who had, but a few hours before, thrown himself from the battle ment above ; and accustomed as I have been from almost childhood to view death in every shape and 62 A SUICIDE. form that lingering disease, or the murderous hand of man can make loathsome, it shall never fade from my recollection, the view of that haggard, horror-stricken face, on which despair and despe ration were still marked, in the fixed look, and convulsed feature. He was lying on his back, with the head down hill, and he could not have made the slightest struggle, as the clay was soft, and he lay imbedded in it. He appeared above the lower order, was well dressed, and his clothing, even to his shoes, was perfectly new ; a practice common to suicides here. What pride in the man who had not the courage to bear the " stings and arrows of out rageous fortune !" The body was not mangled, though the fall was so great, and his hair, sprinkled with gray, bespeaking some forty winters, was thrown off a fine and well-formed forehead. Ap proaching decomposition was already beginning to clear away the wrinkles that had settled on his brow, so late " Ambition's airy hall, " The dome of thought, the palace of the soul." The sun had thrown the shadow of one of the pillars across where he lay, for, although shining equally upon the just and the unjust, it appeared as if disdaining to shed its lustre, or throw one bright beam of hope upon that loathsome, stiffening carcase. I was about touching it, to discover what injury had been sustained, but was prevented by my guide, who assured me that certain" imprison- THE NAVY. 63 ment would follow. A few yards off sat a group of men and boys, lounging idly in the sun, who treated the matter with perfect indifference, from its every day occurrence here. This was the scene of contention during the late civil struggle. The lines of Lisbon run just above, on which people are still at work. Although the cottages and buildings in the immediate neighbourhood bear the marks of the recent conflict in their shattered walls and roofs, I was delighted to find that not a ball had touched the aqueduct. We visited the dock-yard and arsenal ; in the former was 07ie ship, on the stocks for so many years, that they have put in three new sets of timbers already, and are now negociating a loan of =£300 for a further repair. Their naval officers are educated in a model ship, placed in the arsenal. How are the mighty fallen ! Think of the days when the Portuguese navy was the terror of the world, and her mariners added rich store of know ledge to their children, and incalculable wealth to their coffers. The markets of Lisbon are well supplied, par ticularly those of fruit and fish. Haiks and dog fish are caught in great numbers in the Tagus, and much used for food, but dories and mullet are the favourites. Some of the finest muscatel grapes to be found are here ; several that I weighed amounted to above 1 70 grains each ! The bull-fights, in honour of the royal birth. 64 VISIT TO CINTRA. were over before v/e arrived ; but all were hasten ing to Campo Grande, a fair, held a few miles from town, to eat roast chesnuts and pork- chops; this lasts for fourteen days. It was a stupid place, without show or amusement, so we made better use of our time by visiting Cintra, the Brighton of Portugal. The immense suburbs through which we passed, showed this to be a city of much larger size than from the sea we would be inclined to suspect. The roads, paved with enormous blocks of limestone, are execrable ; the carriages have no springs, and are worse appointed than the worst London cab. Shade of M'Adam ! had you been qualified for purgatory, you surely would have been sent to jolt out your period on the Cintra road. The seats of the nobility in the neighbourhood of Lisbon are little better than English farm houses, with one exception, the delightful residence of the Baron Quintilla^ a great friend of the queen's, who has every thing about him fitted up after English style. The country along the road presents the greatest sameness ; its brown aspect, without a single spot to relieve the eye, renders the drive of fifteen miles uninteresting and mono tonous. Not a hedge-row is to be seen, and but a few vines and dingy olives, with the American aloe, which grows in great luxuriance, bordering the road. The country appears to be but thinly populated, and the only objects in the landscape A POSTILLION. 65 are the water-towers, and numerous small aque ducts running towards the valley of Alcantara. As we approached Cintra, the air became much cooler, and that noble mountain concentrated all our admiration, from having its rugged out line thrown in the sharpest relief against a back-ground of the most gorgeous purple which marked the setting glories of the god of day. While yet some miles from our journey's end, our sorry nags got blown, and the sable postillion regaled them with bread steeped in wine, spilling some of the latter over their backs; and then remounting, plied whip and spur with an energy that would have awakened the spirit of Dick Martin, had it been in the neighbourhood ; but all in vain. He again dismounted, and coolly unhar nessing each poor brute separately, belaboured him on the road side with a huge club. Again they were put to, and blacky practising every refine ment upon the art of " touching them upon the raw," and occasionally strengthening his meagre carcass with a pull at the wine-flask, and his more meagre soul by an appeal to the saints, and a variety of crossings, he at length brought us late in the even ing to Cintra. See, if possible, this place by moon light ; as by day the barrenness of the surrounding country detracts greatly from the beauty of the scene. The bold mountain scenery — the lemon and orange groves, and waving rows of cane, with their nodding plume-like tops — the beautiful and VOL. I. F 66 CINTRA. picturesque village itself — the old Moorish castle on the hills above, crowned by the Penha convent, and the lofty domes of the royal palace beneath, .make this the most attractive spot in Portugal. An additional charm is given to the scene, by the ivy-clad walls, covered at top by amarylles and crim son geraniums, which flourish here in the greatest profusion and brilliancy, and by the huge evergreen oaks and cork-trees, (on which grows a beautiful parasitic fern,) intertwined with vines that spread their graceful festoons from branch to branch. There is a handsome promenade, surrounded by rows of elms and tulip trees ; at the lower end are the houses of two nobles, with their odious pink fronts and ugly busts. It was in one of those " the Convention''' was signed. Our fare at the English hotel, and the Port and Collares, were very passable ; I wish I could say as much for the beds, which were of flock, lumpy, uncomfortable, and tenanted by myriads of bugs. The morning after our arrival, we procured donkeys to ascend the heights. The road winds in a zig-zag course up the steep, and though almost -precipitous, was climbed in safety by our little animals. As we ascended, the scene beneath gra dually disclosed itself; Cintra — its detached houses, the church and palace, rising out of the rich foliage of vines and elms, and still further down the ravine, the numerous groves of orange and olive, watered by rills of the purest crystal, collected ITS MOORISH CASTLE. 67 from the neighbouring heights. The mountain itself is bold and rugged, composed of blocks of granite boulders, with scarcely a blade of any thing green between. The outer wall of the ancient Moorish castle surrounds one of the secondary heights, and as it creeps from rock to rock, is guarded at short intervals by round or square towers, many of which are perched on enormous blocks of granite. The inner wall above looks as if cast round the neck of the peak, like a collar, while the summit is crowned by the square black walls of the Morisco Fortalice, within which are the remains of an ancient bath and mosque. It must have been a place of great strength ; but there is nothing in the shape of inscription to de clare the origin or the founder. We continued our way to the Penha convent, which tops the highest pinnacle of the range ; in its eyrie-like position, it bears the appearance of one of those small turrets that jut out from the walls of our ancient castles. With much difficulty we urged our donkeys up the steep ascent on which the con vent stands ; the massive gate had fallen from its hinges — the grass had grown over the well-paved yard — the garden-fence had been long since de molished, and the nettle and the hemlock had choked up its walks and parterres. No burly friar came to bid us welcome — no lay-brother ran to hold our donkeys — and although it was the Sabbath morning, silence and desolation reigned throughout. gg THE PENHA CONVENT. The only disturbers of its solitude were a few jack-daws, that cawed and fluttered round the chimney-tops, scared at our loud knocking, which reverberated through the building ; and some strag gling sheep, whose tinkling bells we heard as they leaped over the garden-wall at our approach. All else was silent, upon a day when these rocks and valleys so often rung with " the toll of the summoning bell," and the surrounding peasantry in their gay attire filled its courts, or knelt before its altar, for wretchedness, ruin, and decay have taken up their abode, where for so many years peculiar sanctity was believed to dwell. Our uproar for admission at last appeared to wake its only in mate, a wretched old woman, who admitted us, after a reconnoitring glance through one of the side windows. In the outer court stands the entrance to the church, the chief object of attraction here ; it is a square porch, supported on four pillars of singular twisted rope-work, with knobs between, from which springs a light and elegantly groined roof ; but on the top of this portico, they have stuck a contemptible little spire, covered with the eternal Dutch tile, that quite spoils the architectural effect. The door-way is of the old round arch, deeply groined, and of exquisite workmanship. The chapel is small, and the altar is looked upon as a piece of most elaborate art ; it reaches to the roof, and seems large for the size of the apartment. All iss THE CORK CONVENT. 69 going fast to ruin, even the figures of saints and virgins on the altar are losing their tinselled finery, which is now falling to rags, and the tabernacle is thrown into a corner, and mouldering to decay. The monks themselves have been driven hence, and the whole pile, amongst the cloisters and arcades of which many beautiful specimens of Moorish architecture are to be found, wears an aspect of loneliness that lends its saddening influence even to the casual visitor. The view from this spot is most extensive ; beyond Cintra, and the wooded heights of Collares, all inland appears a brown, barren waste, as far as the eye can reach; but seaward, the prospect is glorious. The Tagus, from above Lisbon, is traceable to the ocean ; while to the north, the tall towers of Mafra rise high above the horizon, and close the view. In our ride over the mountains, we passed the Cork convent, a most romantic spot, and so hidden among the rocks, that you see nothing of it till you get between two large blocks of stone that form the entrance. Inside, it is completely covered with the rough bark of the cork tree ; the simple friars had decorated the altar, opposite the entrance, with pieces of china, broken plates, shells, and corals from the coast, not inaptly resembling a baby-house ; but it too is abandoned to neglect and to the ruthless hand of time. Its community con sisted of only two or three capuchins, the last remaining of whom, taking the strong hint afforded 70 STATE OF RELIGION. by the treatment of his brethren of De Penha, de camped with the plate and the little treasure belong ing to his house. In the garden we found a full-sized figure of our Saviour lying on its face, imbedded in the soft earth, and the crown of thorns, that bound its brow, in one of the adjoining walks ! ! A few short years, nay, almost months ago, this figure was held to be the most sacred in Portugal, and none of the peasantry ever went to their daily work without paying their devotions to it. What then shall we say for the religion of such a land. Religion there is none ; infidelity has usurped the place of ignorance and blind devotion, and now stalks naked throughout the length and breadth of the Peninsula, but more particularly in Portugal. By the present constitution, no male religious houses are permitted ; all priestly orders have been abolished — the monks and friars, driven from their princely establishments to live upon the sum of one and sixpence a-day, and their estates and large re venues confiscated to the crown. What the French Revolution commenced, and Napoleon carried on, Don Pedro, and the glimmering of enlightenment now breaking on this land, have completed. It is in contemplation to do away with the different nun neries, but it is to be hoped, that ample provision will be made for the helpless inmates, before such a measure is adopted; and, I have no doubt, but that it is one which will be hailed with the truest gratitude by every signorita in Portugal. COLLARES. 71 The parochial clergy, the only ones permitted here, have little influence over the people ; and it is a singular fact, that so far from assisting the monks, when driven from their homes, they refused them the necessaries of life, or the shelter of a cottage roof; and this to men before whom they had so lately knelt, and who exercised over them a spiritual tyranny tolerated or known in no other country. What, it may be asked, has become of such a large body of men, who had no trade, and are prohibited from following their profession? It is not to be expected that persons like these, reared in luxury, and living on the bucks of Mafra, and the wines of Collares, could support themselves on two pistarines a day, and it cannot be said of them, as of the unjust steward, that by their liberality they made for themselves " friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Most of them have left Portugal ; many will be found under the banners of Don Carlos, having exchanged the church quiescent for the church militant ; and not a few in Great Britain, per haps within the walls of Stoneyhurst, or Clon- gowes. We returned through Collares, a deserted village, its fountains dry, and quintas uninhabited, the pre sent state of politics making their noble owners exiles. We rested ourselves at a cool wine-shop, and enjoyed a glass of the light claret which takes its name from this place. It is a thin, rough wine, 72 PALACE OF CINTRA, agreeable in flavour, and weak enough to be drunk in tumblers — the vin ordinaire of this part of the country. We took the lower road on our return, and enjoyed the magnificent view of the scenery along the wooded sides of the mountains through which we passed. With the exception of the lovely lemon and orange groves, the foliage of Portugal has not the green and refreshing tint of that of England, nor can it boast the glowing, mellow hues of our au tumnal landscapes, as the green has a rusty, brownish appearance, like the dingy olive. Quantities of those picturesque and noble trees, the stone pine, grow upon the heights, and their seed is much used as food by the poorer classes. The children coUect the cones and beat them with mallets, till the seed drops out; these are boiled soft or pounded in mortars, and used as beans are in other countries. 17th. We rose in the morning and visited the far-famed palace of Cintra — an immense building in the Moorish style, all the pillars and window-frames being twisted and much covered with fret-work — the latter completely spoiled, how ever, by immense heavy green sashes. It presents a confused jumble of courts and terraces ; and although composed of innumerable apartments, has hardly one good room. The hall of swans, so called from having the likeness of that bird framed in every panel, of wall and ceiling, is of goodly size and proportion. It is exceeding well supplied with MAGPIE HALL. 73 water, having fountains, jets, and tanks, of every possible form ; the latter filled with gold and silver fish. Amongst the rooms is one rather striking, to which may be given the name of magpie- hall ; the roof is a kind of dome, in panels, each containing the representation of a magpie holding a rose in his claw, entwined in a ribbon, on which are the words " por ben," " for good." The story connected with it is, that a certain king was dis covered by his queen in this very room kissing one of the maids of honour, who held a magpie on her arm ; on seeing her majesty he exclaimed, " poor ben," the Portuguese " honi soit." The queen withdrew; but on the king's leaving for Lisbon, a few days after, she had this room thus decorated against his return. The floors are of brick work, and the walls, for about one-third of their height, are covered with delf tiles. A small chamber, tiled completely over, is shown as that in which Don Sebastian held his last council before his ill- fated African expedition. Our guide next conducted us to a small attic room, where, assuming a most rueful aspect, he informed us, that Don Alfonzo the VI. was impri soned by his queen for upwards of nine years, unfit to rule his kingdom or his wife. The whole of the flooring, except where stood his pallet, is worn by the footsteps of the poor captive. The only other object worth mentioning is what we may call the hall of stags — the panels in the walls and 74 MONTSERRAT. dome of this handsome apartment have each a stag painted in the centre, with a shield hung from its neck, on which are emblazoned the arms of some one of the nobility of Portugal, bearing the crest between the horns. The devices of the princes of the blood royal form the upper range ; and below, the wall represents a stag hunt in blue tile. As the poor queen is not now allowed to enjoy the sweets of this beautiful retreat, the whole has gone much out of repair, and the furniture is hardly, fit for a plain English gentleman. Most of the English residents have houses at Cintra. A pic-nic was got up to-day, to which we were kindly invited. The rendezvous was one of the quintas a few miles off, and thither we now bent our steps, accompanied by three " cheeping middies," that morning let loose from their wooden prisons in the Tagus. Our walk lay by Montserrat — for merly the princely mansion of Beckford; now mouldering in ruins. It was an exceedingly elegant and tasteful building, quite in the English style ; not a vestige of its roof now remains ; and within, the bramble, the thorn and thistle flourish in undis turbed luxuriance. A few short years more, and a guide will have to lead the traveller to the spot where the eccentric author of Vathic held his court. It is a most romantic spot, com manding in its prospect every beauty that Cintra and the surrounding country affords. The lofty tree-clad mountains behind, the undulating cultivated ST.i.TE OF SOCIETY. Til plain before ; in the distance, the illimitable sea ; and around, groves of the finest orange and lemon trees, force an exclamation of rapture, sadly qualified by re gret at the utter destruction to which this most lovely of retreats is fast hastening. On the western turret still stands the flag-staff from which the silken ban ner of old England so often fluttered in the breeze ; it seemed conscious of the dignity it once possessed, and in defiance of the ruin going on around, was de termined to " spin it out and fight it to the last." One of the largest Tangerine orange trees in Portugal flourishes in the lawn, ^and clumps of arbutus, not to be surpassed by even those of our own dear Killarney, border the ravine that separates the demesne from the hills behind ; but scarcely a vestige of the walks and pleasure-grounds remain. Our pic-nic went off as well as meals of that com fortless description generally do ; dancing followed ; and having seen the ladies safely mounted on their donkeys, we strolled quietly home by moonlight. The principal society in this part of the country is English, as the Portuguese aristocracy are either beggars or exiles ; and the few who do not come under this description decline society from disgust at the unceremonious deprivation of the power and honors they had so long exclusively enjoyed. On this account strangers see little of Portuguese man ners or society, and what they do see is generally at the houses of the English residents. We expe rienced much kindness from my friend and relative Major-General Sir R. Ousley. 76 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. We bade adieu to Cintra, and turned our faces towards Mafra. The roads are so unfit for car riages that we were obliged to ride. We traversed a most barren and thinly populated country, still worse than any we had yet seen ; it looks a perfect desert, except where an occasional lemon or orange grove crept up the sides of a ravine, owing to the fertilizing power of some neighbouring spring. The small village of Penado was the only collection of houses we met for the. distance of twelve miles. The gorge in which this picturesque hamlet is situ ated, is spanned by an enormous bridge of blue lime stone, taken from the neighbouring quarry— an inspection of the fossil shells of which will well repay the traveller's trouble. On the other side of the ravine the porphyritic limestone breaks out; but the principal rock in this part of the kingdom is the common grey marble, the strata of which appears above the surface in many places. We reached the convent, and were struck more with its vast extent than the beauty of its architec ture. This immense pile is said to be the largest in Europe, next to the Escurial ; and some notion of its magnitude may be formed from the fact of 10,000 soldiers having been reviewed upon its roof. It was once the favourite residence of the Portuguese monarchs in the olden days of despotism anddevotion. The circumstance of its erection is said to be this : John V. having no family, a monk of great piety, the queen's confessor, stated, that his majesty would MAFRA. 77 not be long childless if he built a Franciscan cell at Mafra ; the expectant king performed his part of the condition, and the fulfilment of the prophecy in due time led to the building being enlarged to its present magnitude. The front faces the dirty vil lage of Mafra ; the splendid entrance is flanked on either side by a tower and spire 200 feet high, between which, but farther back, rises the dome of the church, and the front view is terminated at either extremity by a beautiful pavilion in the Turkish style. An immense flight of steps leads to the highly ornamented semicircular portico, in which are several colossal figures, beautifully exe cuted in white marble — those standing at the sides of the church door I cannot pass by in silence. One, a St. Vincent, the other a St. Sebastian, by Carlo Monaldi, in the usual attitude, bound to a tree, pierced with arrows : both are noble specimens of statuary. We entered the church, and how shall I attempt to describe the grand imposing spectacle that riveted us to the spot ? — the great height and vast extent ; the elaborate workmanship, with carving of the most curious art ; the numerous altars, paintings, and statues ; but far above all, the beauty, variety, and splendour of the marbles. Wherever the eye can reach it is only marble ; the fretted roof — the panelled walls — the lofty and most beauteous dome — the floor, and the gigantic pillars, form a perfect sea of marble, of the most brilliant polish, and endless variety of colour. 78 THE CHAPEL OF MAFRA. The massive gates are of bronze, and finely cast in open work. On either side is a number of small altars jutting out into the aisle, each sur mounted by a bas-relief in white marble, and having a statue of the same material at either corner. Be tween these altars is a row of tall Corinthian pillars. The grand altar is supported on either hand by a red porphyry pillar of one stone, thirty feet high, and the altar-piece itself is a splendid painting, by Travisani, representing Saint Anthony receiving the infant Messiah. There are no less than six organs of great size, power, and tone. No tawdry decoration, no tinsel-clad saint, not one bit of gilding, and not a trace of the eternal pottery- ware is to be seen, to mar the effect of its chaste and classic beauties. With one exception, all the altars have been stripped of their costly furniture ; and although the massive candelabra still remain, they no longer throw their wavy light over the scene. One dim and solitary lamp burned before the only altar still in use, and gloom and deso lation have settled within those walls, where once the proud display of monkish superstition was wont to flourish, when the mitred abbot, with four hundred priests, and even royalty itself, assisted at the ceremonial. With a lingering step, and many a longing look thrown back7~did I leave this marble- studded hall. From the chapel we passed into the sacristy, and were thence conducted through corridors of THE LIBRAUV. 79 immense length, lined on cither side by cells, to the kitchen, which was fitted out on a scale of magnitude and convenience apparently ill-suited to the abstemious habits professed by its late inmates. In the great dining-hall the seats and table frames were of Brazil wood, supporting marble slabs. Dozens pf these corridors and winding passages were passed in succession, and on ascending an immense staircase, we were ushered into the library, with the exception of the chapel, the place of greatest interest here. It is one of the largest in Europe ; of fine proportions, and lighted from the top ; the books are in good preservation, and mostly on old divinity and jurisprudence, with, how ever, some antique and very valuable editions of the Scriptures in Arabic and other dialects. The whole of this vast assemblage of literature, the accumula tions of centuries, is about to be removed to a library erecting at Lisbon, and designed to hold the books of all the monastic establishments in the kingdom. It was clean, and well aired ; but the present librarian could afford us but little information, not being able to read himself. Thence we proceeded to the flat roof, where alone we could judge of the prodigious extent of the building, and our wonder ceased at its holding 10,000 men. A look over the parapet gives some idea of its height, when the tallest poplars approach 80 VIEW FROM THE ROOF. to but within some stories of where you stand. The building forms a grand square, intersected in the centre by rows of chambers of a lesser height ; in the midst are fountains, gardens, and parterres. Behind, the immense park of Mafra stretches down to the sea, formerly filled with deer and other game. There is a very fine peal of bells in each turret, worked by a barrel connected with the clock- machinery, which being out of order, they do not chime as usual. Here we had an exhibition of an attempt made by one of our navy officers to signalize himself in a way that adds but little to his credit. A flag-lieu tenant of one of our men-of-war having contrived to mount above the clock, bedaubed with black painty the polished marble with his name and ship. The clergy are forbidden entrance to this place, as to the cathedral at Belem ; all, except one old monk, who being the most ancient of its late occu pants, is permitted to go once a day to celebrate mass in the chapel. We found him, bent with age, sitting on the entrance-steps waiting for his hour of admission. We had bespoke dinner at the village inn, and the following bill of fare will give a notion of the state of the culinary art at present in the country parts of Portugal. While waiting for the keys of the convent, we had been attracted by the solicitude of a clocking A PORTUGUESE DINNER. 81 hen for her young progeny. On our sitting down to dinner, we discovered that our soup was com posed of the bony carcase of the sexagenarian hen we had so lately admired. Our hunger would have made even this palatable, but for the quantity of vinegar and aniseed it contained ; this was removed by the half-dozen chickens, the skeleton progeny of their deceased mother. Being utterly dis gusted and ijnable to touch these, our attendant buoyed us up with the hope of a second course ; it came, and consisted of roast pork, stuffed with garlic and aniseed, and garnished with coarse brown sugar. The wine and brandy were also strongly tinctured with that abominable Portuguese luxury aniseed. In short, this, with garlic and Dutch tiles, are to be smelt, felt, and seen through out the length and breadth of the land. To increase our discomfort, the carriages we had bespoke at Lisbon did not arrive, and to think of sleeping here was any thing but cheering. The evening approaching, we were obliged to remount our jaded mules, and set forward on the road to Cintra, but fortunately met the carriages at Penado. The road from this to Lisbon was rather pic turesque, being more wooded and diversified with hill and dale. The orange groves, particularly near the beautiful village of Bella Vista, are very luxuriant, and the water is supplied to them by the different aqueducts, by means of a rude Per sian wheel, of large dimensions, turned by bullocks, VOL. 1. • f> 82 CLIMATE. and raising the water in earthen jars fixed to the periphery, and discharging their contents into troughs which branch off to the root of each tree. This is, in all probability, a remnant of the Moors. I was, I confess, disappointed with the city of Lisbon, and much more so with its climate, which was to us very trying, owing to the great transi tion from heat in the sunshine to cold in the shade. The intense glare and dazzling brightness reflected from the white houses are exceedingly annoying to the sight, and apt to produce head-ache. There is altogether a suffocating feeling in the air, that is particularly distressing, even to a person in health, how much more so must it be to an in valid. I know of few diseases relievable by the air of Lisbon, principally on account of its variability. During the past summer, the thermometer was often 92° in the shade on board some of our vessels in the river, and the next day it would sink to 73°. So marked is the difference here between shade and sunshine, that you have a perfectly different atmosphere on either side of your house — a com plete Russian bath. The average maximum daily heat is now 75°. Having now seen every thing worthy the notice of a passing traveller, and the wind favouring, we sailed down the Tagus on the evening of the 19th, and next day stood out to sea, shaping our course to Madeira. 83 CHAPTER III, MADEIRA. Voyage to Madeira — Arrival at Funchal — Avalanche — Boats — Our Residence — Sleighs — Wine Carriers — Beauty of the Vegetation — Hill Scenery — The Zebra Spider — Cochineal — Fruit-market — Fish — The Tunny — Costumes and Ap pearance of the Madeiranese — Aspect of the Country — Botany — Scenery at the Brazen Head — Recession of the Sea — A German Botanist — Eels — A Drag Anchor — Steepness of the Roads — Burroqueros — Palanquins — Cama de Lobos — Moonlight Views in the Mountains — The Day Breeze — Gardin de Sera — Tea Plantation — Guides — View of the Coural des Frieras — Its Descent — Regions of Vegetation — Magnificent Scenery — Reflections on its Beauty — Climate of the Island — Accommodation — Application to Invalids — Disease improved by it — Time to Visit it — Effects of Vegetation — Equability of Temperature — Insular Position — Class of Patients benefitted — Consumption — Dr. Heineken — ^Duties on English Goods — Means of Going out — English Merchants — ^Wines — Reading-room — Royal Monopolies — Discovery of the Is land — Story of the Lady Anna — The Cedar Cross — Nuns of Santa Clara — Feather Flowers — Maria Clementina — -A Grave-yard Scene — Farewell. October 23. We made the island of Porto Santo. Our voyage from Lisbon was barren of adventure of any kind, and little occurred to relieve the mo notony except the occasional visit of a Mother Carey's chicken, which falsified the oft-repeated assertion, that they are to be seen only in boisterous weather. Yesterday evening, while yet ninety miles from land, a butterfly or two fluttered about us, and came on board. The powers of flight of 84 APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND. those beautiful ephemerides are truly wonderful, when we consider the span of their short lives — many living but for a day. In the morning we got a view of the south-east end of the island, consisting of a number of dis jointed crags, broken cliffs, and tall isolated rocks . spreading out to sea with their spire-like tops, washed by the breakers, the spray of which glittered in the sunbeams, and made the most beautiful artificial rainbows. Here, the rocks form natural arches ; there, jut out into battlements, assuming, in many places, the appearance of some half-submerged cathedral, the turrets and pinnacles rising above the wave. The breeze freshens, and our course is laid along the southern side of the island ; the coast becomes higher, and the enormous columns of basalt look like pedestals supporting this beautiful spot above the ocean. Over those, in many places, the cliffs rise with a perpendicular face of several hundred feet ; their tops clothed by the pine and the mahogany, and the alternate layers of red tufa, and dark-coloured scoriae being visible at a great distance. On passing the Brazen Head, the Loo Rock, crowned by its battery and telegraph, came into sight. Numbers of vessels rock on the heavy swell in the open roadstead. We steered into the midst of them, and anchored early in the day before Funchal. I had often heard and read of the beauty of this FUNCHAL. 85 place ; but it far surpassed all idea I had ever formed of it from description. The town runs along the edge of an open roadstead, forming but a shallow indentation in the line of coast, embosomed in limes and orange groves, coffee plantations, wide- spreading bananas, and thousands of the rarest plants and exotics. The hills rise in terraces, almost from the town, clothed with vines and the most luxuriant vegetation ; these are studded with the lovely quintas of the inhabitants to a height of several hundred feet. A striking object catches the eye of the traveller, the Mount Church ; a large white building, that stands surrounded by some of the finest venaticos and chesnut trees, at an immense height above the town. Behind this, the mountains rise still higher, clothed with verdure, beautified by cascades and waterfalls, and their sides torn into ravines, which vary the landscape by their deep black shades, alternating with the brightness of the surrounding foliage. Above all, the bald tops of the Turhenias rise to a height of several thousand feet from the borders of the Coural. While we were waiting for a boat to come off, the greatest consternation appeared suddenly ex cited on shore ; the people shouting and running in all directions ; presently the water in the bay became muddy, and we found that it arose from one of the mountain torrents sweeping down the bed of the river, which had been lately dry. No rain had 86 MODE OF LANDING. fallen here, but a cloud was caught on the mountain- top, collected in the different water-courses, and emptied into the river, on the bed of which the inhabitants are in the habit of s.preading out their clothes to dry. Some years ago a torrent of this nature* swept suddenly down, carry ing away a church, several houses, and many of the inhabitants. Our own boats being unfit, we went ashore in one of those adapted to the coast: they are of amazing strength, great breadth of beam, with high-peaked prows and sterns, from which spring posts a yard high ; these and the bottoms are shod with iron. The beach in front of the town is composed of loose rolled gravel, and sinks very rapidly at the water's edge ; even on the calmest day there is a heavy surf that makes it necessary to haul up the boats high and dry. This is done, with the small ones, by throwing a rope ashore, and waiting for the highest swell to carry them up ; when the people on the land think this sufficient, you are mounted on its crest, the boat rides upon the wave, the men haul on the rope, and you are landed high up on the shore. In like manner the embarkation is effected — you take your places in the boat, several men stand at the stern watching the highest swell, and when it reaches the prow, shove her off with great force, * The soundings of the harbour have, it is said, been much diminished by the quantity of debris carried down by this disas trous flood, which occurred in 1809. A FUNCHAL RESIDENCE. 87 sending her far out upon the wave. With larger boats a different method is pursued — these laden with wine and merchandise, to the amount of several tons, are also hauled up high and dry by a capstan, worked by bullocks placed some way up the strand. The whole is a scene of great animation ; the water is literally -swarming with human beings of all ages, and nearly naked, either floating barrels of wine ashore, or engaged in pushing up some of the lighter boats. The shouting of the men, the splashing of the waves, and the creaking of the lazy windlass, add much to the effect of the scene. Our friend, Mr. Shortridge, kindly offered us the use of his house, which we accepted ; it is one of the best in the town, and is a good specimen of an English Funchal merchant's residence. The under- part contains cellars, offices, and counting-house — above that are parlours looking towards the street, the windows shaded by cool verandahs ; over these are drawing-rooms, opening upon platforms that com mand a view of the lovely sides of the mountain : these, if one may so speak, are green-houses in the open air ; the hoya carnosa clothes the walls ; the passiflora quadrangularis hangs its glowing blos soms from the trellised roof; the cobcea scandens and other creepers twist round every cornice^ and the heliotrope and olea fragrans perfume the adjoin ing rooms. Above are the dormitories, and the whole is crowned by a high turret, which com mands the sea view. The house of every merchant 1 WINE CARRIERS. has a turret, with a good telescope, to sweep the sea, and catch the first view of any vessel bound for their port, or in which they may have an interest. It is, generally, the coolest and one of the best rooms in the house : for, being raised above the neighbouring buildings, it catches whatever sea- breeze may blow. Below are extensive yards, sur rounded by offices, where the wine is stored, and the different processes of fermentation are con ducted. Besides these, the merchants have, gene rally, country houses situated in the hills, at higher or lower elevations, so that the climate can be had of any temperature in those delightful retreats. The town of Funchal is clean and well paved, with an air of bustle and business, and has a fine cathedral, and handsome public walks. The wine landed from boats is carried in barrels to the stores on a rude and narrow piece of wood, which acts as a sleigh, drawn by bullocks. Both here and at Teneriffe, a small carved horn of bone is hung on the forehead of the bullocks to preserve them from the influence of the evil eye. The men run before with wet cloths, which they throw in its path, to facilitate its slipping over the smooth pavement. The wine from the interior is carried in skins, which look, when slung over the backs of the men, as if they were the carcases of so many dead dogs, pigs, calves, &c., the legs, necks, and heads sticking out in an extraordinary manner. But we must turn to objects of greater beauty, BEAUTY OF THE FOLIAGE. 89 and admire the lovely scene, in the midst of which we have taken up our residence. Never was a spot more formed to cheer the sufferings of an invalid, to heal the wounded spirit, or reanimate the sinking frame. The dry and balmy air which produces this never-ending spring, makes the step buoyant, and raises the hopes of the sufferer, who a few days before left the choking fogs, the rains and chilly damps of the Thames or the Medway. Here all is sunshine ; the green bananas, with their beauti ful feathery tops, tell him he has bid farewell to Europe ; the orange trees hold out to him their branches laden with golden fruit — " Green all the year, and fruits and blossoms blush In social sweetness on the selfsame bough." Plantations of coffee trees fill the spaces between the houses; the splendid coral tree hangs over his head; and the snowy bells of the tulip tree mingle with the scarlet hibiscus. If he wishes for exercise he has the most inviting walks, and the most tempting shades to shelter him ; wide-spreading plane trees, and willows of gigantic growth, bend their slender arms over the streams that murmur from the hills. If he leave the town, and begins to ascend, the beauty increases, and the sea-view opens to his sight. The roads though steep are well paved, and the horses trained to an easy pace. On one side of the road, and sometimes both, is a little channel a foot broad ; the Levada, by which the water is conducted to 90 HILL SCENERY. the different plantations from the hills, murmuring gently as it ripples by his side. He rides through a perfect vineyard, where, in many places, the vines are carried on trellises over the road, and the large bunches of grapes hang within his reach. Hedges of geraniums, fuschias, and heliotropes, border those narrow paths, and shade him from the sun ; myriads of insects with golden wings sip the nectar from these deHcate flowers, and add the music of their tiny wings to the melody of the surrounding wood lands. The ficus indicus clothes the cottages, which are sharded by the most magnificent chesnuts and venaticos ; the salvia fulgens and the Guernsey lily sprinkle the vineyards ; the beautiful capillus veneris creeps through the walls, and the camellia Japonica, now in full blow, adorns every quinta. As he rises, the scene becomes still more varied, and expands beneath his eye. The valleys are covered with the luxuriant light green foliage of the yam (the arum peregrinum of Persoon.) The aloe and the agave border the enclosures of sweet potato ; and the phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax, grows to a great size ; rows of enor mous hydranges flourish at this height, but, instead of their natural pink colour, are blue, owing to the ferruginous soil, or to their elevation. Small dragon trees and cedars appear among the quintas ; and heaths and pines rise to the highest elevations. Huge prickly pears {cactus opuntia) grow along the cliffs and lower parts of the island ; and so THE GORGULIA. 9| inherent is the vitality in this singular plant, that it is only necessary to lay a single leaf, with a few stones over it, on a wall, and it will commence growing. The fruit is much eaten by the inhabi tants. The large zebra spider, peculiar to this plant, weaves its immense thick ropes from thorn to thorn ; its cocoon is hung in the centre of this suspension bridge ; it is somewhat in the shape of a kettle-drum, and the insect incubates at night, sitting on the flat side of it ; the cord of which its web is composed is so thick as to procure for it the name of epiera fasciata. The cochineal has been tried by Mr. Veitch, at his little quinta of the Gorgulia, but has not as yet been found to succeed. And here the botanist will find the lotus glaucus, lavandula pinnata, several of the asparaginice, barilla^ and the gna- phalia crassifolia, among the rocks — with the hyos- cyamus Madeiranensis, and several species of cap sicums, besides numerous acacias, the hibiscus, and the datura arborea. But to enumerate the thousand exotics that perfume the air, and clothe with their luxuriant vegetation every gairden, would be to enumerate the choicest of our hot-house plants growing in a state of nature. ' • ¦ The fruit-market is magnificent, and is beautifully situated in a grove of noble plane trees. Here, besides the usual fruits of Europe, the orange, lemon, grape, green figs, and pomegranates, we have bunches of the most delicious bananas, piles of '92 ITS BOTANY. guavas, custard apples, and alligator pears— this latter is the fruit of the laurus persea— \t grows to a great size, and, when eaten with pepper and salt, is most delicious. The water and Valencia melons, with gourds and -pumpkins of enormous growth, and the numerous tribes of circurbitse, which costs hardly any trouble in cultivation, give the market a singularly rich appearance. Here, for the first time I tasted the fruit of the cactus triangularis ; it has a pinkish rind, grows to the size of a pear, the pulp nearly transparent, studded with black seeds, and has a most exquisite flavour — but it requires to be thoroughly ripe. The Cape gooseberry, so much admired when carried as a preserve into Eu rope, is the fruit of the physalis edulis, which grows in every hedge, and is one of the solaneoe with which this island so much abounds. We must not forget the Tchoo-tchoo, one of the finest vege tables ever eaten. I never saw a fishmarket equal to that of Ma deira — the rival tints of the tenants of the water have often been contrasted with those of the air, by their respective admirers ; for my own part I must give the palm to the fish — there is a glowing metallic lustre to be found in the scale rarely to be met with in the feather. A choicer spot could not be selected by the icthyologist than Madeira, as it com bines all the fishes of the Mediterranean, with many of those of the West Indies, and the coast of Africa ; and its insular position catches, on their way, many FISHES OF MADEIRA. 93 migratory shoals, besides the regular frequenters. The murense, so much esteemed by the Romans, are caught here of a great size — the manner of taking them is peculiar. The fisherman seats him self on a rock, when the tide is coming in, singing, as he says, to charm the fish. As the water reaches the hole where the eel is, he comes out, when the fisherman captures him with a pair of large wooden nippers. Much as they were valued by the ancient Heliogabali, we tried them in every possible way, but could not liken their flavour to any thing but singed wool. The tunny fish, of immense size, often amount ing to several cwt., are daily exposed in market. These form a favourite food of the lower classes, both fresh and salted, and large quantities are sent corned into the interior, cut up in junks — it has something the taste of coarse beef-steak, but makes a most admirable dish when pickled. It is not, however, my intention to say more of the fish of Madeira, or enumerate the several spe cimens I have carried home with me, as a work is preparing from the pen of the Rev. Mr. Low, who has been long resident in the island, and whose capability of producing such a book is already known to the scientific world.* Oct. 31. I set out at an early hour with a friend, to visit the " Brazen Head." The morning * For a new method of preserving Fish, see Appendix A. 94 THE PEASANTRY. was delightful, and the groups of peasantry, coming into the market, which we met along the roads, made it quite enchanting. Companies of eight or ten, in some places, sat under the umbrageous sha dow of a pine, eating their morning's meal, or com pleting their toilette, before entering the town ; — others hastened along, loaded with the various pro duce of their gardens, consisting of bunches of yellow bananas, strings of crimson pomegranates, &c ; others carrying fowl, firewood, or fish, to Funchal. Each little party was preceded by its guitar player. The instrument is small, with wire strings, and much in use among the natives. At LUXURIANT VEGETATION. 95 times the performer accompanied it with his voice, and the whole group joined in the chorus. The men were well dressed, somewhat in the costume of Eng lish sailors, with a little cap, not unlike a funnel, on the top of their heads ; this is worn more for orna ment than use, as it could not be the least protection against the weather. It crowns the head-dress of the women also, being placed over the white muslin hand kerchief which covers the head, and hangs down over the shoulders ; their gay chintz gowns, and scarlet pelerine gave them an air of lightness, and added much to the picturesque appearance of the groups. The Madeiranese, both men and women, are a fine race, much more so than those of the mother country. The road is, in many places, very precipitous ; and here and there the ravines afford opportunities of seeing the stratification which breaks out occa sionally in horizontal layers of scoriacious basalt with bands of tufa rising in terraces ; between the interstices of these, springs the most lux uriant vegetation — the asclepium and globu- laria longifolia, now in full blow ; higher up, the myrtle and the dwarf olive, and immediately at our feet the hairfoot fern, and that species of house- leek common to the island, the glutinous juice of which, when boiled into a jelly, is used by the fishermen to coat their nets, as a preventative against the rot. As we proceeded further into the hills, the cassia bicapsularis covers the fields, making them gay with its light yellow blossoms ; the beau- 96 APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. tiful convolvulus altheafolia, and the elegant pur ple feathered grass, paniculum repens, creeps through every wall and hedge-row ; and the oxalis purpurea mingled with the Maderian violet. Thou sands of the rarest plants and most beautiful flowers adorn the landscape, and open one of the widest fields for the botanist and the lover of nature. Farther on, the country becomes more barren, a red ferruginous earth taking place of the green ver dure of the valleys we had left ; and masses of scoria, covered with origanums, burst through the surface. The attention is arrested by a number of natural walls of basalt, rising to the height of eight or ten feet above the surrounding level ; their irregular outline makes them look like so many castellated forts running along the hills — those are covered by white lichens, and small stunted plants of the shu- mac creep among their chinks and crannies. The soil is here so poor that it only affords a crop of rye every third year. Clumps of the pinus pinea and pinus pinaster, start up around you — the seed of the latter is much eaten here as well as in Por tugal. In the midst of the barrenness of this high elevation, an occasional cottage will present itself wherever a stream of water from the hills can be led amongst its orange groves ; the vines are raised from the ground on light trellises of cane ; the walls coated with tomata, and little gardens of sweet potato {convolvulus batatas) spread before the door; and figs and olive trees surround the enclosure which THE BRAZEN HEAD. 97 is walled in by the impenetrable fence of the agave and the prickly pear. At length we reached the Head, which juts out into the sea, with a perpendicular face of rock several hundred feet high ; a narrow ridge, with barely room for two to pass abreast, joins it to the mainland. The view was very grand — the hills of Madeira rose in the back-ground, and the mists that hung upon them during the morning, like a great gauze curtain, were now either dissolving before the bright rays of the infant sun, or curling . in wreathes along the ravines, as the light sea-breeze crept up the mountains. Funchal, with its rich foliage, lay before us — the ships in the harbour riding proudly on the swell, or spreading out their sails to dry, like so many birds of the ocean about to take wing. The fishing-boats below us appeared the merest specks ; and the shoals of enormous porpoises that gambolled round the rocks, looked but the breaking of a tiny wave. A transitory shower, hanging over the distant Desertas gave us a lovely rainbow ; and the different light breezes that darkened at times the azure blue of the water, appeared so many things of life engaged in sham fight as they coursed along the surface. Flocks of rock pigeons wheeled round our heads ; they exist in prodigious numbers on the island, and are consi dered a great delicacy. The face of this enormous cliff presents an extra ordinary appearance, with the different layers of red VOL. I. H 98 SEA-WASHED CAVERNS. and yellow tufa, black scoriae, and columnar basalt, intersected by extraordinary dykes at different elevations. Caverns of great size run along the coast, into which the sea washes with tremendous fury : the roofs of these are coated with scoria and small pebbles, although the sea, at the highest, never reaches to within many feet of them ; this seems to me one of the proofs that the sea ori ginally washed these parts, and has since receded, a further confirmation of which is the following — a high pillar, intended originally for shipping wine, now fifty-four yards from high-water mark, is to be seen on the Funchal beach ; it was built about forty-six years ago, and the water then washed its base ; at the foot of it will be found several plants of the solanum Sodomeum, or famous apple of Sodom. Great quantities of eels are taken upon this part of the coast, and we met several of the natives returning from fishing. My companion, a German botanist, well known in Funchal, purchased some, but having already filled all his capacious pockets with the wonders of the vegetable world, he, without a moment's hesitation, placed some six or eight of the live eels in th^ crown of his large straw hat, and, to keep them down, bound it under his chin with hi^ pocket-handkerchief. Poor good-natured man, his costume and appearance were at all times a source of ridicule and amusement in the island, particularly among the ladies, with A GERMAN BOTANIST. 99 whom, however, he is a great favourite. It often raised a smile which I found much difficulty in coaxing from a loud laugh ; but when he turned round to me, with the heads and tails of half a dozen slippery eels protruding themselves from beneath his hat, and twining over his broad glowing face teeming with perspiration, I acknowledge that my laughter knew no bounds ; and but for the good humour that beamed in his expanded Hanoverian countenance, I should have likened it to that of the Gorgon. However, he took it all in good part, and pushing them up every now and then, set forward at a pace such as few pedestrians I ever met could long keep up with ; and I should soon have been left behind, but that suddenly calling his attention to a lump of basalt that lay by the road-side, he inquired if I considered it valuable. Having gained a few minutes' rest in descanting upon the qualities of the specimen, which weighed about ten or twelve pounds, the simple-hearted man stated his desire to carry it with him the remaining four miles of our journey, in which, as may be supposed, I readily encouraged him, for acting as a drag-anchor upon the powers of the German, it enabled me to keep pace with him to Funchal, which we reached late in the day. I need hardly state that the story of the stone became a tender point to the naturalist for some time after. This gentleman was sent out to Madeira by small subscriptions collected among some rich people in England, on condition of his 100 BOTANIC SOCIETIES. sending them home large collections of seeds and plants. This trust he has faithfully fulfilled ; and it now behoves our botanic and horticultural societies to keep in employ a person who, whatever may be his botanical abilities, must be allowed to be a most indefatigable collector, and whose services both here, in the Canaries, and Cape de Verde isles, would be of the greatest value to our out-door, as well as our exotic Flora.* Dr. L. will be long remembered in Funchal. The steepness of the roads precludes the possibi lity of wheel-carriages being used, so that the horses are the principal means of conveyance. Those are excellent. There are several public stables through out the town, and as soon as it is known that a party want horses, they are beset on all hands^each horse has its attendant burroqueros, who, as soon as you have taken your seat, inquires your destina tion — lays hold on the horse's tail — goads his flanks with a short pike, which he carries in his right hand, and starts him off at a most dashing pace up roads that one of our English horses could not face; indeed so steep are they, that steps are sometimes cut for the animals to place their feet in. These boys are most indefatigable, holding on up hill and down dale for the length of a day. For ladies, or invalids unable to ride, palanquins, carried by men, are used. One of the most delightful spots * See Appendix, B. CAMA DE LOBOS- 101 in the island is the Gardin de Sera, or garden of the desert, the beautiful country residence of Mr. Veitch, our late consul-general here. As I had intended visiting the Coural, I took advantage of his kind offer of a bed, at his mountain villa, on the night before my descent. We left Funchal in the evening, and shortly arrived at one of the most beautiful districts on the south side of the island — the valley of the Cama de Lobos, the richest vine country in the island, and the part where grows the Ma,lmsey grape. The soil is of a rich, dark loam, kept up by small retaining walls ; the vale itself looks like the dried-up bed of a great torrent, as the sides are almost perpendicular ; the bottom studded with cottages peeping from out groves of bananas, with their long light-green leaves and feathery foliage waving, like so many plumes, in the evening breeze. Before it lay the Capo Geram, one of the highest headlands in the island, rising beyond the valley, with its fringe of pines that crowns its towering summit, gilded by the setting sun, and mirrored in the wave beneath. Having passed the valley, we commenced ascending through the finest district in the island. The vines are all trained on trellises that stretch over the road ; the houses become more frequent, and we passed nume rous groups of the peasantry going home, having disposed of their fruit or wine, laden with preserved fish, or salted fowl, which latter are pickled and packed in large barrels for inland consumption. But 102 MOONLIGHT SCENERY. in general the poorer people eat no meat, their principal food being fruit and vegetables ; and yet we see what a stout, healthy, hardy race they are, capable of enduring the greatest fatigue. The land is held by the tenant for one half of the produce, be it more or less ; on this they live, seemingly both contented and happy. The moon rose in most imposing brilliancy as we entered the mountains through which the narrow bridle-path now led, amidst the most romantic scenery ; as we traversed the ravines, the dark shadows of the impending cliffs above were relieved by a full stream of silver light occasionally thrown across the gloaming. Perhaps in no place is the witchery of moonlight scenery so much enhanced as in the forest and on the mountain. The hushed repose of nature amongst those proud battlements of the land, calms, while it elevates the mind. Below us rested the ocean, placid and serene, without a wave to ripple its silver bosom ; and the very surf, usually so high along this bold and rocky shore, had scarcely power to sing its own lullaby; while in the valleys the crickets kept up a most incessant chirping among the tall reeds. I love the cricket;. it reminds one of the days of home and childhood, when we sat by our own fireside to listen to the tale of wonder, and watched the little insect as it peeped forth at us from the hob. During the day it was rather cold, and there was much wind at Funchal ; but we found none of it GARDIN DE SERA. 103 whatever on the hills, where it was much warmer. It is not an uncommon occurrence, in the lower parts of the island, to have some wind at the heat of the day, dying away towards evening. It is said to arise from this cause : — in those ravines which inter sect the higher parts of the island, the morning sun, acting on the confined atmosphere which settles in those gorges, greatly heats the air, and necessarily rarifies it, forming a tendency to vacuum ; then the wind from the sea rushes towards the centre of the island to fill up the spaces where draught is created, until an equilibrium is established — this creates the day breeze. Next morning I had a better opportunity of examining the beauties of this garden of the desert. At this great elevation it was piercingly cold during the night. It is, indeed, a lovely spot ; so wild, so calm, and so perfectly shut out from the rest of the world ; the hills, on either side, forming an amphi theatre, with but a single outlet, where you get a glimpse of the sea ; the immediate sides of the vale are clothed with groves of magnificent chesnuts, their autumnal liveries well contrasting with the fresher tinting of the leafy evergreens. In the bottom, watered by a gentle rivulet, the vine grows even at this elevation, and the numerous class of cucurbitse, the melons, gourds, and pumpkins, form graceful festoons as they wreathe from branch to branch of the young chesnut and orange trees — their golden blossoms and enormous 104 TEA PLANTATION. fruit hanging by a single stem, so light and graceful, look as if suspended in mid-air. Small cottages, thatched with rye-straw, with the villagers seated before them grinding the quern, give life and ani mation to the scene. Numerous plants of balm scent the air, and the fuschia and hydrangia grow to a size almost incredible. Mr. Veitch, to whom much credit is due for his endeavours to introduce the tea-plant, showed us his plantation here. It is situated on a sunny terrace behind the house ; the plants were then looking exceedingly healthy, and in the most luxuriant state of vegetation, the greater number being in blossom ; they are now twelve years' old. The original plants are small, and prin cipally kept for seed, which is now ripening on them, and they are also laid in layers for the next year. The first generation that was procured from these was in a still more flourishing condition, proving the advantages of acclimatization, and the value Madeira would be of for introducing plants into Europe. He has both the green, black, and gunpowder ; and the leaves are gathered in May, when fresh and tender. We partook of some of it for our breakfast, and, though hardly strong enough, it was of a fine flavour, and had not that coppery taste perceived at times on the tea at home. Mr. V. is in the habit of mixing the flower of the olea fragrans, which adds considerably to its quality, and he keeps it a year before using. The fresh leaf has little or no taste, and so much of the VIEW OF THE COURAL. 105 flavour is the effect of the drying process, that we must be some time ere we arrive at the perfection 'of the Chinese in tea manufacturing, while they are so anxious to prevent us receiving information con cerning it. Emerging from the valley of the garden, and proceeding through the village, I soon collected a troop of guides, who each disputed for the honor of conducting the Signor Inglese to the Coural. I was led to the top of the hill surmounting the Gardin, the guide assumed a mysterious air, and holding my horse by the bridle — lo ! the Coural opened to view — so suddenly, indeed, that I started back in horror at finding myself on the brink of a precipice 1334 feet in depth. This immense abyss stretches, like a diorama, far as the eye can reach across the island. It is a series of valleys inclosed on all sides by enormous perpendicular precipices, some of which are the principal heights of Madeira, as Pico Grande, the Turhinias, the Pico Ruivo, 5446 feet in elevation, the bottom and sides being a forest of the noblest trees. The height of the surrounding mountains — the roaring torrents which dash through the hills — the azure sky, and the wild sublimity of the spot, have justly procured for it the title of the Switzerland of Madeira. From the place where I stood, the white cottages that sprinkle the bottom look like so many egg-shells, and the stream that swept through the valley, and the rivulets upon the moun- 106 THE COURAL. tain sides appeared so many veins of molten silver, as the sun glistened on their changing surfaces. I know not how long I might have remained fixed in admiration of this scene, had not my guides, each supplicating for a pistarine, reminded me that I had still farther to go. These I dismissed, and trusting to the guidance of my burroquero for the rest of my journey, commenced the descent. A narrow path leads off to the left along the edge of the Coural, over dry barren tufa, where a few stunted brooms show the only trace of vege tation ; but further on, the arborescent heaths ap pear and grow to a great size. The path now leads over a ridge of mountain that divides the Coural from the Desera Agua, a valley similar to that of the Coural, and in my mind no way inferior, except in being more inaccessible. Here the path is very steep, being supported merely by the jutting cornice of a rock, and in some places so rugged and uneven, that it is with great difficulty a horse can be led over it. The laurus indicus, the venatico or mahogany of the island, clothed with its dark foliage the sides of the cliffs, growing at a great elevation ; whereas the chesnut is scarce, and principally confined to the bottom and the lower parts of the island, being an intro duced tree.* The day was one of the finest we * Bowditch divides the regions of vegetation into— First, The vines, which will grow and give fruit as high as 2700 feet, but will not produce wine higher than 2080, the bottom of the MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. 107 had had for some time — not a cloud or mist could be seen throughout the Coural, save an occasional " woolpack" floating- at a great elevation, which was for an instant caught in its transit by one of the highest peaks, as if to remind one of their elevation ; but it would soon pass away, and all again would become serene and spotless in the intense azure of the canopy above. The descent was difficult, and took us until three o'clock. As we neared the bottom, vegetation increased; many of the splendid laurels around us were covered with a beautiful white feathery moss, {usnea barbata,) that made them look as if clothed with hoar-frost. The ragged scoriae along the banks were draped with numerous lichens ; and where a fissure occurred in the basalt itself, large bunches of the Madeirian house-leek sprouted out like so many cockades. I did not see a single arbutus, nor could I find the arnica montana, described by Bowditch, but this may be owing to the season of the year. The balm is in great quantity ; the sonchus grows to a vast size ; and two species of saxifrage occupy any spots of moisture ; there are different species of origanum, and numerous heaths, but which a cursory visit would not allow me to examine. Woodcocks Coural. Second, The region of the brooms, in which, I think, may be also ranked the pines, together with the ferns and some chesnuts— this ascends as high as 3700 feet. Third, That of the vacciniam and laurels, to 5600. Fourth, That of the heaths, even as high as 6000 feet. 108 REFLECTIONS IN THE COURAL. are said to inhabit this valley the whole year round. We reached the bottom just as the declining sun had thrown one-half of the Coural into shade. It is rich in every species of vegetation, and although 2080 feet above the level of the sea, the vine pro duces good wine. The Coural des Frieras, or "sheepfold of the nuns," is so called from its retired lonely situation, and being a place of security to send the women and defenceless to in case of invasion. In the centre of the valley stands the small chapel of the Liberamenti upon a rising knoll — a pleasing object in that wild and beautiful spot. There is something in basaltic scenery calculated to inspire awe ; I never felt it more than to-day, on looking round me in this noble amphitheatre, from which there seemed no possible outlet, and whose hang ing crags and perpendicular walls seemed as if they would momentarily crumble and crush you in their ruin. It is a spot whose scenic beauty defies alike the pencil and the pen ; the powers of the latter have been frequently tried on it, but have always failed, for nature seems here to have studied the sublime. The heart of man may indeed devise, and the hand may execute what is justly to be admired in its day, but what efforts can bear comparison with such as these. The proudest triumphs of genius — the noblest monu ments of the Egyptians — the Grecians — the Ro mans — where are they now ? Fast crumbling CLIMATE OF THE ISLAND. 109 into their original elements ; while this picture in the book of nature's landscape smiles on unchanged and unchangeable for ages, and tells of Him from whose master-touch " the very dead creation" assumes a mimic life. It seemed to have but one want — that of the deep autumnal tints, that add so much variety to our scenery, and which are never to be seen amidst' the evergreens of the Coural. The road leading out of the valley is of frightful steepness, and, as I looked back upon the scene I had left, its parting glance seemed even more transcendently lovely than the rest ; for now the fast declining sun, as it topped peak after peak, looked as if a crown of glory shed down its golden rays to enlighten those stupendous crags of fluted basalt that ap peared like so many cathedral pillars, and bid me still remain " The adoring child Of nature's majesty, sublime or wild." The value of Madeira as a climate suitable to invalids, is daily more appreciated, because becom ing better known ; and the numbers this year can hardly find accommodation. Besides hotels and boarding houses, families (many of whom are now resident here) can purchase houses for the winter season, although at rather a dear rate. These can be had either in the town itself, or in some of the beautiful suburban retreats, which, if not situated at too great an elevation, will be found very advan- no CLIMATE OF THE ISLAND. tageous. Unless for those who go early in the season, it will be necessary to write beforehand, in order to procure good accommodation. So great was the demand last year, that the Portuguese, as might be expected, took advantage of it to raise the prices of their houses. It is much to be regretted that some enterprising merchant has not erected a number of small comfortable dwellings in the different sheltered spots near the town, or in the valley of the Cama de Lobos, for the reception of invalids, who amounted, with their friends, last year, to upwards of two hundred ; and they, with very few exceptions, were all English. Various opinions have been expressed regarding the comparative merits of this island ; but I think both medical men and those who have tried it themselves must now acknowledge that we have no European climate that can in any way be compared with it, or that affords the same advantages that it does as a winter residence for invalids, more especially since steam has brought it within a few days' voyage of England. Even for those who can well afford the expense, it is a serious thing for invalids, especially for females, to resign their home and friends in search of a milder atmosphere and few places that we are acquainted .with will compensate, by the benefits they afford, for the comforts of the one, or the endearments of the other. But if such there be, I am constrained to say, that place is Madeira. It may be well to mention, that a steamer goes APPLICABILITY TO INVALIDS. Ill out from Falmouth in September, solely for the use of invalids, and returns for them in May. The sea- voyage itself, which is so generally found beneficial, is not prolonged to the extent it was in saihng vessels, and the accommodation is said to be much superior. Far be it from me to say that the climate of Ma deira can cure consumption ; but this I wiU say, that, independent of its acknowledged efficacy in chronic affections, it is one that will do more to ward off threatened diseases of the chest, or even to arrest them in their incipient stages, than any I am acquainted with. A dry, warm climate, with a healthy and equable state of the atmosphere, are, no doubt, the most powerful remedial agents we are acquainted with, more especially for parts where only such agents can be brought in contact. It is a remedy for which, in many cases, we have no adequate substitute, and the discredit into which its sanative efficacy has been brought, " is to be sought for, not in the remedy, but in the man ner in which it has been prescribed."* And the hearsay evidence, often received from doubtful au thority, on which professional men recommend parti cular localities as applicable to certain diseases and peculiarities of constitution, is highly reprehensible. To some, however, the heat of a Madeira summer will be too relaxing, and they will be improved not * Clark. 112 EFFECTS OF VEGETATION. only by a removal to a lower temperature, but ma terially benefitted by the voyage — always remem bering, that from the middle to the end of June will be the earliest period that an invalid, who has spent the winter at Funchal, can arrive with safety in this country. The spring is the season of trial, and as Funchal and the south side of the island are much exposed, a circumstance which adds to the favourable state at the other seasons, I feel assured that then the sheltered vale of Oratava, in Teneriffe, would be found preferable in many respects, besides being five degrees warmer than Funchal at this time of the year. Although I believe that a person with healthy lungs will exist any where, yet it is generally ac knowledged that vegetable is in some degree neces sary to animal life, arising from the elimination, the absorption, and exhalation of certain gases, which constitute our atmosphere, the equilibrium of which is kept up by the mutual assistance of the animal and vegetable. If then, leaves be a respiratory appa ratus, and that trees hybernate when they fall off, independent of the cold of our winter, we lose also the advantage derivable from a continued activity in vegetable life, beneficially modifying the qua lities of our atmosphere ; whereas, in more tro pical countries, the extensive evergreen Flora, continuing to flourish throughout the whole year, .contributes in no small degree to purify the air, and increase the salubrity of the climate, and, con- TEAIPERATURE OF THE ISLAND. 113 sequently, the healthy condition of animal life — although a superabundance of vegetation is by no means conducive to health. It is the great equability of temperature that makes Madeira so justly cele brated ; an equability that continues, not only throughout the seasons, but also through the range of the diurnal revolution. After the most accurate investigation for several years, the annual mean temperature is found to be 65°, and the daily temperature is now (November) from 70° to 72°, and seldom falls more than 3° or 4° during the night ; and so slight are the dews falling in the town, that clothes are frequently hung out to dry during the night ; the lowest degree to which the glass was ever known to fall, even just before sunrise, was to 50°. With so little rain and dew, it may naturally be asked how vegetation appears so luxuriant? Outside the town, and in other parts more elevated on the island, very heavy dews fall, and, in addition, vegetation is amply provided for by the quantity of water coming from the hills, which irrigate even the lowest parts of the island.* Its insular position possesses many advantages over that of a continent, and this is here increased by the * The quantity of rain that falls at Madeira is, no doubt, as great as that in some parts of Europe — but it is not in the town of Funchal, the residence of the invahds, that it falls, but in the higher parts. In it a continued day's rain is so little known, that invalids are almost always able to take out-door exercise at some time of the day. VOL. I. I 114 DISEASES RELIEVED BY height of the mountains that rise in the centre. As the equability and comparative mildness of tempera ture, experienced at sea, are greater than that on land, so is an island such as this, in these respects superior to a continent. I said before, that the temperature can be varied by ascending the hills, but this will seldom be required during the winter months, and few invalids remain in the summer when the siroc prevails for a few days. It moreover holds out a hope, that no other country can fulfil to the same extent, of life to those remaining members of families, many of whom have been carried off one after another by hereditary phthisis. Cases of severe and protracted rheumatism may find the West Indies a preferable climate ; and speaking from personal experience, I should say that asthmatic sufferers will not be totally free from attacks ; but I must at the same time state that mine were generally brought on by fatigues encountered among the hills, often at a very great elevation. No doubt many have been deceived by the promises held out of Madeira, and now rest beneath the cypress and orange grove. But who were they? Patients whose cases were so utterly hopeless that not a chance remained for them ; and, besides the domestic incon veniences, the effects of their removal have been such, that some have died upon the voyage, and others immediately after landing. I am happy to say, professional men do not now yield to the importunities of patients, whose cases they look upon A RESIDENCE IN THE ISLAND. 115 as irremediable, by sanctioning their removal to Madeira — an advice as cruel as it was useless. It would be unnecessary in an unprofessional work of this kind to enumerate all the diseases for which a residence in this climate would be useful ; but I may observe, that for general debility, affections of the chest, the throat, and the wind pipe, and cases of loss of voice from public speak ing, it will be found most desirable, though I must say, that for all complaints in which humidity is to be avoided, when relaxation and increased secretion are present, the Canaries, especially Teneriffe, are pre ferable, owing, I should think, to its highly volcanic soil, more scanty vegetation, and extreme dryness. Those cases of threatened consumption, either owing to hereditary predisposition, or the sequel of inflammatory attacks, which are sent here with the lung congested, or advanced to solid tubercle, will derive benefit, but not by the mere visit of a few months : in such cases I should say patients ought to continue their residence for a very much longer period, even for years ; diversifying their stay with occasional visits to the Canaries, which will give them the stimulus in all cases most useful, of amusement, change of climate, and of scene. That Madeira can prolong life, even under the most unfavourable circumstances, the case of the late lamented Dr. Heineken is a proof. This gen tleman came to the island when his case was pro nounced, by some of the most acute physicians in 116 DOCTOR HEINEKEN. Britain, as rapidly approaching to a fatal termina tion — yet, under those circumstances, he lived nine years in Madeira, certainly with the greatest watch fulness, until going one day to collect some fossils on the neighbouring island of Porto Santo, a storm overtook him, and he suffered all its hardships in an open boat ; he returned next day to Madeira, and died that night. He requested a professional friend to examine his lungs after death, and Dr. Ronton, who performed the kutopsy, informed me that his astonishment was, how he could have sustained life with so small a portion of respiratory apparatus ; hardly a vestige of one of his lungs remaining, and the other in a condition such as could not exist in this climate. The death of this gentleman is the more to be regretted, as he had done much to inves tigate the climate of the island. His life was spent in the furtherance of science — he died in her cause, and bequeathed to her the most interesting legacy he or any mortal can bestow, the tenement of his immortal spirit, that his fellow man might be enlightened and benefitted by a knowledge of that fatal malady which had hastened him to an early death, as it has but too many of his countrymen. Of the salubrity of this volcanic island. Sir James Clark has well said, " When we take into conside ration the high temperature of the vpinter, and the mildness of the summer, together with the remark able equality of the temperature during the day and night, as well as throughout the year, we may safely ME.^NS OF GOING TO MADEIRA. 117 conclude that the climate of Madeira is th.Q finest in the northern hemisphere." It may be useful for families going out to know, that there is a heavy duty upon all English furniture which invalids are much in the habit of bringing out, and that that made in the island is both cheap and appropriate. Last winter ( 1 837-8) Madeira suffered, in common with all other places of which we have any account, from the unusual severity of the season, which is not to be taken as a fair criterion of its salubrity. It is not a bad test of the mildness of the climate that swallows do not migrate from the island ; the swifts however do, as in other places, on which I shall have occasion to remark hereafter.* The hospitality of the princely merchants of Madeira has been often dwelt upon as a source of * A steamer leaves Falmouth for Lisbon on Mondays, regidarhj. First cabin fare, 15Z. — Second cabin, 9L 10*. — which includes table, &c. A steamer leaves Lisbon for Madeira every fortnight, and returns in a few days after she lands her passengers. Fares from Lisbon to Madeira (at present) — First cabin, 10^. — Second cabin, 11. including table — Deck Zl. — An English stewardess attends. The British mail contract-boats, which sail on Mondays from Falmouth, call at Vigo, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar — touching at Oporto, and return by the same route, which is performed in eighteen or twenty days. For much information upon this subject, I would refer the invalid to the useful little work recently published by Mr. Driver — " Letters from Madeira;" and for a more detailed account of the chmate, to the papers of Doctors Renton and Heineken, pubhshed in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal; and also Clark on the Influence of Climate, &c. 118 WINES. great enjoyment to the invalid and traveller, and deserves a repeated expression of thanks from those who have experienced it. They are not only the wine merchants but the principal proprietors of Funchal, and are all English. This favored spot wants but one blessing to make it an earthly para dise — a free and enlightened government. A reading-room and library have been lately established, where every English publication of merit, and periodical, besides newspapers, are con stantly supplied — a billiard-room has been also attached. Tobacco and soap are royal monopolies — the for mer is not allowed to be cultivated on the island — the latter may offer «ome plausible excuse for the extreme dirtiness of the Portuguese; the ladies among whom are never known to soil their faces with water, but substitute dry rubbing instead. Madeira wine has unjustly fallen into disrepute, for some years past, in this country. I say unjustly, because I believe that pure old south-side Madeira is one of the finest and most wholesome of all white wines. What the cause may be it is difficult to say; perhaps it was and is the great scarcity of the article such as I describe it. To many invalids it is a wine particularly adapted, although in diseases of the chest, when a wine becomes neces sary, or from circumstances unavoidable, I am bound to give the preference to white Lachrymai Christi, as possessing less stimulating and more STORY OF THE LADY ANNA. 119 nutritious qualities than any other I am acquainted with. Yet, for the generality of patients to whom wine is ordered as a tonic or cordial, I feel assured that Madeira will be found, on trial, most grateful. Besides the ordinary Madeira, we have here that most delicious sweet wine, the Malmsey ; also the Sercial or Madeirian Hock ; Bual (the Burgundy), and Tinta, a red wine, the vin ordinaire possessing a mixed flavour of port and claret, together with seve ral country wines of little note, and never exported. On visiting the governor, I was astonished at seeing a large painting decorating the hall, the sub ject of which was the discovery of the island by an Englishman. " It is an old tale and often told," yet I cannot forbear mentioning it here as related by Alcaforado. In the reign of Edward III. when the feudal system held unlimited sway in the land, and when the line of demarcation between the grades of nobility was marked with the strongest hand, Robert Machim, a noble of the second degree, fell in love with Anna D'Arfert, the daughter of a noble of superj^or rank, who returned his affection. This heinous offence was soon made known to the haughty father, whose rage knew no bounds. Upon some slight pretext he had the unfortunate lover cast into a dungeon for his presumption ; and, while he remained in captivity, the fair and disconsolate Anna was forcibly married to a noble of her own rank, who resided near Bristol. The union proved, as might be expected, most unhappy. Machim was 120 THE CEDAR CROSS.* released, and soon discovered the situation of his still loved mistress — and his friend and squire con trived to have himself hired as g-room, in the estab lishment, where he found means of informing the Lady Anna of the vicinity of her lover, and of the means using to get her out of the castle. Their plans succeeded, and she joined him. A vessel was prepared to carry them to France — all was re^ady — but before the pilot came on board, a storm arose, she broke from her moorings, and was carried westward. After twelve days of suffering they discovered an island, which proved to be Madeira, and landed at a village which has ever since borne the name of Machico. A storm again arose, and tearing the vessel from the coast, drove her across the surging waters, and, finally, threw her on the coast of Mo rocco, where she was dashed to pieces, the remnant of the unfortunate crew being made prisoners, and forced into slavery. The hapless Anna, seeing all hope fled, fell ill, and died in the arms of him who ought to have been her husband.* He, in a few days after, followed her to the grave, and both were buried under one green sod, over which was placed, by their com ¦ panions, a large cedar cross, with a rudely carved inscription, praying of the next Christians who visited that spot, to erect a church to their memory. The remaining part of the crew took to the long boat, which had been preserved, and were also * This is the scene represented in the picture. DISCOVERY OF THE ISLAND. 121 driven on the coast of Morocco, and sold as slaves. It was in virtue of the information derived from those men, that the island was made known to the Portuguese, who sent out an expedition in search of it in 1419, under Zargo and Vaz. The village of Machico is one of the most ro mantic spots in the island, and its old church is rendered more interesting by a piece of the cedar cross, still shown, and said to have been that placed over the grave of the unfortunate Lady Anna and her lover. This little romance, so fraught with interest, is not only true in itself, but affords a picture of life even in the present day. The story of the Lady Anna is not without its parallel, yet, though that " bridge of sighs" may be, and is, crossed by thousands, we must now look for purity of love amidst the fossil remains that mark the age of chivalry and romance, a leaf from whose chronicles is sometimes torn out, to wrap around the twopenny Smithfield huxtery of this age of Mammon, when female human flesh can be bought and sold, as well in the lordly halls of England, as in the slave markets of the east. November 20. — We visited the convents to pro cure some of the beautiful artificial flowers, made from feathers, by the nuns. No ship ever touches here, without carrying away large quantities of this most ingenious and elegant manufacture, as well as ornaments in wax, Guava jellies, Cape gooseber ries, and other sweetmeats. 122 MARIA CLEMENTINA. These flowers possess colours that vie with the brightest of the originals ; and, when so ordered, are constructed with an accuracy that leaves- no thing to be desired by the most fastidious botanist. Besides these, one of the convents has a further attraction, in the fair person of one of its nuns, Maria Clementina. Poor Maria ! Surely, if we sympathized with the sentimental Sterne over his Maria, we may well be excused in taking an interest in, and sighing for the fate of, the recluse of Santa Clara. Few strangers that come to Madeira but visit the nun that so captivated Coleridge, and whose sad history every one here is acquainted with. It is short, but eventful. How eventful to the life of woman ! The parents of Maria resided in the island ; she was the youngest and fairest of several daughters, and, like Cinderella of old, suffered from the envy and unkindness of her less lovely sisters, and though without the aid of any good fairy to turn a pumpkin into a coach and six, and a rat into a coachman, some old and rich relative, pitying her unhappiness, left her a handsome fortune. This, instead of removing, increased her misery, and, to fly the wretchedness of her heartless home, she yielded to the urgings of her unnatural kindred, and took the veil while still almost a child. Long time had not elapsed till the constitution was pro claimed in Portugal, and an order of the Cortes arrived permitting all nuns who chose to leave their HER HISTORY. Il'S .convents and to marry. Many recluses availed themselves of the privilege, and again mixed in the society of Funchal ; and amidst that gay and elegant assemblage, none was more admired than Maria. Graceful, beautiful, and young, for she was only eighteen, she could not long remain without suitors. She had many ; and though it is said the sisterhood leave outside their convent walls, the world, its follies and its cares — its joys and its sorrows — the ties of kindred, and the affections of the heart ; yet there were many whose natural feelings were not dead, but only slept, and now, freed from the yoke of religious despotism, the vine-like properties of fair woman's heart would (as might be expected) soon find some object round which to twine the tendrils of its new born affections. A young officer, then quartered in Madeira, wooed and won the heart of the fair Maria. It was soon known that they were to be united, and all looked with an approving smile on the approaching nuptials of the well-matched pair. To the maiden all was joy, sunshine, and felicity; and as she roved with her happy lover through the vineyards, the orange groves, and the quintas of her native island, the prospect of happiness that opened to her through the vista of futurity cast a veil over the hardships of the past. She forgot her early sufferings. The day before the nuptials were to be solemnized, a vessel arrived from Lisbon, bringing the sad intelligence that the Cortes had 124 THE CONVENT. revoked their decree, and that all nuns should re turn to their convents. Great was the sympathy for poor Maria ; her gaiety and light-heartedness — her extreme simplicity, gentleness, and beauty, had won for her the love and the esteem of all in Funchal, particularly the English. There was no resource. Her head was again shorn of its silken locks, and her gay, yet simple attire, exchanged for the dark robe, the girdle, and the veil. This morning she met us smiling at the grating, and brought the flowers she had prepared for us. There was a look of calm resignation that added a peculiar interest to her features — the only ones I have ever seen that overcame the severity of cos tume demanded by her order, and which seemed to us as the weeds of that widowhood of love she is doomed to spend within her convent walls. Poor thing ! Her very smile was one that told the heart was ill at ease, for mouldering hope, the blight of early sorrow, and the never-ceasing canker of un answered love had spread its mildew o'er a brow, so late lit up by hope, now clouded by despair. It was not without regret I left this "Delightful province of the sun. Where all the loveliest children of his beam, Flowrets and fruits, blush over every stream," and where for the rich profusion of nature's gifts received, she gratefully restores to those, who, wearied, faint, and sad, seek in her fragrant A GRAVE-YARD SCENE. 125 bosom the choicest of all life's varied blessings — the boon of health. Many a proud form of Briton's sons, subdued by the rough changes of our own variable clime, has left her shores so blest ; but not all. Ah ! no. Many — too many, seduced by a false and charac teristic fatuity, hurry hither but to expend their latest sigh. Too many, and those the loveliest and fairest, yielding in pity to the urgent and overpowering fears of their dear connexions, who, in the earnestness of affection, desperately hope where hope is not, leave their own land, the com forts, the ties, and associations that made for them a paradise of home, and voyage to this distant spot, to lay them down to rest beneath the cypress shade. Still, even that spot has its beauties, saddening though they be ; for, here would I die, and be laid even in the simple cemetery of Funchal, and though, for me, the tributary tide that flows from out the rock-sealed fountain of affection, might not be smote by the chastening rod of sor row, I should have those mute mourners of nature, the cypress and the willow, to weep over me ; and though no kindly hand should strew my grave with flowers, it would be garlanded by the fuschia and the orange blossoms. Although no artificial incense was scattered o'er my tomb, the heliotrope and the myrtle would shed the fragrance of their perfume around me ; and, though no measured chant of funeral dirge or loud Uuilah mocked the silence of 126 FAREWELL. the dead, the nightingale of the hills* would tune her evening lay, and sing a requiem to the setting sun as she nestled in the lemon tree above my head ; and when night had wrapped her mantle o'er the scene, and no unhallowed sound disturbed the cathedral stillness of the hour, I should have those mystic lamps that light a world, hung in the vault of my sepulchre, to smile upon the sod that covered me. * The Tinto Negi-o. 127 CHAPTER IV. TENERIFFE. Visit to Teneriffe — View of the Peak — Fishermen — Santa Cruz — Dromedaries— The British Flags — Vegetation — Cochineal — Volcanic Rocks — Birds — Inhabi tants — ^Museum — Guanehes — Scenery — Laguna — Oratava — Beauty of the Land scape — Port of Oratava — TheBotanic Garden — The Dragon Tree — Ascent of the Peak— Guides — Spartium Plains — Pumice-stone Plains — Magnificent Scenery — Estanza des Ingleses — Extreme Cold — View of the Sunrise — The Cone — The Crater — Smoke Holes — Sulphur — Prospect from the Summit — The Regions of Vegetation — Descent — Climate — Return to Madeira. To afford me an opportunity of ascending the peak of Teneriffe, our vessel was got under weigh, and we left Funchal roads on the 5th of November. On the morning of the 6th, we had a momentary glimpse of the peak ; but the weather becoming hazy, we were unable to distinguish it perfectly until three o'clock, when its bold, rugged outline became accurately defined against the azure of an African sky. I must confess my disappointment at its first appearance. It did not at all come up to the expec tation I had formed, of an immense spire shoot ing into the heavens, and piercing the clouds, as I had always been led to suppose by description and delineation ; and this disappointment I find that I 128 FISHERMEN. share with most Europeans who have seen it. From our present position, approaching Santa Cruz from the north, the figure is not that of a cone, but rather of a block of mountain rising to a great height out of the sea. The sun set gloriously behind it, throwing that peculiar roseate tint around his golden locks so very different from that in more European climates. As we neared the island, the wind fell off, and left us rocking in the heavy swell that generally surrounds this iron-bound shore. When the darkness set in, a number of lights suddenly started up around us, flitting like meteors over the swollen waters. Presently a light breeze sprung up, and we gently pursued our way into the midst of this singular illumination. It arose from a number of fishing-boats, in each of which a fire of the canary pine was lighted to attract the fish. Around these were seated the fishermen, their furrowed faces grimed with the smoke, who, habited in their long scarlet caps and jackets, looked, as they sprung to view on the crest of a mountain wave, and then as quickly sunk from sight in the gulf below, like so many spirits of the mighty deep brewing the tempest. About ten we cast anchor. People may talk of clanking chains and rattling bolts; but, to me, one of the sweetest of sounds is the clanking of the chain-cable as it is hove up on deck, or runs swiftly through the hawse-hole. 7th November. — Santa Cruz Bay. — Every thing SANTA CRUZ. 129 around has the most arid, parched, and burned up look that can possibly be imagined. The neatly white-washed town looks well, but around it all is barren and desolate. This peculiar appearance, common to all volcanic islands, is now rendered more striking by the season, there not having been any rain here for the last six months. Even the large succulent plants springing here and there amongst its rocks, had lost whatever of greenness they may have originally possessed. Immediately on our right the land is high and broken into ravines, running down to the water's edge, with nothing to relieve the eye but the white line of the aqueduct that supplies the town, as it winds its serpentine course half-way up their sides. To the .left, the shore slopes away in one gradual swell to southward, barren of every thing but stones, lava, and basalt. After breakfast we landed at the mole, where Nelson lost his arm in the unfortunate affair of 1797- If the lovely verdure, the wavy palms, and green bananas of Madeira remind the Eng lish traveller that he is out of Europe, how much more do the numerous camels, which he sees on first landing here, slowly trudging their way into the town-gate, with their burdens of pinewood or lime-stone, or patiently kneeling down to be loaded, and moving their long necks from side to side, tell him that he is approach ing the region of the Zahara and the Siroc. VOL I. K 130 DROMEDARIES. The dromedary, improperly denominated the camel, of the Canaries, and supposed to have been introduced by the Norman conquerors, is a large variety ; they thrive well in those islands, but from want of care and cleanliness, and being almost devoid of hair, they look badly. So silently do these animals tread the ground, that the owners are compelled by law to furnish each with a bell, to give warning of their approach. It is remarkable with regard to the natural history of these animals, and to show how few climates are adapted to the procreation of the species, that, with rare excep tions, they will not breed in Teneriffe, but are transported for that purpose to Lancerote, which is only a few leagues distant to the southward. They are landed at the proper season in great herds from all the neighbouring islands, and be come so ferocious during their stay, that it is dangerous to land upon the island. A camel-fight is not an uncommon amusement among the people ; on these occasions they are muzzled, and evince the utmost fury in their engagements. In a small place like this, one of your first visits is to your consul ; who, assuming .all the importance of office, parades you in succession to all the go vernors and persons in authority, civil, military, and marine. This raises his own consequence not a little, and, to believe himself, vastly contributes to the honor of old England. The town of Santa Cruz is clean, that part near THE CAPTURED FLAGS. 131 the water much more so than Funchal ; and in the centre is a good square. La Plaza de la Constitugion. In this is the famous statue of the Virgin, our Lady of the Candelaria, of good execution, and of fine Carara marble. It is commemorative of the con version of four kings of the Guanehes in 1392, who are placed as supporters of the pedestal, each with a thigh-bone in his hand — why, I could not learn. They, however, enjoy but one nose amongst them ; the three missing are to be found in the collection of curiosities of some of our midshipmen, who, it is not to be expected, could let such an opportunity pass of signalizing themselves for taste, sense, and decorum. The houses of this Spanish colony are large, well built, and in the Moorish style of the mother country, having courts in the centre, surrounded by galleries. In many of those are handsome fountains, playing to a great height, which render them cool and refreshing. We went to visit the church, where are exhibited the flags said to have been taken in Nelson's attack. We were all anxiety to get a sight of them ; but no — our cicerone would have his own way, parading us through the altars, one by one, explaining to us the merits of each in a most showman-like manner. At last he brought us to the spot where hung the remains of those emblems, fast falling into decay, and waving mournfully in the light breeze that flows down from the belfry, under which they are 132 VEGETATION. placed. One is an ensign, the other a union-jack. I do confess I never found it so difficult a matter to keep my " hands from picking and stealing," as when I saw that flag on which the sun never sets, hung up as a trophy in a foreign land. Upon inquiry, however, we found (and it somewhat cooled our zeal) that they were not taken from us on that night, but were merely picked up on the shore where our boats went to pieces. The batteries here are still very strong, and the surf tremendous, often preventing boats from land ing for days together ; yet this does not stop the business-like appearance along the beach, for the barrels of wine are rolled down the steep pebbly shore, and one of the hardy natives, pushing it before him, plunges into the boiling surf and floats it to the vessel, often several hundred yards off. November 8th. I set out into the hills. About the town are some fine gardens of potatoes — a late importation — ^just now coming into blossom, and promising well. Near the quay there is a hand some public walk, in which grow some splendid plants. The datura fastuosa, with its beautiful semi- double flowers of a purpleish colour, attains to a great size, and also the pointinia pulcherrima, or Spanish carnation, one of the most splendid shrubs that adorn this island. The stramonium flourishes along the road side in great luxuriance, but thicker, more shrubby, of a glaucus colour, and the leaves more succulent, than the species grown in Spain and Madeira. As I pror THE EUPHORBIUM. 133 ceeded into the hills, I observed the euphorbium ca- nariensis growing to an immense size; it looks like so many great candelabra, and this similitude is in creased from the quantity of juice exuding, which crusts over the stalks and rocks beneath, with a yellowish wax-like paste. Some idea may be formed of the virulence of the poison of this plant from the following circumstance. I made incisions in some of the plants, in order to allow the milky juice to exude, and laid the point of the penknife I had used for an instant on the tip of my tongue : almost immediately I felt an intense heat, dryness, and burning sensation in the fauces, back of the throat, and gullet, and suffered so much from weakness, that I was scarcely able to crawl back to the town. On examination, there was no redness or inflammation to be seen, and the symptoms gra dually subsided in the course of three or four hours, leaving, however, a huskiness which lasted several days. Hugeplants oitkvecacalia grow in great abundance through the fissures in the basaltic rocks. Owing to the great drought, the large leaves of the cacti have" a shrivelled-up appearance : upon this the cochineal is much propagated here ; and, besides the several close plantations near the town, it has lately been transplanted to the cacti growing on the hills, by pinning one or two of the little ani mals in a bag of thin muslin, and sticking them on the thorns of the plant. They were originally im- 134 LIME-STONE. ported here from South America, and promise well ; they are gathered every second year, a certain num ber being left on each plant to continue the stock. It is asserted in the island that it would be more cultivated, but that the fruit of the cactus (the prickly pear) is a favourite article of food with the natives, and it falls off before coming to maturity on those on which the cochineal is reared. The palma christi, or castor-oil plant, is also very com mon here, and the oil is manufactured in the island. The basalt in the neighbourhood of the town contains felspar and masses of hornblende. There is no limestone to be found in the island, but that useful article is imported from another of the group, Fortaventura. This grey stone contains mica and felspar, but no quartz, and perhaps it was such as this that gave travellers the idea that there is granite to be found throughout the Archipelago of the Canaries. In the hills, when excavations occur in the harder rocks, they will be found filled with a conglomerate of small, fine-rolled pumice-stone, and quantities of this will also be found in the valleys and ravines. It appears like the effect of an eruption, subsequent to that in which the harder rocks were formed, and which, in all probability, covered the whole country, but, on the occurrence of great rains dr winds, this pumice was swept down into the valleys, and filled up the caverns. VOLCANIC ROCKS. 135 On the east the coast is excessively rugged ; the swell rolls in with the greatest violence, even on the calmest day, and the water has formed immense caverns, by wearing away the tufa from the harder basalt. Many of them are a considerable way under the surface, and the approaching wave, meet ing the slower reflux water, dashes against it, and rises in a column, often thirty or forty feet high, falling down in spray on the rocks at either side, a magnificent natural jet d'eau. The rock near the water's edge is singular. Here the basalt is not columnar, nor in regular strata, but appears, while yet fluid, to have formed eddies and whirlpools, which, with a wave-like appearance, became con solidated, and retained that form on. the surface. Neither mesembryanthemum, nor any of the plants from which barilla is obtained, were yet up ; but large bags of the> lichen, collected from the rocks, which is used as orchil, are daily exposed for sale on the mole. As the tide ebbs, numbers of the poorer inhabitants collect upon the coast to catch cuttle-fish — the sepia octopus — which are here in the greatest abundance. Their mode of fishing is to tie one of the animals upon the end of a stick, and push it under the rocks, and in the crevices and pools left by the retiring tide. If one is inside, it instantly makes its appearance, attached to that on the stick, and is caught with the hand. A,t night the rocks along the shore are illuminated "by fishermen, looking for these sepise ; and when 136 BIRDS. they catch two or three, they collect around a fire, and barely heating them, devour the poor fish as the greatest luxury. As far I could see, the fish of Teneriffe correspond to those of Madeira. Numbers of large kites float in the sultry atmos phere : they are brown, with forked tails, and white under the wing. Hundreds of hawks balance themselves upon the wing, ready to pounce upon the lizards, which form their food. There are but few gulls or sea-birds of any description ; we saw no hoopoes on this part of the island, and as there are no groves, and but little vegetation, it would not be expected we should find many of the songsters that enliven the woody landscapes of Madeira. Canary birds are latterly becoming scarce in this island ; and I may remark, that the true plu mage of this brilliant melodist is, in its native wild- ness, green, yellow being the effect of culture. The tinto negro is found here, and was said to be known in the Canaries before its introduction to Madeira ; but from the fact of finding it afterwards in Bar bary, I am inclined to think that its original habitat was Africa. The red-legged partridge is now become very plenty in all the Canary islands. The bay of Santa Cruz is much better riding than that of Funchal. Vessels have very rarely to put to sea, and on this accouat, it is much to be preferred for yachts, though the swell at times is very great. The people of Teneriffe, especially about Santa INHABITANTS. 137 Cruz, are good looking. The men are a fair, stout race ; and the women decidedly the hand somest I had seen since I left England. They all wear the mantilla, manufactured of the finest white wool, handsomely trimmed with a broad edging of satin, and satin rosettes at the corners, which hang down in front. The graceful effect of this is, how ever, much spoiled by all wearing a high-crowned hat, black or white, like Welsh women ; some were decorated with parti-coloured ribbons, and even the poorest peasant girl wears silk stockings and satin shoes ! They are generally tall, and beautifully formed, possessing all the graces of Spanish cos tume, combined with English personal attraction. Except those engaged in actual labour, or shipping wine, who are generally naked, all the men are enveloped in a singular cloak, being nothing more nor less than a good blanket, with a running-string at the top, to fasten it round the throat. This primitive habiliment appears as old as the Guanehes. A simple cloak seems to have been the first attempt at general clothing made by all nations in their in fancy. This we have still in the simple abba worn in the east by the Arab and the Bedouin, over thousands of miles of the sandy deserts of Arabia. Of this description was doubtless the cothamore, worn by the ancient Irish ; and to this may be re ferred the burnoose of Algiers, the plaid of the Highlander, the blanket of the American, the toga of the Roman, the flowing garment of the Druid, 138 A MUSEUM. and ultimately, the improved cloak of our own civilized people. We had heard of a famous museum at Santa Cruz, got up by an old Spanish major several years ago. We found it, like many such concerns at home, a collection of all sorts — rudely carved ostrich eggs, old cracked china, bits of spun glass, shells spoiled by polishing, and even English toys. The only things of any value were the Guanche re mains. The sculls I was shown of those aborigines were decidedly of the Caucasian race, well formed, the forehead low, but not retreating like the negro ; the teeth did not project, nor were they filed, or the incisors worn down in any one instance. This ancient race embalmed their dead, and I had here an opportunity of seeing a small female mummy, taken from a cave on the other side of the island some years ago. No sort of antiseptic preparation seemed to have been used except in the cavities, which were emptied of their contents, and then filled with seeds, supposed to be those of the chenopodium ambrosioides, and it appeared like mummies of the lowest class which 1 afterwards saw in Egypt. The body was sewn up in a skin or leather of some description, but there were no remains of bandaging or linen texture of any kind that I could discover. This people, as well as others, seemed to study' the concealing of the dead : the caves in which they are found are almost inacces sible, and those who have been let down by a rope THE GUANCHES. 139 to fish up a mummy, speak of the excessive dry ness of those caverns. No doubt this atmosphere, as in Egypt, conduced largely to the preservation of those remains. Among other antiques connected with this race, I was shown some rudely con structed bowls ; bits of bones, said to have been used as money, which were found in the coffin or mummy case ; and also small clay pipes, similar, in every respect, to those found in Ireland in some of our old forts and kistvaens, so that evidently this race were acquainted with smoking, though, as with us, it may not have been tobacco. Some say that the human -remains found at Grand Canary are not those of Guanehes, from their having been found, not in caves, but inclosed in loose pieces of lava ; but we should recollect that caves are not to be found in the same number in Grand Canary, and that the broken pumice afforded an easy mode of burial to the people. Were I to hazard an opinion on it, I would say it was only those of the highest rank who were embalmed and buried in the caverns, while the common people were buried in the lava stones and scoriae of Grand Canary.* The scenery in the neighbourhood of this place is of a character that at first we did not compre hend. The beds of the largest rivers and torrents were perfectly dry ; on the sides of these the moun- * For further particulars concerning the Guanehes, see Ap pendix, C. 140 BASALTIC SCENERY. tains rise up abruptly, void of every trace of vegeta tion except a few cacti and euphorbia. There is an awful grandeur in basaltic scenery. The scorched tops of those enormous rocks, fluted at the sides into gigantic pillars, rise into every fantastic shape of dome and castle the mind can imagine ; above, the sky is of the most intense blue ; beneath your feet is what but a few hundred, years ago ran in a stream of liquid fire, burning and hissing down these valleys — a solemn stillness reigns around — not a leaf rustles in the breeze — not a sound to break the most expressive silence — no trace of life- — no effort of vegetation — one almost starts at the extreme quiet of those lonely spots where solitude reigns with undisputed sway. But barren though it be, it hath its interest — an interest for the lover of nature, no matter how varied, or where placed — a charm for those who love To sit on rocks — to muse o'er flood and fell — To slowly trace the forest's shady scene, "Where things that own not man's dominion dwell. And mortal foot had ne'er, or rarely been — To climb the trackless mountain, all unseen. With the wild flock that never needs a fold — Alone, o'er steeps and foaming falls to lean.- This is not solitude ; 'tis but to hold Converse with nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. The native fishermen are often driven upon the coast of Africa, and made prisoners by the Arabs. A ransom is fixed upon them; they pledge their LAGUNA. 141 word to return with it, and are allowed to go home, and collect it among their friends. The pledge they have made they keep with religious exactness, and when g,ll is ready, return with it. This speaks well for the faith of the people. November 11. We hired horses, and left Santa Cruz to cross the island for Oratava, determined, if possible, to visit the Peak, although the accounts we had heard of its practicability were any thing but cheering. About an hour's ride over a rough road, that bears the marks of an ancient pave ment, brought us to Laguna, where we breakfasted. This pretty town has now a most forsaken look ; hardly a person to be met with in the streets, which are overgrown with weeds, and every wall and 'house-top covered with the Canary house-leek. Our horses' hoofs echoed through the deserted streets ; no tuning of guitars — no glancing from the balconies ; and scarcely a sound to tell you the place is inhabited. The females of this place are kept almost as close as in a Turkish hareem ; and as many of the inhabitants once ranked amongst the nobles of the mother country, their politics or their misfortunes have driven them hither, where they live in gloom and rehgious seclusion ; seldom venturing out them selves, or admitting others within their thresholds. Here we left those of our party who could not attempt the dangers of the Peak. The plain of Laguna is of great extent ; a perfect flat, and 1834 feet above the sea level ; the soil is rich and 142 INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND. fertile, and grows the greater quantity of the grain raised on the island. It is completely hill-bound ; the consequence is, that it is constantly inundated to the depth of several feet, after the heavy rains that occur here, compelling the peasantry to quit their houses, and fly to the town, which the inun dation seldom reaches. Travellers visiting this place at these periods have described the town of Laguna as standing on the brink of a great lake. The water, however, will run off in a few hours ; and it is curious, that just beside the town there is a number of wells — salt, brackish, and fresh — all within a few acres of each other. In this plain, we felt the cold very sensibly ; at nine a. m. the thermometer fell to 68° in the shade, when it was above 73° at Santa Cruz ; but its mean tempe rature is 57?°. It would I should think be a nice place for invalids living at Santa Cruz to come up to sleep during the hot season, as it is but an hour's ride, and between it and the intermediate place they could graduate the climate, so as to have it of all temperatures. There are no fences or inclosures on this plain ; the wind was brisk, and as the large fleecy clouds floated between us and the sun, their dark shadows, chasing each other across this immense sea of land, looked like the scattered bands of an immense army. Leaving the plain, we followed a gentle ascent for several miles, amidst copses of daphne, the yellow St. John's wort, and ferns of every VALLEY OF ORATAVA. 143 description, but especially the beautiful hare's-foot, davallia canariensis. The cactus and the euphor bia had already ceased, and the basalt became more porous ; yet even at this elevation the vine still crept over the cottage, and its large pendant clus ters hung round the balconies and piazzas. We had a fine view of the Peak all the day, but the ap pearance of snow glistening in the sun, and streaking in white lines its venerable head, somewhat cooled the ardour with which we had set out. The distance of Oratava from Santa Cruz is about twenty-five miles. Presently we gained the heights above the former, which is rich in every thing the heart could desire, and forms a picture of woodland scenery seldom to be met with. The traveller, arriving here for the first time, is involuntarily arrested by the enchanting landscape, and forced to admire the extreme beauty of the scene. Beneath him is a valley of great extent, forming one continued vineyard from end to end. An occasional dragon-tree, and a few tall, waving palms start up here and there, and colours of every hue — " But chiefly thee, gay green ! Thou smiling nature's universal robe. United light and shade." The little town of Oratava stands in the centre of the valley, and its port at tbe water's edge. To wards the distant end rise up two mounds — cones of 144 THE CANARY PINE. no very ancient origin, not yet clothed with vegeta tion. On the right, the bold field of the southern ocean rolls in long and measured swells to the wild and rugged coast where it breaks in a most tremen dous surf. The vessels, not daring to approach the port, lie off at a distance, waiting for their cargoes, and the boats with their white sails form but mere specks ^ in that world of waters. The Peak rises in the back ground, and the lower range of hills that form -the steps to this cloud-capt throne are clothed with the pinus canariensis, a tree of exceeding beauty and great value. It forms the principal fuel of the island, as the branches, when cut green, contain much turpentine ; and it is admirably adapted to all work exposed to the action of water. It is much to be regretted it is not cultivated on the highlands of Ireland and Scotland, as from the altitude at which it grows in Teneriffe it might be expected to thrive with us.* Those pine-clad hills that sur round the valleys look as if they had been combed down their sides by numberless lava currents. Beneath these, arborescent heaths, laurels, and arbutus are embraced by the vine, as it creeps up the sheltered valleys to meet them. Although it is now winter, no autumnal tints are seen to vary the landscape, but one universal green, rich beyond description, and of every tint into which a colour can * Some seeds of this tree which I brought home with me liave been planted in the Botanic Garden of Trinity College, by my friend Mr. Mackay, and are in a thriving condition. PORT OF ORATAVA. 145 be divided, forming a variety in sunshine and in shade that leaves no room to regret our northern signs of dying vegetation. The numerous groups of peasantry we met in our ride invariably stopped to beg for something ; the boys and children asking for a bit, (the one- eighth of a dollar;) the men for a cigar; and the women for a piccaninni! which here means not a baby, as amongst the negroes, but any thing small — a trifle. We arrived at the port of Oratava about four o'clock — a well built, clean, airy little town. There are few of the people to be seen in the streets, and none of the fair sex. The window-shutters are kept closed during the day, but at the bottom is a little door which the ladies push out with their heads when any thing attracts their attention in the street, but which is instantly closed, in high disdain, if you endeavour to catch a glimpse of the curious fair within. We were directed to the Spanish hotel, kept by a quondam actor and opera-dancer of Cadiz, which, miserable as it was, offered the only accom modation in the village. Here we found two English friends — invalids who had been enjoying the benefit of this beautiful climate for the last month or two. November 12. The answers to our inquiries respecting the ascent of the Peak led us to think that from the advanced state of the season it would be impracticable, or at least attended with much VOL. I. L 146 GUIDES. suffering and danger ; and all the people here united in endeavouring to dissuade us from it. The only encouragement we received was — " Why it is just possible that you may get up." Nevertheless we determined on making the attempt, and accordingly sent for the guides. They did not appear to rehsh the journey either, but consented on the con dition of their getting an additional gratuity. In summer the usual mode of proceeding is to leave the port about one or two o'clock in the day, and sleeping at a place called the Estanza des IngUses, (elevated about 10,000 feet, and the highest spot to which horses can be brought,) commence the ascent of the actual Piton by moonhght, so as to be on the top at sunrise. Christoval, our principal guide, wished us to wait till twelve o'clock, but it was finally arranged that we should leave at ten p.m. For the last two days I had been suffering from an old enemy, asthma, aggravated by a heavy cold, and I trembled for the result, but it is not every day in a man's life that he stands at the foot of the Peak of Teneriffe, so I concealed my illness both from myself and others as well as I could, and determined to ascend at all hazards. Having completed our arrangements with the guides, we dismissed them till the appointed hour, and set off to visit the great dragon-tree of Oratava, situate at the distance of a mile or two from the port. On our way we passed by the fine botanic garden, established by a Spanish nobleman some THE BOTANIC GARDEN. 147 years ago, but now left to decay. It was well kept during his lifetime, but fearful of its being neglected by his own family, he presented it to the government on his death. This act has had a fatal tendency ; for they, instead of fostering it, tried to compel his own son to keep it up, but having failed in the attempt they left it to ruin. It is now in the hands of a most ignorant Frenchman, who is neither a botanist nor a gardener. Some time ago the Prussian govern ment offered to purchase it, in order to naturalize some of the plants of the western world before they were brought to Europe : but the Spanish, with be coming dignity and pride, chose to let it fall to ruin in their own hands rather than allow it to flourish in another's ! A garden such as this would be a great acquisition to the English — foremost as they are in the cultivation of every minute, as well as great and noble scheme by which knowledge can be increased, and man rendered happy in its posses sion — to such it would be a great desideratum, as many plants could be acclimatized here, and so made hardy enough to bear the English temperature. Surely such a one ought to be here or in Madeira, where the plants of the varied climes of India, Australia, Africa, and America, could meet a more congenial atmosphere. How many horticultural societies could well afford to pay an intelligent gar dener in this cheap country, and with a rich reward. The town of Oratava not only looks deserted, but 148 THE DRAGON TREE. is really so. Many of the houses are perfect palaces, and were originally the residence of the aristocracy of the island— the real "blue blood," as the Spanish nobility were wont to call themselves ; but the moss is fast creeping over the proud escutcheons that decorate their entrances. This place is beautifully situated, and has a small stream of water running through each of the. streets like the Lavadas of Madeira. We were directed to the garden where the dragon-tree {draccema draco) stands; and foundit in much better preservation than we could have expected, and still very like Mr. Wil liams's representation of it. The species of tree to which this belongs has an odd and grotesque ap pearance : it is characterised by a short, thick, leaf less trunk, branching out at top with a number of diminutive arms, not unlike a candelabrum, each crowned with a tuft of leaves. The measurement of this specimen is forty-seven feet nine inches in circumference above the roots ; the trunk is partly hollow, and the opening, which is built up with stones, is thirteen feet in the clear ; it must have spread since Humboldt's time, who made the circum ference but forty-five feet. The branches are propped up with a number of poles, which look like so many crutches supporting its old age ; it is, however, going fast to decay, and although it still produces leaves, it has not borne flowers or fruit for some years. Two young shoots have sprung out of the hollow, and beside it waves one of the finest palms I ever saw. PREPARATION FOR THE ASCENT. 149 which seems to rear its tall majestic form in mockery of its tottering neighbour. One feels a degree of veneration on standing beside such a patriarch of the vegetable world, which has withstood the suns and storms of centuries. It is supposed to be one of the' oldest trees in existence, and is a fit associate for the Cowthorpe -oak — the great chesnut of Tam- worth — the olives of Gethsemane — the plane tree of Frauhenstein — the Castagno di Cento Cavalli, at Etna — and the still older though ungraceful Baobabs figured in Macartney's Embassy. The combined ages of a few of those would bring us to the first dawn of life upon our planet. Towards evening I became quite excited and rest- • less, between the desire to proceed and the fear of failure. We had provisions and water packed for several days in case of accident ; as should we be caught in the snow, or overtaken by a storm, our only chance would have been to remain in some crevice of a rock until it had passed over. Our consul kindly sent us a present of wine and brandy, that of the town being most wretched stuff. At nine the moon rose in the most tempting splendour — she was then within one day of the full. We put on a double suit of every thing ; and, besides a pair of great coats, and a large cloak, a double blanket was provided for each. At 10 o'clock, p. M. the guides made their appearance, with four horses, two of which were provided for us, and two to carry the provisions. At half-past ten 150 THE GUIDES. o'clock every thing was ready, our cigars lighted, and we started. Our cavalcade consisted of my friend Mr. William Meiklam, and myself, on horse back, preceded by our principal guide Christoval, a-foot ; then came the two sumpter horses, and lastly our two other guides, an old man and a boy, who formed our rere-guard, and we bad also with us a magnificent black spaniel. The night was very fine and' warm ; we set off in high spirits, and commenced our ascent almost immediately on leaving the town. We soon began to feel the effects of the cold, were obliged to add to our clothing, and the men to put on their blankets. Our guide Christoval pleased us much ; he was one of the finest models of a man I ever beheld, and although of Herculean form, he had all the grace of a Spaniard, and a countenance of extreme intelligence. He is not the usual guide to the top, but provides horses as far as the Estanza. He offered, however, to become our guide to the summit on giving him the usual additional allowance of four dollars. We accepted his proposal — and I would advise all tra vellers to do the same, as you give him an addi tional interest to get you to the top, besides making him hasten on the horses so as to bring you to the Estanza in proper time ; for many have gone thus far, and, from useless delays, have been obliged to return without accomplishing their object. We found him a good guide in every respect. Our older guide seemed to suffer much from the cold, THE HORSES. 151 and rode the greater part of the way on one of the provision-horses. " The boy," as he was termed, was about twenty-five, and quite astonished us — he was a light-hearted, good-humoured fellow, of power ful build, though low-sized. The greater part of the night he sung a loud chant, in the chorus of which the others joined. His indifference to the cold was surprising, although his dress was like that worn by the Madeiranese in summer, it consisted of a coarse loose shirt and breeches of linen, the latter reaching but half-way down his thigh — from this downward he had no covering of any description except shoes — a hat and vest completed his costume, and, although he had a blanket he did not use it, but carried it thrown across his arm, or on one of the horses. Our small white nags perfectly comprehended their business, never once missing the path, though to us it was often imperceptible ; they were exceedingly hardy, and all we could do would not make them go out of Indian file, or from the place that custom had made their own. As soon as we got into the open country our dog commenced beating, and continued the whole night enlivening the solitude by his short quick bark as he started a goat or a rabbit across our path. I have so often descanted on the grandeur of moonlight scenery, that it would be now going over old ground to touch upon it again ; but here, by the extreme clearness of its silvery lustre we were enabled to 152 SPARTIUM PLAINS. distinguish every trace of vegetation with the greatest accuracy. We had already passed the regions of the vine, the fern, and the heath, which, with the pine, the arbutus, and the broom, form successive belts around the lower parts of the Peak rising one above another perfectly distinct,, and with lines between of the most accurate demarcation. After this we entered the vast plains of spartium (the broom) where the ground is more rugged, and the path so broken as to permit but a very easy walk. The cold increased momentarily as we gained the summit of the range of hills that topped the vale of Oratava, which lay beneath us, slumber ing in the most death-like stillness — the towns, the cottages, and the sea, had a most grand and impos ing effect. At half-past two o'clock we stopped to feed the men and horses at a place called the "Black Rocks." Here we remained about half an hour — The thermometer was 40° Farh ; the men seemed rather inclined to rest, and would have delayed had we allowed them, in order to avoid their being at a very high elevation at the coldest part of the morn ing, which is just before sunrise. Strange to say, that long before I had reached this, and when at an elevation of scarce 500 feet, I found my breathing improved; and when two-thirds of the way up, was perfectly free from all trace of asthma or cough, and was the only person of the party, including the guides, who did not suffer from the rarity of the at mosphere. We resumed our way at three o'clock, PUMICE-STONE PLAINS. 153 fortifying ourselves with a little brandy, a cigar, and what we found still more acceptable, a few Cayenne lozenges, which I strongly recommend to all persons exposed to extreme cold. We now commenced crossing the pumice-stone plains," which lie at the foot of the actual Peak, and here it was that the novelty and sublimity of our situation most forcibly impressed us. The " pumice-stone plain" is a term applied to a gradual ascent of great extent, and com posed of exceedingly small grey lava and vol canic ashes, stretching far and wide as distant as the eye can reach along the comparatively level surface immediately at the base of the Peak. From this rise occasional masses of dark obsidian, of immense size, and scattered plants of retama, (a species of broom,) the only vegetable that exists in this barren waste. At the commencement of the plain it is growing in great strength and luxuriance; it gradually becomes more detached, and at the higher extremity it is scattered " few and far be tween" in stunted bushes. There was a peculiar wildness in the hour and the scene ; the night was truly propitious — not a cloud to be seen throughout the intense azure of the starry vault above us ; not a breath of air stirred around us ; the full moon shone forth with a splendour the most dazzling, as she sailed majestically through the broad expanse of blue, barely allowing the stars to appear as they twinkled in her path, whilst an occasional plant would 154, ESTANZA DES INGLISES. now and then start up as if to challenge her borrowed radiance. Before us lay the clear and boldly defined outline of the Peak, frowning in all the grandeur of monarchy, and the great rarity of the atmosphere showed every break and unevenness that bounded our horizon ; all was wrapped in the most solemn stillness ; the deep silence seemed to impress each of us, not a little increased by our momentarily decreasing temperature, which had now completely silenced our melodious muleteers. The tread of the horses made not the slightest noise, as we wound our way across that weary plain, where for the first time I felt sleep come heavily upon me ; indeed I did dose for a few moments, and it was on awaking that' I so forcibly perceived our loneliness. The three men in their long white cloaks closed the line, stalking along like so many of the ancient Guanehes, who had come out of their caverns to speed us on our way.; and the shadows of the great masses of obsidian rose like castles, which assumed every fantastic shape the imagination could picture. At the end of the plain our horses were forced up a steep and rugged ascent, for about half an hour, when we arrived at the Estanza des Inglises — " the resting-place of the English," at half-past five o'clock, and although so closely muffled, our sufferings from cold were extreme, and our hands perfectly benumbed. This was the highest point where horses can possibly get up, and we only wondered SUNRISE. 155 they ascended so far. We expected to have found some sort of a resting place here, but it was only a small enclosure, made by the fragments of some enormous rocks which nature has piled around it — and one of the most dreary spots that can be well conceived. The men set about kindling a fire with some bits of retama which they had carried up with them. The mercury in the thermometer was 36°, and falling rapidly. We now had recourse to our blankets, in which we enveloped ourselves, and reclined against one of the sloping rocks on the outside of the cavern, our faces anxiously turned towards the east to watch the scene that momenta rily opened upon us. In our then almost petrified condition, we looked as like as could be to a pair of Egyptian mummies laid against the rock. Sunrise. — As soon as we had taken our place we perceived a thin vapoury rose-coloured tint to stretch along the eastern horizon ; the moon was still full up, but she had thrown the shadow of the Peak over where we stood. As we continued to gaze steadfastly on this first blush of morning it every second increased, especially towards the centre, extending likewise in length along the horizon. This hue soon deepened to a pink, and then followed such a glori ous halo of colours, in which the flower and the metal lent their most dazzling lustre, as to baffle all attempt at description ; and the hazy undefined light that ushers in the day, began to chase the moonlight shadows from the plain beneath. At six o'clock, the 156 BUON A VISTA. thermometer stood at 18°, the light increasing, the cold intense, and the heavens presented a scene such as we read of in the 'arctic regions, being formed by the resplendent glories of the Aurora, but with this difference, the most brilliant colours gathered here as it were into a focus. All the east presented a lustrous semicircle, which, if you took your eyes off for a moment, seemed to increase ten fold. Between the horizon and the spot on which we stood floated a confused sea, which we at first took for the ruffled bosom of the ocean, but it turned out to be nothing more than a thin white mist. At a quarter past six the temperature fell as low as 15°, and sunrise took place a minute after; he rose very suddenly, and his whole disc was almost immediately clear of the horizon. It was a glorious sight, and cheering after all the cold and suffering of the preceding night, to see the great centre of light and heat come up to speed us on our way. I have often tried to form to myself a com parison of sunrise and sunset, and on this occasion have settled the question in favour of the former. Our guides reminded us it was time to recommence the ascent, and to fortify ourselves on the way we breakfasted. Every thing we had carried up with us was frozen ; the eggs were perfect balls of ice ; we had also brought with us a bottle of coffee, which, having contrived to heat, proved the most grateful of all our refreshments. We left the old man to guard the horses, and THE CONE. 157 again set forward. Large masses of pumice, lava, and scoriae, continue some way further up to the small platform of Buona Vista, where there is a plant or two of stunted retama, and here the domain of vegetation ends. From this we climbed up a steep ascent, composed of detached masses of sharp rock basalt and obsidian, some loose, and others with a coating of scorise ; it reminded me of a mag nified rough cast. Our halts, as might be expected, were frequent — at half-past seven o'clock, during one of these stoppages, I found the glass had risen to 33°. From the moment the sun rose the heat began to increase, making us throw off our extra garments, and leaving them in the ascent. With a good deal of difficulty we at last reached the base of the cone, which crowns the summit ; the effects of the last irruption. It is much smaller and more perpendicular than Vesuvius; it stands upon a level platform, some what broader than its base, and rises like the great circular chimney of a glass-house to the height of sixty feet. Here our extreme difficulties com menced, for the fatigue we had already gone through left us but little strength, commensurate with the ceaseless efforts which were to be put forth, and the exertion the task demanded. The external coating is composed of loose stones, lava, pumice, and ashes, in which we sunk ancle-deep, and obliged us to rest every few minutes ; we had each to strike a sepa rate line in our ascent, as the composition is so 158 THE CRATER. loose, that if once set in motion, large quantities would come powdering on the heads of the persons who have the misfortune to be beneath. Here and there a few reddish volcanic rocks jut out, and afford a resting-place ; but there are other whitish looking stones that seem equally inviting, but which are nevertheless far from being hospitably inclined, as a young friend of mine wofuUy experienced. Having sat on one of these " sulphur stones" for a few mi nutes, and feeling it rather hot, he rose up exactly in that condition which excited the wrath of Aunt Tabitha against poor Humphrey Clinker, a not very agreeable predicament at such an elevation, and with so keen a breeze. We reached the summit at half-past eight o'clock, and my first impulse was to crawl to the highest pinnacle upon the wall of the crater, on the south east point, whence it slopes on both sides towards the west. This solfatara (or half-extinguished vol cano) was more active than usual this morning ; large wreathes of smoke proceeding from numerous cavities and cracks in the bowl of the crater. This was smaller than we expected, not being more than a hundred feet in the widest part ; shallow, and the edge very irregular, of an oval shape, having a margin of dense whitish lava. We descended into it, and found the opening, from whence the smoke issued, was near the south-west corner, encased with the most beautiful crystals of sul phur. On opening up these with a stick, we found VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT. 159 them enlarged into little chambers, encrusted with the same crystals, the substance on which they rest being a kind of mortar, crumbling in the fingers, but hardening on exposure to the air. Some of these crystals are singularly beautiful, of the greatest brilliancy of colour, and varying from a deep golden orange to the palest straw colour.* The largest of these holes was about the size of my two fists ; from this, and two or three others similar, a loud boiling noise was heard, even when standing on the edge of the crater. Large fissures intersect the crater in different directions ; the crust between them vibrates under the foot, and produces a hollow sound. Besides the sulphur encrusting round the chinks and holes, large quan tities, also crystalized, occur both within and outside the crater, formed in little nucleii embedded in a compact and glistening white substance. The fume or smoke is of a dense whitish appearance, and quantities of a watery vapour proceed out of the larger holes ; but, although the sulphureous vapour is so much complained of, and that some of our party suffered from it, I was able to remain in it fully five minutes. The thermometer when plunged into one of these, rose to 90°. The view that awaited us on the summit amply repaid us for all the toils of the ascent. The morning was beautifully clear, and without a cloud ; the finest that had occurred since our arrival. The * For analysis of these see Appendix D. 160 APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND. whole island of Teneriffe lay in the most vivid manner like a map at our feet, with its white towers, its vine-clad valleys, and pine-crowned hills. Immediately around the Peak, the mountains form a number of concentric circles, each rising in successive heights, and having it as a centre. It is this appearance that has not inaptly gained for it the simile of a town with its fosses and bastions.* These are evidently the walls of former craters, on the ruins of which the present has been reared. What a fire must have come from the first of these, which enclosed a space of so many leagues ! Or again, how grand the illumination that once burst forth from the place whereon we stood, a height of nearly 13,000 feet, and which it is calculated would serve as a beacon at a distance of 200 miles at sea on every side. The crater or circle next below us appears to rise to the height of the Estanza des Inglises, 10,000 feet. There are a number of smaller cones scat- terred irregularly over the island ; their red blis tered summits glance in the sun like so many mole hills ; the largest is towards the west, it rises to a great height, and is the most elevated point on the island next to the Peak itself. Towards Santa Cruz the marks of recent volcanic action become * Von Buch looks upon the Peak as a great chimney, or outlet for the vapour, &c.&c., which would otherwise break out through the sides and other parts of the island. REFLECTIONS ON THE PEAK. 161 less, the stratification more perfect. There is less appearance of lava or pumice, and the basalt assumes more of the columnar form. We could perfectly distinguish the few vessels that lay oppo site the port of Oratava, a direct distance of thirteen miles, while the ascent is calculated at about thirty. So clear was the atmosphere, that our friends at the port could distinguish us distinctly with the glass. They had been anxiously looking out for us, and hoped, more than expected, our accomplishing the ascent. The Archipelago of the Canaries seemed as if stretched at our feet ; Grand Canary was par ticularly plain, being immediately beneath the sun. Palma and Gomera seemed so near that you could almost grasp them in your hand : and far away in the distance, Heiras seemed to mingle with the horizon. Our attention was now called to a vast body of clouds that brooded over the sea to the east. They were at first perfectly still and motionless, and of that description commonly called wool-packs. They then advanced towards the island, passed beneath us, and finally rested over the heights of Grand Canary. Although we had met small detached flakes of snow collected in the rocks, and a good deal around the crater, the air felt comfortably warm on our gaining the summit ; presently a light breeze com ing from the southward made the temperature fall very suddenly, and our guides began to hasten our departure ; at twenty minutes to ten o'clock it was VOL. I. M 162 THE ICE-HOUSE. as low as 39°, so we filled our cases and pockets with sulphur and other specimens, and at ten we reluc tantly began our descent ; I say reluctantly, for those only who have witnessed that glorious pros pect can know, or enter into the feelings that take possession of the beholder standing on that spot ! — the recollection of what this once was, and what the smoke and noise of the different crevices tell you it still is, of which who shall say the day it may not again break forth. The cause and the origin of those fires take us back to the time when all this was one mass of flame, vomiting forth those huge masses of rock and obsidian, now scattered for miles around, and the overflowing of whose liquid burning now forms the cliffs that bound its sea- washed base. But in what age did all this occur ? By an observation made in the town at ten o'clock, the temperature was 72°. Our descent was rapid in the extreme ; on our way we visited the Gueva de hiebo, or ice-house, a cave of great size, the temperature of which is always so low, that although far below the region of perpetual snow, the ice and snow that collect in it during the winter remains frozen all the summer. About twenty feet from the surface was one vast sheet of ice, the exporting of which to the different parts of the island forms the pursuit of a particular class of people. The man is let down by a rope, and it is a most arduous and dangerous employment ; lives are lost yearly, either at the ice-house itself, or having REGIONS OF VEGETATION. 163 been overtaken in a storm in those elevated regions, many have perished miserably. We reached our horses at eleven o'clock, the temperature 38°. Here we dined and rested an hour ; the wind became very cold, and we were glad to set forward on our further descent. We had now an opportunity of more closely examining our last night's path ; in many places the crevices and apertures in the rocks forming the most elevated point, are filled with whitish ashes, as if the effect of the last puff of the volcano. Although the contrary is stated, we could find no traces of basalt toward the top ; and as we descend, the lava becomes less vitrious and of a darker colour ; retama is the Spanish term applied to the spartium monospermum. On these plains we met large wild cats. The other species of broom growing here is the spartium nubiginum, exciting our wonder how it could gain nourishment from the scanty soil amid the dry lava and volcanic ashes. It extends as low down as the top of the range of hills that surround the vale of Oratava. We next came to the Heaths, and had a better opportunity of seeing the marked difference between the zones of vege tation ; one set of plants scarcely infringing by even one straggler upon the domain of the other. Of all the regions, the heaths are to my mind the most beautiful ; these tall arborescent shrubs, almost ap proaching the size of trees, and the light green of their young shoots, make this part very beautiful; so straight and regular do these grow, that you can- 164 CLIMATE OF TENERIFFE. not divest yourself of the idea that the hand of man has been among them, they look so like a trained plantation, and well deserve the title given to this height, of Alta Verde. The species are the erica scoparia and erica arborea; and along with them are the arbutus, mixed with St. John's wort, rising almost into a tree. After these come the Ferns, the common brake, pteris blenchium, and others, now scarcely discernible at this advanced season. In the ascent of the Peak the path does not cross the pines or juni pers, which are situated in other parts of the island. De Candolle thinks the Canary pine would flourish well in Scotland, from the temperature of its zone being so similar. The height at which it flourishes here is from 4 to 5000 feet, but it comes much lower down, especially on the mountains which form the sides of the vale of Oratava. Lastly come the Vines, which we reached about four o'clock. At six o'clock we arrived, thus completirfg our journey in twenty hours — a less time than it has ever been accomplished in by European travellers. It is a task in which many have failed, being always one of considerable labour, and often of much danger. For myself, I cannot look upon it as a fete of physical strength, but to that power of enthusiastic excite ment which can carry men over difficulties that would, under other circumstances, appear insur mountable. Shortly afterwards the Crusader hove in sight, and took us aboard about nine o'clock. The climate of this island is, in my mind, no way ADVANTAGES OF OR.VIAVA. 165 inferior to that of Madeira ; and I have no doubt that it is much drier. During our stay the glass ranged about 72° in the day. Two observations made with the hygrometer on two several days marked the dew point 41°, thermometer 75°, giving 34° of dryness, a state only once remarked by Dr. Heineken during a nine years' stay at Madeira. The day after it marked 40° ; this latter is a rarity, but the former is very common throughout the year. I should think it admirably suited to bronchial affec tions with much expectoration, or to those states of relaxation of the mucous membrane of the throat and fauces so common amongst us a few years ago, either as the sequel of diptherite, and other similar affections, or occurring to persons suffering from much public speaking, singing, &c. in which the parts engaged become highly relaxed. The towns are infinitely cleaner than Funchal ; and here also you can easily vary the climate by ascend ing some of the neighbouring hills. It wants, how ever, that greatest of all wants to an invalid — good accommodation. There are but two inns on the whole island, and the poor Spanish gentry are too proud to set their houses. It also wants the orange groves, the chesnut and coffee plantations, and the glowing vegetation that surrounds Funchal ; the Courals, the Jardins, the Palieros, and above all, the hospitality and the society of Madeira. The ex treme dryness here is owing, in all probability, to the highly volcanic soil, and there being less vegetation 166 DEPARTURE FOR MADEIRA. than at Funchal. The valley of Oratava possesses the most desirable peculiarities for the residence of an invalid, viz. a dry, warm atmosphere ; large enough to permit a free circulation of air ; a sea aspect ; surrounded by hills that shelter it from the blast of winter, or , cool the siroc of summer ; and if it has not as good an aspect as Funchal, it has the Peak between it and the African desert ; and the coast itself, except near the port, is sur rounded by minor hills, that temper the north wind from the sea. The annual mean temperature here is 70° 9', and at Santa Cruz, 71?°. The quantity of rain that falls is less than at Madeira, and it is said not to be so equable. A resident medical man, and good accommodation, with facility of access, would, no doubt, soon raise its character for salubrity. Speaking of the vegetation, I must not be under stood to say that the Flora of Teneriffe, or of any of the Canaries, is not so extensive as that of Madeira ; on the contrary, it is richer and more varied ; that is, its true indigenous one, while Madeira owes more to cultivation and naturahzation. Having been greatly exhausted by the trip, we were delighted once more to take possession of our berths ; and having with us some of our English friends from the island, we set sail on Tuesday, the 14th November, to visit our old quarters at Funchal, previous to our setting forward towards the Mediterranean, where we purposed wintering. 107 CHAPTER V, GIBRALTAR. Departure from Funchal — Sea-sickness — Means of preventing — A Calm — Life on Board a Yacht — Shores of Africa — Gibraltar — Appearance of the place — Batteries — Market — A Street Scene — A Grave-yard — The Alamada The Evening Gun — Society — Officers — Private Theatricals — Helen Macgregor — Tbe Galleries — Capers — Smugglers — Climate. Saturday, Nov. 22nd. We left Funchal roads, but the wind bkw so hard outside, that we were obliged to return, and remained " off and on" all night. On Sunday it moderated somewhat, and we put out again, although the sea ran so exceed ingly high, that our consort, the Fanny cutter, was obliged to put back into harbour. Notwith standing the sea had lulled, it blew a stiff breeze still, and the Crusader rolled and tossed upon the huge topling waves of the Atlantic in such a way, that I was again sick ; but having some little ex perience of what genuine sea-sickness really is, since crossing the Bay of Biscay, I managed to avoid much of the unpleasantness I then suffered, principally by the fbllowing means, which I would 168 SEA-SICKNESS. strongly recommend to all landsmen. If you feel sickish, or know by experience that you will be sick, go to bed, close your eyes, and remain lying on your back, if possible without motion ; abstain from food, but not altogether; I would rather say, eat sparingly, and of some solid, such as a little broiled meat, or biscuit, as I have known most alarming consequences arise from " total absti nence," to say nothing of the violent straining and fruitless retching it occasions. Drink sparingly of cold ^ater, or brandy and water in sips, but taste no hot liquid of any kind. In keeping the eyes shut, I would remark, that the effect of vision and its sympathy with the stomach are not enough attended to ; for though at rest in the berth, the swinging backwards and forwards, and motion of the vessel and things around, are often sufficient to produce what we so much wish to avoid. There is, however, one point at which emesis becomes inevitable — it is, when the mouth fills with saliva, and then the sooner it takes place the better. We remained under the shelter of the island off Porto Santo all night, and the next day (Monday) bent our course once more towards Europe. After a storm comes a calm ; the wind fell off, and then , what little remained became " dead on end." Thursday. The wind has sunk into a perfect calm. Oh ! the horrors of a calm — the rolling sluggish motion of the ocean — the flapping of the useless sails — the creaking of bulk-heads and A CALM. 169 spars — the waihng of cordage, and the listless inactivity of all around. Not a ship — not a bird — a cloudless sky above, a sultry atmosphere around, and the glossy surface of the vasty deep beneath. The sailors lean over the vessel's side to watch if we make any way, or go occasionally aloft to try and catch the first view of a distant sail, or the rising of a cloud to windward ; and the master holds his cheek to the breathless air, or scans the horizon with his practised eye ; but nothing breaks the undulating mirror of the waters, ex cept the gambol of a porpoise, or the " break ing" of a mackrel. Still there is a daily something to do. We breakfast at eight, walk or read, or watch the Portuguese men-of-war* coming up to stretch their thin blue sail to the sun till eleven ; then all come upon deck, the master, mate, &c. to " take the sun," and find what way we have made ; then examine the chart, and count progress ; strike the bell eight ; men's dinner ; starboard-watch set ; the men, if not required in working the vessel, are engaged in mending sails, splicing ropes, and such other naval employments. We dine at three ; enjoy our cigar on deck ; watch the glories of the sunset ; speculate on the morrow's weather, and sup at seven, after which books, chess, and con versation end the day. But not every day. Satur- * A popular term apphed by sailors not to the physalia, but to the velella limbosa. 170 GIBRALTAR. day comes ; sweethearts and wives ; old Scottish Jem, the boatswain, tunes his fiddle, and the doctor, (ship's cook,) produces his tambourine ; the men dance on deck, and the forecastle sounds with many a song of " Nelson and Benbow." Dibdin's beauties, too, call forth a chorus ; toasts go round, and many a " Black-eyed Susan," or girl at " the back of the Point," is remembered in our " march upon the mountain-wave." We are nearing the shores of Africa, and a spanking breeze is driving us along ; it freshens into a gale, and on the night of the 4th of Decem ber we had a squall of several hours' duration. The morning found us within sight of Tangier, the wind cold, and the prospect dreary. December Sth. We entered the straits, and shortly after anchored in the bay of Gibraltar. The rain has fallen in torrents all the early part of the day, and a misty cloud hangs over this great artificial volcano. With a first view of the rock I was more astonished than pleased. Fancy a huge mass, several hundred feet high, in form resembling a lion couchant, connected tail-ward to the main land by a narrow strip of sand, that rises but a few feet from the level of the water. On this side the rock is perfectly perpendicular, and studded with apertures from the galleries. Tier after tier of guns point from endless batteries along the water's edge. Above these, peeps the ITS MARKET. 171 town of Gibraltar, climbing some short distance up the ascent, and crowned by the old reddish- looking Moorish gateway and tower, now used as a civil prison. Beyond this a few consumptive- looking gardens are coaxed into bloom, and then the brown, blistered surface of the naked rock, crowned by O'Hara's folly, (an old tower,) and the signal and demand staffs. Numbers of Spanish latteen boats crowded into the small harbour, having English papers and hoisting the British flag. Steamers and vessels of every nation occupy the deeper water outside. Near the landing, wherever the eye rests, a gun frowns upon it, peeping like so many chained bull-dogs from behind the grating of the embra sures, and the occasional red coat of the sentry attracts the view, as his bright arms glance in the sun. Having received immediate pratique, we were not long in availing ourselves of it, and stretching our limbs on shore. Passing the outer gate, a scene of great variety and interest arrests the attention — namely, the market, which, for arrangement and supply, is not to be surpassed any where. Meat of the very best description slaughtered for the garrison, fowls from Barbary, fruit and vegetables from Spain and Tangier, and fish from the Mediterranean, all separate, and placed under sheds and awnings ; while the dresses of the Moors and Spaniards — 172 A STREET SCENE. the squeeling of apes and monkeys — the harsh music of Brazilian parrots — the noise of sailors — the authoritative tone of the messmen, and the clatter of soldiers' wives, with squalling children in their arms, are not a little astounding, upon the very first step you make upon land. Another draw-bridge is then to be passed, and you are within one of the strongest forts in the world. The scene which now presents itself is of the most singular description, and such as I can liken only to a fancy-ball. The stiff, erect person of the English soldier, buttoned to the throat, and his neck stuck into a high regimental stock, meets you at every turn; and as officers on duty or on lounge parade every second street, the walk of the private is one continued salute from beginning to end. How ill our men contrast with the noble bearing, the stately gait, and fine athletic person of the swarthy Moor, clad in his snow-white flowing hyke, red slippers, and wide-spreading tur ban. Thousands of the children of Israel, dressed in their blue gowns and small black scull caps, crowd the streets, hastening, with downcast eyes and plodding faces, intent upon some new specula tion, or planning some untried tnethod of gain or interest. Spanish contrabandistas, in their high- peaked hats, spangled jackets, yellow leggings, and embroidered vests, swagger past you wherever you go ; and merchants' clerks, in white jackets TRADE. 173 and upturned cuffs, bustle into the counting-houses, while the fumes of tobacco, smoked in all shapes and forms, issue from every mouth. The shops are numerous, dear, and filled with French frippery and pinchbeck jewellery. The trade of this small place is very great, and consists principally in the wares of Shef field, Birmingham, and Manchester, to be sent into Barbary, or smuggled into Spain ; and the manufacture of tobacco. Almost every second house is a cigar shop, with from two to six persons at work, and they make the best looking cigars I ever saw, but in flavour they are lamentably defi cient, as the leaf is generally Virginian. It is said that upwards of two thousand persons are engaged in making cigars ; some of the good workers will make six hundred a day, and earn three shillings. But we must hasten onwards to one of the greatest magnets here — the post-office. On our right is the town-hall, and behind it a small square, closed by the hotel, formerly the officer's club-house, and on the left, the Roman Catholic church, provided with a Tipperary chaplain by the government — a most in telligent and well-informed man. Then comes the governor's residence, with its squad of orderlies, aides-de-camp, and liveried grooms holding horses ; and if you can poke your way through files of march ing and countermarching, the tilbury of the old major, the prancing steed of the lordly ensign, and the drove of waggons, provision and wash carts, you get 174 THE ALAMADA- to the gate at the other side of the town, where the deep valleys on both hands contain the ashes of the soldier, and the many classic tombs tell tales of the early death of many a gallant officer or tried veteran, who having braved the storm and the fight, fell beneath' the hand of lingering disease, or sudden pestilence, upon this parching rock. But though distant from their fatherland, the marble or the elegy has not been forgotten by their sorrowing brothers. A lane, walled by piles of guns and mortars, and mountains of ball and shell, leads to the only fertile or pretty spot on the rock — the Alamada — a fine square esplanade rising above the batteries, open to the sea, and surrounded by well-grown trees ; above this are terraces laid out with great taste, and filled with numbers of beautiful shrubs, among which the scarlet geranium holds a conspi cuous place. Agaves of great size border the parterres, and serve as retainers to the soil ; and crimson aloes, the finest I have seen, blossom in great luxuriance. The numerous seats and alcoves command a view of the sea, the different vessels passing the straits, and the distant rock of Ape's hill, and the heights of the African coast beyond. On one of the upper terraces, a bust of Wellington surmounts a low pillar, on which is hung a shield, telling of the deeds of the Peninsula, and before it a fine brass gun, taken from the Spaniards. This is the promenade of Gibraltar, as well as THE EVENING GUN. 175 the review-ground of the troops ; and whether it be the contrast with the surrounding barrenness, or its real beauty, I cannot say, but to me it appeared particularly charming. Still farther on are hospi tals, barracks, out-stations, and the Mediterranean stairs, where a view of great splendour opens on the first burst of this midland sea upon you, the shores of^ Europe and Africa deploying from the narrow straits on either side, and the blue water, studded with the many white sails that daily crowd this great naval thoroughfare. As the gates shut at 5 o'clock, and none are allowed to remain in garrison without permission, we hastened on board, where, after dinner, we all came on deck to see the evening gun fired from the signal-house at the top of the Rock : it is a striking ceremony, especially when the night is dark or misty, as this one happened to be. The minute comes — the town clock strikes — the flash bursts forth, like a ray of most vivid lightning, and ere the boom that follows has ceased to echo, the bugles from the fort send forth their startling notes, the drum-roll follows, and then a single stir is no more heard. No quarters that I have yet heard of are more heartily detested by our troops than Gibraltar, and in no place is the difficulty of "meeting the ene my," more complained of. Verily ennui is written in the discontented phiz of every sub and captain cooped up within this great lobster-box. 176 A HUNT. That there is reason for much of this, I do not doubt ; but much of it is owing to the course pur sued by those Heautontimorumenoi,* as there is not only no intercourse between the military and the civi lians, but very little friendly intercourse exists be tween the military themselves, except at the mess- table. All the English residents are merchants ; no others would come to settle ; and as such are with out the pale of military society, there is conse quently little or no return of civilities. But Eng land has been termed by one who felt too sorely her superiority, "a nation of shopkeepers," and long may she continue to boast so honourable an appellation. The principal amusement is hunting, which was carried on with much spirit ; but discord has sprung up among the Nimrods, and there is now an opposition pack ; but as we partook not of the party politics of either, we hired horses, and joined the " opposition harriers to-day." The governor and his sons were on the field, and the. navy officers, in full uniform, scrambling over the ditches, offered even more sport than the unfortunate bagged hare. I soon, however, found a more rational and inte resting amusement in visiting the ruins of the old Phenician town of Cartago, which lies about a couple of miles from the wall, toward the Spanish town of St. Roque. As the hour of shutting the gates approaches, we must push on the nags, and many a race takes place over * Self- tormentors. PRIVATE THEATRICALS. 177 the neutral ground to gain admittance, and if a red coat happen to be your companion, you will surely hear " the beastly hole," " confounded stoopid," and such other endearing epithets, applied to the mass of battery you are hastening into. Sunday bull-fights at Algeziras ; visits to Tan gier and Tetuan, with excursions into Spain ; hunting, drilling, dressing, undressing, guard mounting, and private theatricals, are the yearly business and amusements of the garrison. Dec. 11. The theatre opened to-night, and great were the preparations, and still greater the expecta tions formed from the known histrionic talents of the dramatis personcs. The play was Rob Roy, and the effort made by the performers to amuse was quite suc cessful ; and as, with one or two exceptions, no one of the performers knew a single word of their parts, it required a tolerable flow of ready language and native wit to compose an extempore conversation or address. But the admirable tone and look of a Scottish paymaster, and the humour of an Irish doctor, filled up the vacancies of a Master Owen and a Bailie Nicol Jarvie, the only characters that deserve mention, except Helen M'Gregor, who was personified by a tall herculean captain, dressed up in a soldier's plaid forage cap, sur mounting a formidable mob-cap, with the ends brought down under his chin, so as to form a great coat to a tremendous pair of black whiskers — these jutting out on either side of a red face, gave it very VOL. I. N 178 HELEN MACGREGOR. much the appearance of that of a monkey when he has stuffed his pouches till they can hold no more. His petticoat, of dark drab calico, was adorned with three flounces of different colours, to represent, I suppose, the Macgregor tartan. Whenever this damsel made her appearance, the laugh was sure to become boisterous,. for, after the first sentence, she always came to a dead stop, and then, shaking her head with great solemnity, slowly retreated to the prompter's corner. I was informed by a gentle man next me that this performer was never expected to know his part, as he fulfilled the numerous avoca tions of stage-manager, scene-painter, and arranger of costumes. A fat drum-boy played a striking impersonation of Diana Vernon. The embr-acings of adjutants, trumpeters, band-boys, and corporals, were most amusing. The only actors who played their parts without a mistake were the sentries, but then they have pretty constant rehearsals. The scenery was in keeping with the acting ; whenever a cottage gate or stilq was to be introduced into the background, the scene-shifter walked in, put it in the proper place, and there remained holding it up till it was no longer wanted. I must not forget one most admirable view : the back-scene suddenly fell down, the green-room opened to sight, and offered us a tableau viva,nt I shall not easily forget. But I must let the curtain drop upon my notices of the evening's performance, for it was honoured by the presence of the governor and court, graced by the THE GALLERIES. 179 beautiful and elegant Lady Woodford, and being under the patronage of the garrison, is consequently an Almack's, above the powers of criticism, and beyond the influence of public opinion. The next day we visited the galleries — a work of great labour, although as a means of defence, the power of the guns placed in them has been much overrated, for being so high they must be neces sarily pointed at such an angle that the balls do not ricochet, but sink at once into the sand, when fired at an enemy approaching from the neutral ground. Some of the holes cut out of the solid rock are of great size, and contain several large carronades. Altogether there are 646 guns on the rock, mounted, and fit for instant use ; but upwards of a thousand could in a very short time be put in operation. The views from some of these rock port-holes are remarkable for their great beauty, and the tele scopic effect produced by the narrowness of the aperture is exceedingly curious. Emerging from the galleries we ascended to the flag-staff and demand station which crowns one of the highest points. Through the crevices of the stones grows the palmetta, or, as it is called, the monkey bread, also the asparagus and the caper plant ; this latter is now preserved for use, and reminds me of a story I heard the other day of a gentleman who, for some trifling wager, was fool-hardy enough to get on the slanting point of the battery, overlook ing the sea, and dancing there for some minutes. 180 PROSPECT FROM THE TOP. till the neighbouring sentry remonstrated with him, and ordered him to desist, but finding him still per sist in his antics he presented his musket at him.— this brought the young gentleman to his senses ; and the sentry to a court of inquiry for exceeding orders, in preventing the hero's disposal of his life as he liked best. The man replied that he had fol lowed the orders of the governor, that " no one but Dr. should cut capers within the fort." But to return — the prospect from the top is well worth the toil encountered in climbing the steep road to the artillery station— your great elevation affords a distinct view of the different forts, bastions, screens, curtains, scarps and counter-scarps, with the works beneath. Europe and Africa approaching almost to a kiss ; the blue waters of the Mediterra nean, Ronda, St. Roque, and the plains of Anda lusia, on the one hand, and the snow-clad mountains of Granada on the other, are objects in a landscape no where to be equalled for grandeur and sublimity. Returning by the Mediterranean side of the rock, we inquired the use of some great guns and small batteries lower down, where no landing could pos sibly be made, and were not a little astonished at the answer, that they were placed there '^ to pro tect the smugglers against the guarda-costas ! !" These smugglers are becoming daily more intrepid, and have had frequent skirmishes with the protective force of late ; they have well-built, fast-sailing boats, with enormous latteen sails, which run closer to the SMUGGLERS. 181 wind than almost any other craft, and during the squalls so frequent here they offer pictures of great interest, with often upwards of twenty men out upon the long bending yard, the top of which frequently dips into the boiling sea. They are solely employed for transporting English goods and tobacco into Spain, and the trade has succeeded surprisingly, as from the present unsettled state of that unfortunate country the guarda-costas are few and badly ma naged ; indeed some are afraid to attack the smug glers. These latter watch their opportunity, and when the guarda is out of sight put to sea, and when chased, run in under our guns ; and as they have all the British flag, we are bound to fire on the guarda, a circumstance of daily occurrence, but done more to frighten than hurt, one or two shots being suffi cient to make them give up the pursuit. 12th. Dined at the governor's, where the society of some of the fair daughters of England enlivened the monotony of the eternal red coats. One of the principal wonders of this nest of scorpions is the reading-room and library, arranged with great taste, notwithstanding that but one Irish newspaper or periodical could gain admittance, and that as a great favour towards an Irishman of the committee. But we have remained here long enough; it has rained every day since our arrival, and the cold is very trying after the genial temperature of Madeira. 59° is now the daily maximum heat. As 182 CLIMATE. far as I have yet seen I must say that this is no place for invalids requiring a warmer temperature than England, and pulmonary complaints are the principal cause of death among the troops when epidemics do not prevail. From this time till our return to Gibraltar I established a table of the daily temperature at the different places we visited in the Mediterranean, which will' be found in the Appendix. 183 CHAPTER VI. ALGIERS. Enter the Mediterranean — Luminosity of the sea — Coast of Barbary — City of Algiers — Quarantine — The Ramadan — Phosphoric lights — Health officers — Narrow streets — Fountains — Bazaars — Trades — Costumes — Moors — The Bur noose — Kadees — Jews — Their government — Costumes — The Sarmah — Henna — Turks — Arabs — The Swauves and Spahees — Their dress — French soldiery — Black Moors — Bedawees — Kabyles — Algerine ladies — Negroes — Chierology — Decay of the kingdom — The Ottoman Empire — Census. December 14. We left Gibraltar and commenced our voyage up the Mediterranean, intending to make Algiers our first resting-place, not merely on account of the interest excited by that extraordinary spot, or to view its condition under its present mas ters, but in the hope of finding a climate suitable to invalids, to us a matter of no small importance. During the whole of this day the wind was favour able, but it headed us during the night ; and on awaking on Friday morning, the 15th inst., instead of finding ourselves half way to Algiers, we were beating along the coast of Spain, beneath- the lofty snow-clad mountains of Granada. We felt the cold much, as the thermometer was not above 57° at any one time during the day; still we were much amused 184 LUMINOSITY OF THE.,SEA. with the scene, which was rendered interesting by the shoals of vessels around us — often no less than from twenty to thirty in sight, all taking advantage of the change of wind, and running down to the Gut. Among the rest was an English corvette, towing the wreck of a Prussian brig, dismasted and water-logged ; its shattered spars, the remnant of some shivered sails and broken cordage, stream ing in the wind, formed a most melancholy object amidst a scene of so much animation. On the following day we passed the white marble point of Cape de Gat, having, as usual, a head-wind. On the 17th it was nearly calm, and although still " standing on" the Spanish coast, we were sensible of a great change for the better in the climate. 18th. A fair wind during the night has taken us to the African coast, along the low undulating shores of which a light wind, right aft, is stealing us on our course — thermometer 62°. We were cheered in the evening by the first truly Mediterranean sunset we had yet witnessed ; the night beautiful, the air balmy, and the sea quite luminous, spreading out in waves of spangled light from beneath our cut-water, while behind it forms an eddying sheet of silver foam, as it falls from the rudder like the tail of an immense comet. Venus rose in great splendour, and her "wake," as sailor's express it, was thrown on the waters, little inferior in brilliancy to that of our moon. COAST OF BARBARY. 185 The next morning we were all expectation to get a view of Algiers, but the wind falling off it required studding sails " alow and aloft" to carry us along. The coast of Barbary here is a series of small hills huddled together, without a spot of land that could be called a plain. All is covered with underwood, and behind rises the bold range of the Atlas moun tains. At last we came in sight of the town, which at some distance has more the appearance of a large white chalk pit on the side of a hill than any thing else I can compare it to. Towards the town the hills are more broken, higher, and studded with numbers of large white buildings, embosomed in groves of evergreens, formerly the country resi dences of the wealthy Turks, and now occupied by French officers. The town rises up a steep from the water's edge, and is much smaller than we anticipated — nor could we have formed an idea of a place so close and compact. Every thing is white, even to the roofs of the houses. It was dusk when we came to anchor, the drums and bugles sounding, and the noise and shouting tell of our vicinity to a large army. Here we had to en dure that abomination of travelling, a five days' qua rantine ; as, although there was no sickness at our last port, the great intercourse Gibraltar has with other nations, the French say, renders this ne cessary. Had we, instead of coming direct, re- 186 QUARANTINE. mained a few hours at Algeziras this unpleasant de tention would have been avoided. We were not allowed within the Mole, but stuck in limbo alongside the lazaretto, behind all the dirty craft in harbour, and a Maltese guardian quar tered on us to prevent communication with our filthy neighbours. On three sides were the high dead walls of the city, and the number of vessels in front com pletely shut out our sea view. Many of the old Roman shores emptied themselves in our imme diate vicinity, an annoyance which even our love of the antique could not make tolerable. Those only who have experienced the miseries of quaran tine themselves can form*a notion of our disagree able situation ; yet, even here we were not without some amusement. The Musselmans squatted on the walls and roofs of the houses around was something new. It was the time of the Ramadan, (the Mohammadan lent.) A gun is fired for the faith ful at sunset, and a small dirty flag hoisted from the minarets of the mosques, three of which are now in sight. The mooeddin or crier then mounts the turret, and runs rapidly from corner to corner, shouting for the faithful to come to prayers, or rather, I should say, to feast, for as they eat nothing from sunrise to sunset, the greater number take their meals in the mosques after evening prayers. These remain illuminated the whole night, and PHOSPHORIC LIGHTS. 187 the minarets are also hung round with lamps, which has a pretty effect. The call to prayers occurs three times a day, at sunrise, noon, and sunset. On Friday, the Mohammadan sabbath, instead of the dirty white flag, the green banner, the sacred colour of the Turks, is hoisted. Some fifty years ago, our position would have been rather a dangerous one, and probably a worse misfortune than that of performing quarantine would have awaited us. The water here is par ticularly phosphorescent ; the wake of the boats through the harbour during the night look, at some distance, like so many great lumin'ous worms skimming along the surface, and the whole harbour is at times brightened up as those " lightnings of the wave" break upon the different vessels and buoys. I collected large quantities of the water, and always found the light to result from the innumerable ova of fish floating through it, as well as those little animals called lancelets.* As w'e were sitting at dinner on the 22d, a message arrived from the health office to say, we should instantly make our appearance at the lazaretto for examination. The medical attendant was very wrathful at having been delayed a few minutes ; if ever he had any French politeness, he must have left it at Marseilles. This farce consisted in parading all the ship's crew at the same time in a railed-in space, like a parcel of wild beasts in a cage. We were then conducted * See Appendix E. 188 HEALTH OFFICERS. back to the vessel, and told if we remained in good health until morning, we would get pratique. Next morning the health officers came on board in order to fumigate the vessel ; a purification so stifling, that we were nearly suffocated, and determined to resist. A fierce dispute arose ; the officers insist ing that unless we allowed the stiflification to go on, we should remain in durance vile ; but a gentle hint that they also were then in quaran tine, and should remain so until we were re leased, settled the matter, and the purificator, to save his conscience, first lighting his combustible on deck, bolted with it over the vessel's side, and set us free. We soon took advantage of our liberty, and landed at the far-famed mole of Algiers, the haunt of the pirate, the terror of Mediterranean commerce, and the scene of un heard of atrocities for centuries. This day was the most exciting I had experienced since I left England. Nothing can exceed the variety and incongruity of costume, and the ap pearance of the people you meet with in the narrow streets of Algiers. These some one says, are but twelve feet broad ; but this is a great exaggeration, as few are more than eight, and you can span most of them with your extended arms. All the houses project from the first story upward, which, in more social countries, would have afforded the inhabitants on opposite sides of the streets a comfortable tete-a-tete ; but NARROW STREETS. 18!) here they are barricadoed with shutters of close-set lattice-work, admitting little of air, and less of light. In many places there are perfect arches of stone thrown across the streets, opening here and there to admit a gleam of light, but we were often obliged to grope our way in perfect darkness with out-stretched arms, and pacing cautiously along we received into our embrace some portly turbaned Turk, had our toes crushed by the splay-foot of an enormous camel, or were almost squeezed to death against the wall by a heavily-laden donkey. I could not have believed that so many human habi tations could be crowded into so small a compass. The French have opened a few of these streets, leaving a colonnade all along, and say they intend doing so to all. The narrowness of the, streets, however, has its use and advantage, in affording some protection from the intense rays of the sun, which would, under other circumstances, be concentrated into a focus on the heads of the passers, owing to the reflection from the white-washed walls. Besides the fountains in all the better sort of houses, there are numbers placed in the walls throughout the town, consisting of a small marble basin, into which the water flows, having a brass or copper bowl for the convenience of passengers, and with a verse of the Kooran above it. There is one good open space opposite the fish- 190 BAZAARS. market battery — the grand place, where some fine houses have been lately erected. Through the kindness of Sir Henry Marsh, of Dublin, we had a letter of introduction to an English physician. Dr. Bowen, who has been re sident in Algiers for many years, and was of infinite service to us by the kind devotion of his time and knowledge to our information. Our walks through the city constantly presented scenes of exceeding interest and variety ; and from their un- European character, particularly in the bazaars, had for the first few days the effect of keeping our wonder on the stretch. Here the shops, about the size of a good dog-kennel, are ranged on either side of the street, the Moors and Turks squatted cross-legged in them, surrounded by their respective wares ; and all the tradesmen pursue their avocations in the open air. Many trades have particular bazaars. Tailors are the most nume rous class of artizans here, as they are in all other Mohammadan countries, and rank first in the state ; tailors, watch-makers, and barbers correspond to our three learned professions, divinity, law, and physic. Some of the first people were tailors ; amongst them were many of the Deys, and the eldest son of the late admiral was a tailor. The janizaries, from whom the Deys were chosen, had all trades or shops, which they re gularly attended during the day, when not engaged in service, but at night they retired to the kalseria. COSTUMES. ini (their barracks,) near the palace of the Kassiba, or citadel, at the south-west corner. The dress of some of the people is very beautiful, especially that of the Moors, which is covered with gold lace and braid. It consists of a highly- ornamented jacket, generally of blue or scarlet cloth, and some of silk, stiff with gold or silver, and several vests covered with embroidery ; a rich Eastern shawl girds the waist ; the limbs are covered with wide-bagged trowsers, descending to the knees. The legs are generally bare, and the feet incased in red slippers, down at heel. The head is covered by a turban, expressive of the rank and condition of its wearer. In some it is red, but in the greater number white ; and those who have performed the pilgrimage to Mekeh, wear a green one ; over all is thrown the hyke. This requires notice. It is a white scarf of the finest wool, from five to six yards long, and about two broad ; fringed at the ends, and worn much in the same manner as the plaid of the Scottish High landers. At times it serves as a cloak, and when wound gracefully round the body in loose folds, presented to us at once the Roman Toga — in all probability, a remnant of the Mauritanian conquest. It is a very beautiful piece of dress, and almost peculiar to Barbary, which has always had immense manufactories of this article, as well as of the burnoose, or white cloak,, which is occasionally worn, and consists merely of an oblong square 192 THE MOORS. piece of fine thin flannel, doubled and joined toge ther at the top ; the hood thus formed is thrown over the head, and the folds are drawn about the body. The manufacture of both those articles of dress is pe culiar, no shuttle being used in the weaving, much in the same manner as is exhibited in the figures on Egyptian temples.* Might it not have been such a dress as this that was worn by our Saviour, being " without seam, woven from the top throughout ?" These Moors are a noble-looking race of men, with fair and rather florid complexions. Several of those whom we met spoke English, and more plainly than any foreigner I ever heard, with a good pronun ciation — never once mispla'cing a word, and finding no impediment from that stumbling-block to our continental neighbours, the th. The Moors are the principal natives here, and fill some places of trust — the judges, or kadees,f still sit in their own courts, deciding the civil and religious differ ences of the Mooslim population. Some of those old kadees, with their long silver beards, formal turbans, slow-measured gait, and eastern costume, looked quite patriarchal, and always reminded me of the early days of Scripture history, and brought vividly to my recollection the magnificent picture by * Appendix F. f In the spelling of this and other Arabic terms, I have endeavoured to do so as much as possible in accordance with the true pronunciation, as adopted by Mr. Lane, at the same time avoiding the repetition of the same sounds as expressed in the letters M and ck, &c. &c. THE JEWS. 193 Guerchino, of Abraham turning out the bonds woman and her son. Whether from their connection with Gibraltar, or in remembrance of Lord Exmouth, the natives hold the English and every thing belonging to them in the greatest veneration. The Je-ws form a large portion of the population of Algiers, amounting to between three and four thousand; but at the census taken in 1823 the number was 5,949. The cause of the decrease since that time is owing to a number having set forward to Jerusalem with French passports. Strange it is, that though the politician, the states man, and the soldier, look with a curious eye on the late conquest of Algiers, few would have thought the subjection of this place would have contributed towards the fulfilling of a prophecy, by restoring to their promised land nearly three thousand Israelites.* You now meet them in every quarter of the city, where they hold a high head, being admitted to all the privileges of Frenchmen. Barbary was always a great resort of this people, and up to the period of the evacuation, they were the despised, hated, and oppressed race of all in Algiers. Christians were always preferred by the Turks ; yet although compelled to be the execu tioners, and to hold the lowest menial offices, the Jews were the money-changers and bankers of the * Isaiah, xi. 11, 12; xiv. 1; xviii. 7. — Jeremiah, xii. 14; xvi. 14, 15. — Ezekiel, xi. 17; xx. 34, &c. &c. VOL. I. O 194 THE -JEWS. community. Heretofore they were only allowed by their Osmanli masters to wear black, and to ride asses, aihd that outside the walls ; they now seem to make up for past restrictions, by wearing the most gaudy dresses. Although still subject to all the civil regulations of citizens, tlieir own petty differences and religious disputes are settled by a person called the king. This office has been of long standing in Algiers, and was one of conside rable profit to its possessor ; for although he paid a large sum for it to the reigning Dey, yet his exac tions from his brethren more than compensated for the tax. The principal part of the female popula tion met with in the streets are Jewesses ; they wear no veil, and are not remarkable for personal beauty •; they dress inelegantly, though their gar ments are covered with gold lace and braid. The girls wear the hair in long plaits hanging down behind ; the head is tied up in a handkerchief, the ends of which are twisted up with the plait, and reach below the waist. From what I have observed amongst the nume rous tribe of Jews, first at Gibraltar, now here, and further on throughout the east — of the many thousand I have seen, a peculiar colour of the hair is so striking as to seem characteristic of the nation. Amongst us, Jews almost invariably have hair of the deepest black, but this is a light auburn, of a tint I have never seen before. If the letter to the Roman emperor may be relied on, this was, in all probability. THE SARMAH. 195 the colour of our Saviour's. There is one pecu liarity in the dress of the Jewish matrons at Algiers ; this is the sarmah — a most extraordinary head-tire consisting of a taper cone of silver fiUigree, from two to two and a half feet in length, open at the back for about one-third of the circumference, where it is closed by a loose bag of black silk. It is fas tened on the head by a tight-fitting cap of silk or velvet, and rises out behind, very like, to use an odd simile, the spanker boom of a man-of-war. Over this is thrown a black net or gauze veil, which hangs down nearly to the ground. The fitting on of the sarmah forms no inconsiderable item in the toilette of a Jewish matron ; and a lady who has been long resident in Algiers assured me, that rather than be at the trouble of removing, they frequently sleep with them on. Although peculiar to the Jews here, I have seen some few Moorish ladies wear ones of gold, but covered over with the usual thin white muslin veil — white being still the distinguishing colour between the Jew and the Mooslim. It is probable the sarmah was introduced from Syria, a similar ornament being used by the women of Mount Lebanon, but with them it is worn in front, projecting like the horn of a unicorn — the flowing veil that covers it acting equally as a pro tection against the sun, and preserving the modesty of the wearer. By some of the Druses it is worn on the side of the head, and resembles a small trumpet — among them it is called the Tantoura, 196 JEWISH MANNERS. (It appears to me that those passages of Scripture relating to the exaltation of the horn, were in refer ence to this ornament, which may have been origi nally worn by warriors as well as women.) It struck me as being a very beautiful piece of dress. The eye-brows of all the Jewesses are stained a brownish red, with henna, which gives them a formal arched appearance. In the married females the arches are prolonged, and meet in an angle some way down the nose, but in the maiden's a space is left between ;* with these also the palms of the hands, the tips of the fingers, and nails, are stained a deep orange. The Jews inhabit a parti cular quarter of the city, and are by far the dirtiest people of the community, for with all their tawdry finery they look filthy. Their dwellings are misera ble ; their extreme parsimony makes them purchase the refuse meat and fish, and, as might be expected, they are the most unhealthy part of the people ; so that when an epidemic breaks out, they are sure to suffer severely, A few years ago, when cholera prevailed here, three thousand people were carried off in a few days, the greater number of whom were Jews. I have often met groups of Jews, both male and female, many of whom were in a state of intox ication, going to mourn over their friends, outside the city. There are but few Turks now in Algiers, as the * "For whom thou didst -wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments." — Ezekiel, xxiv. 40. THE SWAUVES AND SPAHEES. 197 French policy compelled them to return to their own country. This seems neither a wise nor a necessary step, as they were a much superior race to the Moors, Kabyles, and other tribes who have been permitted to remain. The next class is the Arabs ; these are distin guished from the Moors, in that the latter follow traffic, and live in towns, while the former inhabit the tent, and rear flocks and herds. They do not remain in the city at night, but pitch their tents outside the walls, and form a small encampment be yond the Bab-el-Oued gate. Many of them are now in the Swauves and Spahees, (the native regiments employed by the French,) and form the most valuable troops in the territory, as was lately proved at the taking of Constantina, combining the activity of desultory Arab warfare with the discipline of European tactics. They are officered by Frenchmen, and although of every shade of colour, the skilful management of their horses and Franco-Turkish costume give them a very martial appearance. The dress consists of very rich scarlet jackets, embroidered with gold, wide blue Turkish breeches, reaching to the knees, long cavalry boots, and white wide turbans — these, with their flowing beards and mustachios, make them have an imposing appearance. The turbans of the officers are composed of volumes of gold-spangled muslin. From their knowledge of the country, the Spahees or infantry make most valuable enterpris- 198 BLACK MOORS. ing skirmishers and pioneers. Their head-dresses, the small red turboosh or Turkish cap, and they are some of the finest men in the Algerine army. It seems extraordinary that a European nation should be dressing up their soldiers in the eastern costume, while the Sooltan and Mohammad Alee are training their armies to European tactics, and dressing them in Frank costume. The horses of the native cavalry are all Arab ; small, but of high metal, and capable of undergoing the greatest fatigue. I cannot admire the French soldiery — their long bed-gowns must be a great incumbrance in action, especially in a hot climate like this; the clothing, accoutrements, and general appearance of the troops are by no means so neat, orderly, or soldier-like as ours. There is a race of jet-black Musselmans here who dress like the Moors ; they are a fine, handsome, well-made people, with European or Caucasian faces. It must have been from this race that Shakespeare took the colour of his Othello, which is perfectly consistent with truth, in spite of all that has been said by critics to the contrary. Numbers pf the ' Moors of Morocco are black, and it was in Algiers alone that the quantity of white Moors was to be found, owing to renegadoes, and the intermarriages of the natives with the female captives of fair com plexion, or the remains of the Koloorlies who were sons of the Turks resident at Algiers, and against whom the bar of intermarriage with the natives did BEDAWEES. 199 not extend. A few Bedawees are occasionally met in the town, who come down from the mountains, mounted on camels or horses, to sell game or char coal. They are more wretchedly clad than any of this numerous tribe I have seen in the east, their sole garments consisting of a pair of loose drawers, and a dirty, ragged burnoose, with the hood kept over the head, bound round with a rope of camel's hair, which,^ as far as this extensive tribe wanders over the desert, is their distinguishing dress. They are a most ferocious race of men, generally of large size, and well made, with swarthy com plexions, straight noses, and although muscular, are remarkably lean, the flesh being as if dried up by the tanning influence of a powerful sun. The black beards are short and grisly, and their eyes are of extreme brilliancy, and cunning expression. The occasional visit of a few of this nomadic race, is at present the only communication the French have with the interior, so that but for the supplies of the mother country, the garrison would starve. After any little fracas with the natives who come thus far, and the soldiery, the market is quite deserted for several days, and the merest necessa ries are obliged to be imported from Marseilles. These Arabs are the true descendants of Ishmael, and the very signification of the word Bedawee is a fulfilment of the prophetic denunciation, " a man dwelling in a tent." These children of the desert, in common with the other Arabs of Africa, are a 200 KABYLES. resentful race, and when offended by the French intruders, " revenge it by sending a present to the governor, of Frenchmen's heads ; fifteen of which, tied up in a sack, have been left at one of the gates in a night ! None of the natives are allowed to carry arms, and although I believe it is a necessary precaution, I regretted it much, for picturesqueness sake, as a Turk or Moor looks only half-dressed without his yatigan, pistols, and dagger, peeping out of the jewel-studded girdle. The Kabyles, or Berbers, from whom the coun try takes the name, of Barbary, are the true abori gines.* They are the worst class here — low, mean, deceitful, and despised equally by all; they have been, for a series of years, the princi pal cultivators of the land, and vast numbers are now to be found in the city, where they generally act as porters. Their garments consist of a simple flannel tunic, reaching to the knees, and the tur boosh unadorned by a turban. They live in hordes, scattered over the plain, inhabiting gurbies or huts, formed of hurdles, daubed with mud, and do not wander hke the Bedawees. They have still preserved the language, and a certain degree of national character, under the Carthaginians and Romans, Vandals, Saracens, and Turks; and the character of the Numidian answers, with little variation, throughout the successive conquests of a Belisarius, a Barbarossa, and a Count de Bourmont. * Appendix G. ALGERINE LADIES. 201 There are no Turkish ladies in Algiers, and but few Moorish to be seen in the streets ; these are invariably old and ugly ; and all you see of flesh and blood are the red ferret eyes, peeping over the tightly drawn yashmac. Their wide Turkish trowsers are gathered at the ancles, the feet en cased in handsomely embroidered slippers ; and the eyes are painted as the Jews, but the line is pro longed from the forehead down the nose. Being completely clad in white, they look like so many tenants of the grave stalking through the streets in their winding-sheets. There is a vast concourse of negroes here — the most lazy, impudent rascals in the community. Freed from the yoke of the Alge- rines, and rejoicing under the cap of liberty, these fellows have become absolutely rude and insolent, taking pride in insulting their former masters on every occasion. They are mostly from the inte rior of Africa, and their tribes are distinguished by the difference of tattooing on their faces. In our walk one day through the city, we were introduced to a notable personage — the ex-captain of an Algerine frigate, and the most daring pirate that had been known for many years. He was an old man, and going about seemingly in great poverty, and told me, in the Jingua Franca, he did not at all admire the present state of things under the French, and shrewdly concluded with the usual Turkish sign of rolling the hands round each other, intimating that the course of events were moving 202 CHIEROLOGY. onward, and that the present state of things could not last. Chierology is a silent and expressive mode of communication among the Turks, and would be naturally expected to arrive at a great pitch of perfection in a town like this, whose walls had ears, and a word might gain (he speaker the bowstring or impalement. Thus, two Algerines meeting in the morning, inquire after the state of affaifs, by twisting the extended hand on the wrist rapidly up and down. If matters are well, the palm, in reply, is turned up ; if ill, it is turned down, and the communicants pass on their different ways in silence. The crescent, with an open hand, is engraven on white marble over every gate, battery, fort, and mosque in Algiers : underneath this, the sign of the double triangle, with a verse of the Kooran, or the name of Allah, in large Arabic characters, is to be seen. The terror of the evil eye is great — and its preventative, the pointing of the middle finger, much in use both by the people themselves, and engraven on the walls, and a text of the Kooran, or some such talismanic writing, is sew-ed up in the dress, or hung round the neck of the children, as " gospels" are in Ireland. It is much to be regretted that more has not been done to mark the habits and usages of this extensive nation, now fast crumbling into a debris that will be scarcely recognized amongst the strata of suc ceeding generations. Of this large territory — ex tending from the river Malua, on the west, to DECAY OF THE KINGDOM. 203 Lacata, on the east, running in a parallel between the Mediterranean on the north, and the Atlas mountains and the Zahara, or Great Desert, sepa rating it from the interior, five hundred miles in length, and varying in ^ breadth from fifty to two hundred — the only parts now remaining in pos session of its original owners are Tripoli and Tunis, and how long they will continue is very uncertain. Many of their manners and customs differ from those of other Mohammadan nations — a mixture between the Turk and Arab, the Moor and the Bedawee. The present state of this country is but another proof of the downfall of the Ottoman empire, per haps we may say, of Mohammadanism. In Egypt it is accomplishing by the introduction of Frank manners, customs, and literature, under that ex traordinary man, Mohammad Alee. Persia is dwindling daily into insignificance ; and the hardy, conquering soldiers of a Croesus, Xerxes, or Darius, are no longer to be found. As to the Porte itself, whose sultan is looked upon like the pope, as the prophet's successor, and Mohammad's vicegerent on earth, it is doubtful if the present boy be not the last ; and even now, it is but the diplomacy of European powers that retains the kingdom in his hands, which keeps Russia at bay, and Ibrahim Basha from crossing the Hellespont, and knocking at the gates of Constantinople. In 1 732, Dr. Shaw calculated the population of Al giers at no less than 117,000 ; but this seems almost 204 CENSUS. incredible within so small a space. Before the con quest it was said to be 40,000, after the plague, which carried off 20,000. The census taken in 1833 makes it 23,753. It is now about 30,000, of which 7000 are French troops in garrison. The numbers are thus divided :— Military, 7,000; Moors, 2,185; Negroes, 1,874 ; Foreigners, 1,895 ; and, accord ing to the French account, nearly 30,000 Turks were sent from Algiers after the conquest. SWAUVE. JEWISH MATRON. KABYLE. 205 CHAPTER VII. ALGIERS. The Dey's palace — Executions — Moorish houses — Their Analogy to Syrian — The British Consul-General — Political Agents — A market — Public works — Culti vation — Colony of Del-Abreem — Plain of Metijah — Intercourse with the Natives - — Colonization — Produce — Society — A ball — The Opera — Visit to a Mosque — Its interior — Religion — Population — Moostapha — Basha — Commerce — Pecula tion — Hospitals — Climate — Invalids —A shooting excursion — Game — Occupa tion by the French — Benefit conferred upon the country — Want of confidence — Achmet Bey^ Expense of the Settlement — Expedition of 1830 — History of the Campaign — The naval attack — Comparison with Lord E.xmouth's — Animosity towards the French — Position withregard to England — Concluding observations. On the 25th we visited the Dey's palace, which stands at the upper western extremity of the town. It is the highest spot in Algiers, and was fortified as well toward the town as the outworks, and could have been used towards quelling any sudden insurrec tion. It was his last retreat before the French entered ; and here were signed the terms of the capitulation, of which the British consul was the mediator. This is now turned into a barrack, and most of the offices in its vicinity form wine-shops. It is a large pile of building, with a court in the centre, surrounded by a colonnade : in this the exhibitions of wild beasts and the great wrestling matches took place before 206 EXECUTIONS. the Dey and his suite. In one of these fetes, the prowess of an athlete so captivated the daughter of the reigning Dey, that she demanded him of her father in marriage ; her modest request was com plied with, and he was forthwith raised to one of the highest offices in the state ! The presence- chamber was a little square wooden box, projecting from one of the galleries — and the hall of waiting for the European consuls was a most miserable hole. It was here the janizaries met to elect the Dey. On our return, in passing through one of the steep narrow archways, we were pointed out the spot to which unfortunate victims were hurried to be strangled. It has dungeons ranged on either side, and is now used as a civil prison. The executioner, a most cut-throat rascal of a Moor, is still retained in office ; we were informed that he was the greatest adept at the garotte or the bowstring in Algiers ; and, far from disliking to be questioned on the subject, he appeared to .relish it of all things, and explained, in a most scientific manner, the mode of adjusting the rope, and imitated the struggles of the unfortunate criminals with horrid satisfaction. Another dreadful punishment vvas, flinging the unfortunate criminal down a slanting wall from which projected hooks, which, penetrating his body, retained him in agony till released by death. It was on this very spot that no less than seven Deys were strangled between sunrise and sunset — a whole week of them : and their white MOORISH HOUSES. 207 marabutts, or tombs, are still to be seen outside the wall, near the Bab-el-Ouetta. With such an ex ample before his eyes it is a wonder they got an eighth to fill the dailik ; but it did not always depend on the will of the individual who was chosen by his fellow janizaries, and carried from his huxter's- shop to the throne. The last Dey was not only the longest in office ever known, but the second who died a natural death. Although the houses appear so mean and prison like externally, within they are constructed with great beauty, elegance, and adaptation to this warm country. The outer door, which is generally very plain, though of great strength, leads into a small square hall or reception-chamber, made more gloomy by being completely lined with dark blue tile. This apartment is generally occupied by servants, and, except on very urgent business, further than this a visitor is seldom allowed. The interior presents a square area or court, with a marble pavement — in the centre of some played a fountain, the spray of which rising high, and caught in alabaster vases, gave a grateful coolness to the whole. This^court is surrounded by a piazza, supported by twisted columns of snow-white Italian marble. The arches are of the true Saracenic, forming nearly two-thirds of a circle ; colonnades of a similar description rise to two, and sometimes to three stories, having handsome balustrades pro tecting each of the galleries, the fronts of which 208 SARACENIC ARCHITECTURE. are ornamented in mosaics of tiles. All the windows and doors of the houses look into the court. The rooms are long and narrow, richly carpetted, and surrounded by a divan, on which are placed cushions of the most costly velvets ; the walls and ceilings beautifully ornamented in stucco. The domestics inhabit the lower story, while the upper is allotted to the master and the hareem. Ontop, the roof is flat, and protected on both sides by a parapet that looks towards the court, being about breast-high. As the city rises on a hill, most of those house-tops not only enjoy a view of those around them, but have a charming prospect of the bay, the shipping, and the lovely villas in the neighbourhood of the town. The arrangement of the house was like that of the ancient Romans, and the present style of architecture in Spain was no doubt left by the Moors. The twisted pillar seems to be peculiarly Saracenic ; some are double and united, having the twist or roping in opposite directions ; the capital, a corruption of the Ionic, is long and taper, having a bunch of grapes or flowers hanging from the volute, and a leaf of the acanthus rising on either side from the module on which it stands. During the heat of summer there is an awning over the open space at top ; this shuts up like an umbrella, or is drawn across from the inner parapet wall. The learned Dr. Shaw conceives that it was from coverings of this kind arose the expression of the Psalmist and the prophet Isaiah, of " spreading THE CONSUL-GENERAL. 209 out the heavens like a curtain." — Ps. civ. 2 ; Is. xl. 22. And as this was in all probability the description of house used in Judea during the days of our Saviour, and not the present dome-roofed house which the constant warfare of that country has made necessary, it was the removing of such light covering as this that is spoken of in the Gospels, when the people uncovered the house to let down the paralytic. The residence of the British consul-general is a good specimen of a Moorish house, and many will be the opportunities afforded to the traveller at Algiers of visiting its hospitable interior. I feel I shall be but echoing the sentiments of my country men, when speaking of Mr. St. John and his family. Independent of his character, as an educated Eng lish gentleman, much of his attention to strangers is, no doubt, owing to his being one of the few of our consuls who are not engaged in traffic, or bound up with the commercial interests of the coun try in which they reside. The merchant, who is en gaged by ties of pecuniary interest towards the natives, or perhaps with the government of the station he resides at, cannot have the same feelings towards the country he represents. Were it other wise, and that our vice-consuls and political agents received a compensation for their services, it would add much to the efficiency and respectability of the office ; masters of traders would not have so many causes of complaint of a thousand unneces- VOL. I. P 210 MARKETS. sary delays and exactions practised on them, especially throughout the Mediterranean, and the dignity of the British flag would be better pre served. I have alv/ays made it a rule to visit the markets early. Independent of the productions of the country there exhibited, it shows more of the life and character of a nation than any other place I am acquainted with. The daily market is held in the Grand Place, and presents a group of motley figures unequalled; with the jabbering of the negresses and monkeys — the two-penny shows — > Genoese boys grinding hurdy-gurdies — toy bazaars — gaming-tables — mingled with Arabs, Bedawees, Kabyles, and Jewish shoe-blacks — through all which the Moor stalks with the utmost gravity and contempt. Fish are in great quantity, and fruit and game plenty at present. The vegetables are some of the finest I ever saw ; cauliflowers of a size that would not be credited by our English gardeners, and the oranges of Bleda are, I believe, the largest any where to be found. Steamers go twice a week to Marseilles, and London news can be had on the sixth day. On the 24th we rode out to the settlement of Del-Abreem, or DeU Ibrahim, the principal attempt made at colonization by the French. Some of the roads about Algiers are admirably con structed, particularly those leading towards Dowera CULTIVATION. 211 and Boufaric ; they are made on the English plan of Macadamization, and do great credit to their engineer, the late Col. Le Merci, and are the only works of permanent utility made throughout the country by the French, since their arrival seven years ago. Our track lay through a fine open country beyond the immediate vicinity of the town, which is hilly and intersected by deep valleys and ravines. The soil is a rich dark loam ; but little, I may say nothing, has been yet done by improved cultivation to try its powers. The corn is now tolerably well up, but speaks little for its mode of culture, as the plough still in use is the original rude im plement of the Arab, a simple beam and coulter attached to a cross-stick, which is tied to the beam, the same in fact as that used in Gallicia. The consequence is, that the subsoil, often the most valuable, is never turned up. So much could be effected by clearing, draining, and all the modern improvements in agriculture, that I have no doubt it could be made as productive as any land in England. The only perfect meadows I saw since leaving home were in this day's ride. The French are neither an agricultural nor a com mercial people, and the few cultivators here are Spaniards from Majorca and Minorca, and some Maltese. What a splendid country it would now be with English capital, Scotch overseers, and Irish labourers. 212 COLONY OF DEL-ABREEM. This small colony of Del-Abreem is not in a very flourishing condition ; the few wooden houses are in the most wretched state, the roofs decayed, and the surrounding palings broken down. It is under the protection of a strong garrison of 1500 swauves and spahees, and two forts, on each of which are three field-pieces. With all this, a band of Arab cavalry, belonging to Abd-el-Kadir, prince of Maskara, made a descent not twelve months ago from the mountains, rushed in during the broad daylight, and carried off the greater part of the colonists ; and this within five miles of Algiers ! ! Within view of this is the range of block-houses forming the French lines. These are supported on large posts of wood ; and as the Arabs are fre quently lying in wait to have a chance shot, the fifteen men they each contain are often a week without stirring out, and are obliged to be supplied with water and provisions once a fortnight. From this spot there is also a good view of the plain of Metijah, the garden of Algiers, and one of the most fertile spots in this part of Africa ; fifty miles by twenty in extent; but now completely neglected, as, though within the conquered terri tory, the Arab feeds his flock, and the Bedawee pitches his tent there with impunity. The French have established no intercourse or commerce whatever with the interior, for even if the tempt ing hopes of gold induced any one tribe of VEGETATION. 213 the natives to bring their produce to market, so great is the antipathy still towards the new-comers, that they would be sure to be robbed by another tribe on their way, and the French dare not attempt the mountains, or cross this plain without a force of five or six hundred men, as an ambush certainly awaits them amongst the enormous reeds and underwood that its neglected condition has suffered to spring up. On our way home we passed through some of the villas now occupied by the French officers. Nothing has been done towards clearing. Vast thickets of wild olive, mastich, dwarf-oak, palma-christi, and palmetta clothe the valleys, or spread over the former inclo sures. The wild olive is large, and tolerably good to eat. The gentleman who accompanied us has found engrafting the cultivated one on the wild to succeed. The government have planted the mulberry near the town ; but the trees do not look in a very healthy state, though the climate promises well. The cactus, or prickly pear, grows to a great size, and its fruit is a favourite with the natives ; the French tried the cochineal on it, but, as might be expected from a country of rain and frost, it failed, and has been abandoned in despair. The rows of agave Americana form impenetrable fences to the inclosures, and when in blow, present a scene of great splendour. The French soldiers, with their usual ingenuity, have turned the fibres to some account, and manufacture 214 PRODUCE. them into work-bags, and it would, I should think, form a cheap and durable ship-cordage. Near the town are some wide-spreading palms of the date species, and the process of fecundation is a ceremony of much interest throughout Barbary, and attended with great rejoicing. There are a few bananas, {musa paradisiaca,) but the fruit is not at all so large or well-flavoured as those of Madeira. Wheat, barley, Indian corn, beans, and a small description of millet, are the principal grain pro duced here ; but, at present, in quantities so small, that it would not supply a tenth of the demand for half the year. As yet the grain has to be supplied from the mother country, so that a well- regulated blockade along the coast must soon starve the garrison into capitulation. Considering the number of officers and their families at Algiers, there is not so much society as might be expected. This may be owing to the smallness of their pay ; there are, however, many agreeable little soirees among the upper classes, which cheap and conve nient mode of seeing friends, without the formality of invitation, renders it worthy of imitation. The military governor, the chief man here, sees no one ; but the Intendant-civil opens his house every fifteen days for dancing and eau sucr^, administered upon the homeopathic plan. One occurred during our stay, and we accompanied our consul to it. The scene would have been one of particular animation, but for the narrowness of the SOCIETV. 215 rooms of this Turkish house ; the heat was intense, and the crushing of ladies' padding and buckram really terrific. None but the married ladies are permitted to waltz. On asking a lady to dance, she refers to a little ornamented memorandum-book in her girdle to see what set she is disengaged for, and in something of Newmarket style, books you for a set. Several easterns and officers of the swauves were present, and all the military lions of the day exhibited, whose prowess here is looked upon as absolutely beyond any thing the French army has achieved for centuries, and their orders and decorations are most dazzling. There is an opera, but so thoroughly disgusted were we with it, that we shall not inflict a descrip tion of it on our readers ; besides a petit Champs Elisee, and minor theatres without number. One of the stipulations on giving up the town was, that the Mohammadan religion should be pro tected; and although the French have turned one of the mosques into a chapel, they are erecting another near the Mole. Under the guidance of Moostapha, the consul's dragoman, we were gratified with a view of the principal one ; before it is an open court, with a handsome fountain, in which the pious Moosselmans were making their ablutions. We had to leave our shoes at the door, and entered a large oblong build ing, divided by two rows of square pillars, support ing arches of a peculiar shape, whose sides, if pro- 216 VISIT TO A MOSQUE. longed, would meet at the ground. The floor was matted as well as the pillars, and a magnificent crimson carpet ran along the principal side — the centre of which was Kiblah (or mehrab) — the sacred spot — the holy of holies — a small semi-circular space like a niche left in the wall, matted and carpeted, but without any thing whatever within. No image, no ornament or decoration of any kind is in this place, which faces Mekeh, and where the immediate presence of the Deity is supposed to reside, and none enters its precincts. On the wall, on either side of this, are hung tablets, with verses of the Kooran or the name of Allah inscribed in large cha racters upon them ; and beneath these sat two remarkable old moolahs reciting the Kooran. In front of them was a number of youths forming a semicircle, squatted on their toes and knees, repeating the responses in a loud though not un pleasing chime, prostrating themselves, and touching the ground with their foreheads, whenever they mentioned the name of Allah. Throughout the building were scattered individuals praying beside the pillars in deep devotion. The chanting of the boys is kept up during the ramadan ; this latter is really a fast, a privation, compared with that of other religious sects, as from sunrise to sunset they never taste a morsel. They deny themselves the greatest luxury, that of smoking ; nay even a pinch of snuff, or a drink of water, unless in a case of extreme urgency. The only ornaments of any description MOHAMMADANISM. 217 within this building, were its numerous lamps, hung by chains from the roof, and a number of ostrich eggs, the usual adornment. They hold the second commandment to the letter, and the graven image of any thing having life is their greatest abhorrence. This has often accounted for the destruction of many a valuable antique, when mere wantonness has been attributed to them. An instance occurred to me in proof of this ; I was informed by a friend of a handsome white marble bust, said to have been dug up here some time ago, and in possession of one of the Moors. I hastened to the spot and requested permission to see it, but its late owner told me that " thank Allah" he had just broken it up for lime. The images in the French places of worship excite their contempt as well as their hatred ; and in speak ing to us of the English and their religion they put their fore-fingers together, intimating that they are alike ; a compliment some of our divines would not be very willing to receive. They have no faith in the French, and the Turk being proverbial for doing what he says, they often quoted to us the Persian proverb — "An Englishman never tells a lie." The external architectureof the Algerine mosques is perfectly plain, and the minarets are simple square towers, without any of that beautiful stalactite like adornment I afterwards saw in Egypt, and throughout the East. Nothing can exceed the incongruous mixture of 218 POPULATION. nations, tongues, people, and costumes, that Algiers at this moment presents. Turks, Moors, Arabs, Bedawees, Kabyles, Jews, and Negroes, of the former inhabitants ; all huddled together with French, Spa niards, Germans, Italians, Maltese, Poles, and Genoese. The colour and expression of the different countenances vary from the fair French or German, to the tawny Bedawee or Kabyle, or the shining black of Timbuctoo. Perhaps no two nations more opposite in character coul'd have come in contact with each other than the gay volatile Frenchman, and the grave, phlegmatic, taciturn Turk — the con trast reminds one of a monkey riding on a bear. One day we visited Moostapha Basha, the son of the last Dey but one ; he received us kindly, but is a silent old man, and seemed particularly cautious in speaking about the French. His house is one of the finest in Algiers, but his hareem being still in existence we were unable to procure admittance farther than the usual reception-room. The few Mohammadans of distinction here are difficult of access now, as during the ramadan they confine themselves to their houses, engaged in their devotions. Port dues are very high, and the duty on English goods, in particular, is raised to eight and some even to sixteen per cent. Still we undersell all, and our manufactures, especially of soft goods, are preferred by the natives. I made accurate inquiry into this matter, and find that the French conquest has mate- PECUL.VTION. 219 rially injured the trade we formerly had here. Had the French made it a free port for even a few years, it would certainly have been much to the advantage both of the town and colony. But peculation is the order of the day ; each person in authority taking off what he can lay hold on. This may account, in some measure, for there having been no less than seven governors since the conquest seven years ago, and at this moment there are two French generals under arrest for exacting illegal taxes in the provinces ; and one has just arrived, and is now in prison, it is said for entering into a league with' Achmet Bey to assist in restoring to him Constantina, the site of so much hidden wealth ! ! and it was only at the intercession of an Englishman that an officer was saved from the pillory, prior to being sent to the galleys for scraping silver off five franc pieces ! ! The civil hospital is small and crowded to excess. The principal diseases now are intermittent fevers, caught from the miasma of the plains. It is. of all types, quotidian, tertian, and quartertian, and some times what is called a pernicious or irregular rigour will carry off the patient suddenly. It is remarka ble, that although some get well for the time being, and health seems perfectly restored, yet are they liable to relapses again and again, often after an interval of several months, and that without any fresh exposure to infection. Diarrhoeas, anasarca, subacute dropsies, and enormous enlarge- 220 HOSPITALS. ment of the spleen, are the usual sequents of this disease, which is the principal epidemic of the coun try, and by which the French have lost great num bers, especially on the out-stations. The treatment consists in quinine, given in exceedingly large doses, even to twenty grains ; and at times this has the effect of completely cutting short the malady. Continued fevers are fortunately of rare occurrence, and I did not see four cases of ophthalmia. Innocu- lation has been long practised by the natives. Some diseases have been introduced by the French, which were almost unknown before ; when these did occur they were of mild character, and the natives treated them on the purest antiphlogistic system, keeping the patients on raisins and water for thirty days. I learn that perfect success attended this practice. The military hospital is an immense establish ment, and beautifully situated in the former garden of the Dey, about a mile from the town, near the sea. Besides the numbers here suffering under the wounds and operations resulting from the late attack on Constantina, were many labouring under the fever of the plain. It was admirably clean, airy, and well regulated, and has around it the finest orange groves in this neighbourhood. A portion is set apart for the officers. The Sisters of Charity act as nurses, and are highly serviceable among the sick. On my way to it the road led from Bab-el- Ouetta gate, through the former burial-ground of the Mohammadans, whose feelings have been much CLIMATE. ' 221 outraged by having their tombs and marabuts de stroyed to form the material of the road. With the climate of Algiers I was, I confess, disappointed. No doubt, in comparison with Eng land, it is far superior, but it cannot be spoken of as approaching, in any way, to that of Madeira or the Canaries. The daily temperature ranged during our stay from 57° at 9 a. m. to 63° at 3 p. M. ; the average mean temperature during the day was about 60°. But the nights are cold, falling as low as 54° or 53° in the evening. The dews are very heavy, but the people all congratu late themselves upon the fineness of this season, rarely remembering a Christmas without heavy rain. In the summer, the heat rises from 85° to 90°, and when southerly winds prevail, it is very trying ; the most wholesome are the north and west. The rainy season is November, and the coldest January and February, when they have generally a white frost on the ground in the mornings. The society and amusements, so neces sary to an invalid, are not to be found here, and its present unsettled condition and want of accom modation render it by no means so attractive as other spots in the Mediterranean. You have not the same power of varying your climate as in those insular mountain countries I have mentioned, and the glare of the whitewashed houses is very dis agreeable. I have no doubt, however, that if the French retain this country a few years longer, 222 A SHOOTING EXCURSION. Algiers will be extolled as a place of repute for the invalid, when it possesses all the luxuries of France ; being, besides, the only available spot on the African side of the Mediterranean. On the 26th, we crossed the bay to the river Haratoh. With much difficulty we forced the boat over the bar, and proceeded some way up this muddy stream, which is scarcely deep enough to float a gig of any size. The banks were clothed with underwood, oleanders, reeds, and cacti. At the entrance, the French have erected two forts. Game of every kind is in the greatest abundance along the banks: We left our boat at a bridge some way up, and commenced our shooting excur sion on the plain of Metijah, the part of which bor dering Algiers has been portioned out to the French, who so far from being able to cultivate, dare not even visit it without an armed escort. The marshes along the border swarm with snipe, which got up in flocks of hundreds ; but the walk ing was very fatiguing, being up to our knees in water, suffocated by the reeds and bushes around, which prevented us seeing twenty yards in any direction, and a scorching sun overhead. There were red-legged partridges, larger than any I ever saw before ; plover, and a small bustard called poule de Carthage, and two descriptions of woodcock, a large and a small, bearing the same proportions to each other as the jack does to the common snipe. I inquired, but could not hear of the double or GAME. •2'2'.i solitary snipe being found. Prodigious flocks of starhngs rise from the reeds ; flamingoes are occa sionally got in the marshes, and I observed two or three specimens of the tinto negro here, as well as at Teneriffe. In all probability, this is an African bird, and was thence imported to Madeira, where it forms the chief ornament of their woods and gardens. I saw two land rails, and was informed that they did not emigrate. Teal, widgeon, and other waterfowl are in the greatest abundance. In the more upland country we met jackals, and the ichneumon and porcupine ; the latter con sidered a great delicacy, and exposed in the markets, as at Rome. Wild boars abound in the thickets, but though we saw numerous tracks, we were not fortunate enough to meet with any. The greater part of the plain we passed over is covered with the yellow narcissus, as well as the squill and asphodel. While in the jungle, a herd of small cattle, with a fierce aspect, started up, and com pletely surrounded me, bellowing loudly, frisking their tails, and showing every disposition to mis chief. Some Arabs in the neighbourhood, scarcely less savage in appearance, came providentially to my rescue, and beat them off. Probably no country in the world presents such inducements to the sportsman. In addition to the minor game, there is said to be lion and panther shooting along the borders of the Atlas mountains, and hyenas are common. The dromedary is a smaller and darker 224 OCCUPATION BY THE FRENCH. breed than that of the Canaries. The rocks are principally micaceous schist. The houses and public buildings are constructed principally of bricks, but the French have opened a quarry near the town. I was struck with the manner of constructing the mole used by the Algerines. A number of large, square, wOoden cases were filled with a concrete, composed of the finest mortar and stones, broken as small as those used in road-making. It remained in this state till it hardened, when the cases were removed, and the mass left exposed to the air some time longer. Some of these measured ten or twelve feet square. Levers were now placed under them, and they were shoved down into the sea, without ever breaking. It is time to ask ourselves the important ques tions — "What have the French done for Algiers? — and how has its change of masters affected England?" To the first, I think every conscien tious writer must answer, nothing. The eyes of Europe have been turned upon it for some time, anxiously waiting the result. The French, to be sure, have made a great noise about its capture, and their possessions in the north of Africa ; but it is already beginning to appear, even to themselves, a bad specu lation. No doubt they were called on to resent the insult offered to their consul, whom the Dey struck in the face with his fan, as well as other aggressions. of the natives. But as to their talk of philanthropy. ACHMET BEY. 225 and abolishing slavery, it is sheer nonsense ; it being a well-known fact, that since our treaty in 1816, and enforced in 1823, there has been little or no Christian slavery in Algiers. They have now been in possession eight years, during which time they have put a new lantern on the light house, made one or two roads, widened a few of the streets, and erected a small pillar opposite the lazaretto, to commemorate their glorious victory ! ! Confidence has not been restored ; there is no faith between them and the natives, no intercourse whatever with the interior, and during the period of my visit the self-constituted chief, Abd-el-Kadir, whom the French policy acknowledges, was on the hills with large bands of Arabs, threatening war unless he be allowed to have the American consul his political agent at Algiers — a trick worthy the wily Arab, who thus hoped to possess the means of ascertaining the French movements, without the chance (in case of war) of his agent being obliged to depart. True it is, the towns of Boojeiah and Constantina have fallen into their hands, but are they in possession of the territories attached to those places ? No ; they have con quered the cities, but not colonized 'Algiers. Achmet Bey, the powerful chief of Constantina, is still in existence, but as yet his treasure (one of the greatest in the world) lies buried" in the citadel of his late city, he having concealed VOL. I. Q 226 EXPENSE OF THE SETTLEMENT. it according to the method most approved here — by cutting off the head of the slave employed to bury it. The outlay of this colony is immense — nearly a million and a half annually — an army of 30,000 men, and an incalculable loss of life — without the return of a single franc. Even the coral fishery at Bona, one of the most valuable sources of profit, has been completely neglected. By three ways could the conquest of Algiers have been made advantageous to France : — First — By opening a commerce with the interior. Secondly — By the improvement and colonization of this splendid country itself. And thirdly — By the improvement and better regulation of the coral fishery. In no one of these have they succeeded. I shall not dwell on the atrocities committed on the inoffensive Jews and natives by the soldiery during and since the siege. The horrors of war must always bring such, and the French have never been famed for their clemency ; but nothing can justify their treat ment of the people of Bona, whom they deserted, and left to the mercy of the Arabs and Kabyles, after persuading them to take up arms for France. There has not been a single manufactory established, and nothing done to better the condition, or con- cihate the good will of the natives. The French speak of the taking of Algiers as one of the proudest feats in the annals of their history. Let us now see how this was effected and that from the pen of their own POSITION WITH REGARD TO ENGLAND. 231 ing midway between this place and Marseilles, their position would be doubly dangerous, as a line of communication would be then formed across this part of the Mediterranean, thus separating Gibraltar from Malta, our two most important stations, and materially interrupting our commu nication with India, whether by the Red Sea, or the Euphrates. With all this, Algiers has its use The soirees at Paris sing the praises of Mareschal Bourmont ; it forms a pabulum for public excitement, so necessary to the existence of a Frenchman, and may serve to keep down the fever of another re volution. It is the " refugium peccatorum" of all France ; its wonders swell the pages of the Revue Afrique, and it gives something more to think about than inventing infernal machines, or cutting the throat of the citizen king, to say nothing of its influence on the all-important sub ject of dress, as appears from the number of the Petit Courier des Dames for November, 1838, which observes, that "the taste of the Parisian dandies is more warlike than that of the ladies, the favourite colours being ' Abd-el-Kader,' ' sand of the desert,' and *gris d' Afrique.' " This great conquest reminds me strongly of the story of the canny Scot, who having sold a horse to his friend, and the money being paid, was re quested to tell the purchaser if he had any faults. " Why, he has gotten but jist twa," said he ; " the VOL. I. * 232 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. first is, that when turned out to graze, he's no very easily cotch." " Oh ! as to that," replied the friend, " I can easily manage it, but the other ?" " Why, the other is, that when he is cotched, he's no worth a baubee." In concluding the few observations I made during my short stay in this delightful country, I beg to say, that the foregoing remarks are not dic tated in an unfriendly spirit ; my only feeling is that of regret, that where so wide, so inviting a field for improvement was opened, so little has been effected ; but the prospect, however imperfect, of civilizing this country, is cheering. Science will, no doubt, be benefitted — the collection of the Jardin des Plants enriched, and means may be afforded to reach the interior, which in a great measure is still to us a terra incognita. EXPEDITION OF 1830. 227 historian,* who tells us that they fitted out an arma ment of 34,184 men, and that the fleet consisted of 10 ships of the line, 24 frigates, 14 corvettes, 23 brigs, 9 gabanes, 8 bombs, 4 schooners, 7 steamers, and 357 transports. This fleet entered the bay in June, 1830, and landed the troops, unopposed, at a place called Side-Ferout, or Turretta-Chico, some ten miles to the west of the town. The Algerines had no force in the field, as the greater number of Arabs and Bedawees, from want of pay and provisions, were totally disorganised, and had returned to the mountains after a few days' service, and the Turkish army in the town and its vicinity did not, at any time, amount to 7,000 men ; with the Dey, an infatuated old man, who offered com paratively little resistance, either resting upon the impregnability of his town, from the many assaults it had already successfully resisted — or worked on by his faith in predestination, so that when asked by one of the consuls why he did not oppose the French landing, he returned for answer, " And if I did, how could I cut off all their heads?" H ¦' The French advanced cautiously through the broken country to the town, through places where the Bedawee cavalry, the chief stay of an eastern * See the work published by Rozet, one of the officers en gaged in the expedition, and now resident at Algiers. See also United Service Journal for 1830, which makes the estimate 11 ships of the hne, 23 frigates, 23 brigS, 4 barges, 4 bombs, and 3 steamers, which seems quite under the mark. 228 HISTORY OF THE CAMPAIGN. army, could not be of any service. The works and redoubts thrown up over every inch of ground where they advanced, certainly speaks well for the caution of their leader. In a short time they arrived near the city, and erected a battery opposite the Emperor's fort, one of the strongest works, and completely commanding the town, from which it is not half a mile distant. This was silenced after a few hours, and the thousand men it contained rushed tumultuously into the town, having first set fire to the magazine, which blew up with a tremendous explosion. From that moment Algiers was in the power of the conquerors, as Fort L'Empereur and the neighbouring heights would have soon battered it to atoms. Indeed one only wonders that the land- defences of this stronghold were so weak, as there is hardly a height in the neighbourhood by which it could not be commanded. But a land attack was never expected, every such previous attempt having failed, principally owing to the obstacles presented ?by the coast itself, and the violence of the sea ; of which the unfortunate attempt of the emperor Charles V. is a well-known instance. The Dey being at last persuaded of his imminent danger, sent in great perturbation for the English consul, who honestly told him that further resis tance was impossible, and that the town must surrender. At the Dey's earnest solicitation he became the mediator ; a carte blanche was for- THE NAVAL ATTACK. 229 warded through him to Bourmont, and was signed by him next morning, and the French entered Algiers on the Sth of July, the Dey being allowed to remove all his personal property, amounting, it is said, to_ about £2,000,000 in jewels and specie. How far the property of more private individuals was respected, I shall not now say. On the Dey's departure, he presented his gold-sheathed yategan to Mr. St. John, for his valuable services. So far for the land attack. In the mean time, the immense armament I have described was cruising in the bay, but never once ventured within range of the batteries, and although it kept up a fire, few shots ever reached the shore. This so emboldened the Algerines, that they sent out a couple of brigs, and two or three rotten schooners and feluccas, to attack the whole French fleet. Their going out was an instance of extraordinary dar ing, perhaps we might say, of infatuation ; but what was still more wonderful, they came back safe and sound ; so that the whole damage done by the French fleet was, by their own official documents, estimated at seven francs and a half ! And for this the admiral was made a peer of France ! As Ries Omar, who commanded in the Mohammadan fleet, said to me, " An English frigate would have blown us out of the water." The contrast is so forcible, and the result so different, that I could not help looking back on Lord Exmouth's gallant attack on this place — when the spanker-boom of the old Queen 230 ANIMOSITY TOWARDS THE FRENCH. Charlotte actually knocked the pipe from the mouth of one of the Turkish artillerymen, who was sit ting at a gun, fuse in hand, at the tremendous mole battery ; and with the Dutch fleet, sustaining one of the hottest fires ever known for upwards of six hours, and when he had destroyed all the stores, ships, batteries, and was knocking the town about the Dey's ears, and every thing was in his power, what was his answer to the terms of capitu lation offered by the Dey : " England does not war for cities, and is unwilling to visit your personal cruelties upon the inoffensive inhabitants." Animosity against France was long cherished here, and the want of faith in that people was instanced so long back as 1720, in the answer of Mahomet Basha to the French consul, and which also tells the condition and education of a former Dey — " My mother sold sheep's feet, and my father sold neats' tongues, but they would be ashamed to expose for sale so worthless a tongue as thine." 1 think I have shown that the present condition •of affairs here has injured English commerce. We are now at peace with France, and long may we continue to cherish the present feelings of amity towards so brave and enlightened a nation ; there is, however, a possibility of our being again at war, and then Algiers would be a very dangerous post in the Mediterranean ; and if it be true that the French have long coveted Port Mahon, stand- .'J ^ 1'^^ MEDUS.E. 235 admitting so much plague and pestilence amongst them, and consequently imposed a quarantine of twenty-one days upon us; at the same time, each member of the board kindly informed us of their trades and occupations, and solicited our patronage during our captivity. We got off some provisions, and remained at anchor, ready to go to sea the moment the wind favoured. As far as I have yet seen or heard, I know of few stations that offer a greater source of interest and profit to the marine naturalist, than Marsala and the coast of Sicily generally. To-day (Jan. 4) the water is literally swarming with medusae of all shapes and colours, but more particularly the beautiful pink and blue rhizostoma. These ex traordinary animals surrounded the vessel in such quantities, that several could be captured at one haul of a bucket. By the alternate expansion and contraction of their umbrella-shaped tops, they progress through the water in a slanting direction, generally about a foot from the surface ; but what struck me as remarkable was, that they possess an undoubted perception of objects even at some distance ;* for in swimming or * The acalephee in which this sense was most apparent, were the cyan/jea labiche, and this perception of objects arose not only from the percussion of the water, by any thing thrown into it, but also from any piece of rope or pole held steadily in their way. Professor Ehrenberg has already shown that certain modi fications of eyes exist in other members of the medusa family, particularly the medusa aurita. 236 CUVIER. floating around us, they with great caution avoided not only the sides of the vessel, but also any object thrown in their way. Numerous aphrodites and valellse* rose occasionally to the surface, and both the beroe idya and cephea papuensis floated round us in vast quantities. I can nevet take up one of these animals without associating with it the name of Cuvier, because it reminds me of what wonders he achieved in this department of comparative anatomy, and how great reward it in return heaped upon its votary, for it was this knowledge that raised the poor tutor of Normandy to a rank seldom equalled in the annals of scientific literature. It was this knowledge that rescued animals from their sup posed vegetable existence — this it was that called a fossil world into being, and that could alone have enabled him to tell the organization, and build up the figure of an animal from the mere inspection of its footsteps — this it was that placed him on that high pinnacle from which he took so grand and comprehensive a view of the animal kingdom, that formed a classification not since surpassed, and confessed to be the purest we may in all probability ever have. And what was his reward ? Fame — rank — wealth — honours, and the united homage * The two plates that form the skeleton of this singular little animal resemble very much the substance called the pen of the calmar, (sepia logigo.) CUVIER. 237 of the whole scientific world ; fortunately for him, he belonged to a country whose government cherishes science, and where the wealth of talent can purchase rank, and the labour of discovery and research is rewarded by even the highest offices of the state. Alas ! like many other great men, he died but too early for the cause of science — a peer of France — a counsellor of state — and the greatest zoologist of the age. The band of weep ing friends that knelt around his dying couch, told of the private worth and domestic endearments of the man, in whom Paris lost the brightest jewel that glittered in her literary coronet. The s§avans of his country followed him to his grave ; but no funeral oration need have been pronounced at his tomb, for the mourning voice of science sung his requiem. In the evening the wind moderated, and as the sea goes down nearly as rapidly as it rises, we were enabled to continue our course towards Malta. As night set in, a large shoal of dolphins sur rounded us. I have seldom witnessed a scene of greater interest and excitement than the moonlight gambol of cetacese, and the sport of miniature whaling. Our schooner holding on her course in gallant style, a steady breeze — a rippled phos phorescent sea — a cloudless sky, and " the watch" on deck, or in the rigging, anxiously waiting for the dart of the harpoon from the boatswain, who 238 A DOLPHIN HUNT. stands upon the martingal before the cutwater. Hundreds of dolphins {delphinus delphis) dash through the water, diving under the vessel, bound ing in graceful curves above the surface, and by the flakes of light that break from the disturbance of thousands of marine productions, showing every line of their beautiful forms. Sometimes they follow in our wake, then deploy on either side of us, as if to try our rate of sailing — pass us, and again fall back alongside. All is breathless expectation on board ; at last, a large one came immediately in front, and the barbed steel entered deep into its chest. It instantly dived, taking with it a coil of rope attached to the head of the harpoon ; th..n came to the surface to blow, and dived again several times, the yacht still holding on her course. At last exhausted, it was hauled to the vessel's side, puffing and splashing in a most terrific manner. Then a bowling knot is slipt over its tail. " All hands on deck," and some six or eight stout fellows drag the creature over the bows. It was about eight feet in length, and its dissection occupied me the two next days.* January 6th. On awaking this morning we found ourselves snugly moored within the harbour of La Valetta ; but our joy was soon marred, by the information that a twelve days' quarantine had been imposed upon us. Except, however, the * For some remarks upon the mode of suckling in cetacese see Appendix H. 233 CHAPTER VIII. SICILY. The Coast of Sicily — Marsala — Quarantine — Medusa; — Their powers of sight Cuvier — A dolphin hunt — Arrival at Malta— Harbour of La Valetta— Depar ture from Malta — Candia — Shores of Egypt. December 28th. We stood across the bay, and bade farewell to Algiers. As the e-aning of the first of January approached, we neared the coast of Sicily, which at some distance appeared a collection of separate islands, the extreme lowness of the shore in some places between the mountains giving rise to this delusion. We were now beginning to experi ence the exhilarating influence of a warmer atmos phere, and to witness and appreciate the glowing beauties of a Claude Lorraine sky, and the varying tints of a Mediterranean sunset. The lower ani mals seemed to feel the animation imparted by returning spring, as the sea was now alive with myriads of its many-hued mollusca, that during the noon-tide heat rose to the surface ; and at night the crest of every wave was fringed with the metallic lustre of phosphoric light. 234 MARSALA, The island of Maritime and the town of Marsala we passed within view, and shaped our course to wards Malta, but during the next two days the whole appearance of the weather changed ; the sky be came clouded, dark, and louring, and the wind cold and variable. On the morning of the 3rd, the wind was "d.;->d on end," after which it came on to blow so hard, that although nearly half-way to Malta, we were forced to run back, and anchor in the roadstead of Marsala, to escape the fury of a blast which seemed as if each wayward sister had risen from her Scottish heath, and sent a wind to drive us from our course. Viewed from our present position, this place had a cold, bleak appearance, probably increased by the effects of the late gale. A good harbour is much wanting here, and could be formed without incur ring any very great expense, by raising and joining the present break-water to the shore opposite the wharf. The vessels lying here were mostly English, engaged in the wine trade, the only commerce of the place. Wishing to visit the town and neigh bouring quarries, we applied for permission to land. After some hours' delay, a board of health, composed of the butchers, bakers, and barbers of the town, made their appearance at the lazaretto, and hearing that we had but just arrived from Barbary, appeared particularly horrified at the thought of / a ^l MALTA. ' 239 -^ disappointment of not going on shore, this had the less effect upon our spirits, as a day or two was the most we intended to have remained, and that only to have taken in the necessary stores and provisions, before we set forward on our voyage towards Egypt and Syria. Malta has been well, and often described. I can only speak of it from the water view, where on one side a row of stores, custom-houses, and health- offices, fronted a handsome quay ; over these the houses of the town rose in terraces ; the narrow steep streets, plainly visible from our posi tion, the turrets of the governor's palace, and the steeples of the numerous churches, breaking up the monotony of dead walls and house-tops. On the other side of this magnificent harbour all was fort, battery, tiers of cannon, red coats, and per pendicular walls of dazzling whiteness. This was a holiday, so the ringing of beUs never ceased from morning to night; it certainly ' shows no small degree of liberality in our government to bear with a nonsensical ceremony that is pronounced a nuisance even in the most Catholic cities of the Continent. Although not allowed to land we were not with out amusement ; hundreds of boats passing and re passing with the Maltese ladies in their black val- detts ; the vessels of the English fleet moored on all sides of us, and with the good cheer afforded us of fish, fresh milk, game, lamb, peas, Tangerine 240 VOYAGE TO EGYPT. oranges, and fruit of all kinds, we made up for the pleasures of a bad hotel, and in the evening the bands of the men-of-war playing the airs of old England was particularly delightful. On the 7th we left Malta, a light wind stealing us gradually out of its landlocked harbour, to the great annoyance of some score boats that had hoped to be employed to tow out " my lord Inglese," a term applied to all the English who travel with any degree of comfort through the Levant, and always applied to the owner of a yacht. These harpies were the only sailors I ever met who seemed to have no liking for a wind. On the 10th we were near the shores of Candia, but could only distinguish the " loom of the land." Next day Mount Ida was visible, and on the 13th land was recognizable from the mast-head. 241 CHAPTER IX. EGYPT. View of Alexandria— A Turkish Pilot—The Egyptian Fleet— Soldiery— An Eastern Bazaar— Donkey Boys -Cleopatra's Needle— Its prostration— Its re moval—A Palm Grove — Ruins of the ancient City— Pompey's Pillar Nautical Hieroglyphics— English Seamen- The Cemetery— Tombs— Eastern Lamentation— Surveyor of the Navy— The Dock-yard— Commissioners- Vessels on the Stocks— The Navy— Arsenal— Artisans— Mosque— Matrimonial speculation — Price of labour— A- line-of-battle Ship— Naval uniform The Hospital— Consular Residences — The Slave Market— Fish Dromedaries^Re- marks on their Natural History. Jan. 13th. We made the land this evening, but from its being so low, and the coast rising only a few feet above the level of the water, we were unable to distinguish it at any great distance. Be fore night-fall we obtained a very indistinct view of Alexandria, resembling the broken outline of an old fortress, and the Arab's Tower that of a low hum mock. The harbour not being safe to enter at night, we lay " off and on" till morning, when we found ourselves abreast of the tower, a plain, round, dark-looking building, not unlike an armless wind mill, or those towers along the Spanish shore, as VOL. I. B 242 A TURKISH PILOT. you enter the Straits of Gibraltar. This is the only object for miles along the coast, and serves as a most valuable guide to mariners approaching the shores of Egypt, which are one continued series of low undulations of sand, than which nothing can ap pear more dreary, bleak and barren, devoid as they are of a single living thing to break the monotony, or enliven the scene. 14th. On nearing the shore, the water becomes shallow and beautifully clear, vicing with the tint of the tourquoise, enabling us to distinguish objects on the bottom at a considerable depth, and having numbers of large Medusae of every possible hue floating through it. At length the city and harbour began to rise up, as if emerging from the sea,„ and the number of tall masts told of our proximity to a large fleet. We shortly afterwards picked up a pilot, blind of one eye, (as were all the crew, except an old man who had lost both.) He very deliberately squatted himself, cross-legged, upon the poop, and commenced smok ing his long pipe, which he scarcely ever removed from his lips till we anchored. He was dressed in the Turkish costume, which is much more convenient than the long loose dress of the Egyptians for those engaged in any active occupation. He seemed to understand his business very well, and was the first of his profession we had met whose first inquiry was not after the rum bottle. The entrance is rather intricate here, having several shoals and sunken THE HAREEM. 243 rocks. We passed Marrabutt island — a misera ble sand-stone rock, on which the present vice roy has erected a considerable battery. A light on this island would be of immense value, and enable vessels to enter during the night. Except the row of houses along the water's edge little or nothing of the town is seen from the har bour. There are a number of windmills now build ing along the shores to the right, and a view is had of the tall slender shaft of Pompey's pillar rising behind them, and forming a pleasing object even at this distance. There are no public buildings such as you would expect even in the smallest European cities. A line of low wharfs at the water's edge : the mina rets of a couple of mosques, and the hareem of Ibrahim Basha, which stands detached on a nar row neck of land to the left of the harbour, are all you see of the grandeur of the principal seaport of the east, and the second city in Egypt. The hareem is a large square building without any archi tectural beauties, but easily distinguished by its isolated position, white walls, red-tiled roof, and green window-blinds — here, at least, deserving the appellation of jealousies. The Egyptian fleet was moored at the entrance of the harbour, and in number and appearance far surpassed what we had heard of it. They are a mag nificent set of vessels, all in commission — in the most perfect order ; the majority of them two deckers, but 244 THE EGYPTIAN FLEET. mounting many more guns than ours, of a similar class ; with round sterns, and all the other modern improvements in naval architecture. The yacht of the Basha is a most beautiful craft, magnificently fitted up, and fully equal to any of the Cowes squa dron. On bringing up we were visited by a health officer, and seeing the yellow flag flying from some Swedish men-of-war, were rather frightened lest we should be again in quarantine, but we were admitted sans ceremonie, and immediately after the Egyptian admiral sent his boat, with two officers, to know if he could be of any service to us. They were exceedingly polite, and spoke very tolerable French. They use more men in their boats than is usual in vessels of war, and direct every thing by the boatswain's whistle, even to the stroke of the oars. Altogether the harbour of Alexandria presented a picture the most imposing ; and the stir and bustle, both warlike and commercial — one we could have had no idea of The flags of the different nations of Europe were here displayed beside the red banner of Mohammad Alee, to which he has added a star within the crescent. Were this port to be taken as an index of the flourishing state of the country, great indeed would be its wealth. After dinner we landed at one of the wharfs near the Custom-house, and met a company of the troops, who all looked abominably dirty, and walked like so many turkeys in long grass. Their dress, which is of white cotton, may be the reason they appeared SOLDIERY. 245 so very filthy, but otherwise they were all very com fortably clad. This dress consists of a light jacket ; wide bagged trowsers, fitting tightly to the leg from the knee down to the ancle, and buttoned down the side like gaiters ; red shoes and garters, a striped cotton sash round the waist, and a small red cap, with a blue tassel, buff belts, and bright Birming ham firelocks. Each party was preceded by a set of drums and fifes. As we walked along the wharfs "we met several groups of both sailors and soldiers off duty, and notwithstanding all that is said of their hardships, and the cruelty of dragging them from their homes and friends, they seemed exceedingly happy, generally walking hand in hand, or playing with each other. They were all young, and mostly slight-made active men. Our entre into the city of the Ptolemies was any thing but pleasing. Outside the gate we had to pass through a village of miserable mud huts, only equalled in filth and squalidness by the wretched-looking set of old people, half-clad women, and wholly naked children, squatted around them — quite an African wigwam. These extend all along the walls of the town on the land side, and are the abodes of the wives and families of the troops and sailors of Mohammad Alee. We found a guard of soldiers at each of the gates. The streets are much wider than those of Algiers, and filthy in the extreme. The numerous bazaars through which we passed presented a scene 246 AN EASTERN BAZAAR. of exceeding novelty. The merchants seated in their several compartments, surrounded by their respective wares; some engaged with their custo mers, who, if respectable, seat themselves upon the bench that runs along the side of the bazaar, raised a couple of feet above the street, and as the Mooslim never concludes a hasty bargain, they enjoy a cup of coffee and a pipe in the interim. Others engaged in reading the Kooran, which they do aloud in a very peculiar monotonous singing- tone, rocking' the body backwards and forwards all the time ; and many of them had retired into the interior of the shop and were performing their even ing prayers. This, with the narrowness of the streets- — the different cries of the several water- carriers, sellers of beans and vegetables, and ven ders of sherbet at all the corners of the principal streets — the droves of camels, the diversity of the costumes, and the peculiarity of the language, are quite astounding to an Englishman, and brought us back to the scenes so beautifully described in the Arabian Nights. I was not many minutes in Alexandria until I was forcibly struck with the number of blind people I met at every turn; it is really incredible; the greater number had but one eye, but many others were groping their way through the streets in perfect darkness. Squinting is a very common affection among the people of Alexandria, and the greater number of the lower order are what would be termed DONKEY BOYS. 247 " blear-eyed ;" and wherever we went we disco vered lamentable traces of the ravages of oph thalmia. During our walk through the city, we happened to light upon one of the donkey stations, when a scene ensued that beggars all description. The whole body of donkey boys, with their animals, rushed upon us with one accord the moment we made our appearance, pushing, jostling, and abus ing each other, in most unintelligible jargon ; and half-a-dozen laying hold of each of us, at once, at tempted to place us, " nolens, volens," on their donkeys. I was literally lifted off and on three of them, before I could employ my stick to any advan tage, to deter others from plucking me off the one on which I had at last secured a seat. The whole scene is really so ludicrous, that it is worth witnessing for once, after which I would advise all travellers to provide themselves with a good, stout koorbag,* which is made of the hide of the hippo potamus, and forms a staple article of commerce with the inhabitants of Upper Nubia, and on the Blue River ; it is the only remedy for an Alexan drian ass-boy. As soon as we were fairly seated, the boys set the animals off at a most dashing pace, through the narrow streets, over bread stalls, old women, and all the various merchandize that strew the floor of an eastern bazaar. The boys kept * Generally pronounced by Europeans corbatch. 248 A STREET SCENE. goading the donkeys with a sharp stick, and shout ing to the people, " Riglac, riglac, darick" — " Get out of the way," — and cursing in tolerable plain English. It was quite impossible to stop or hold up against the " vis a tergo." I nearly came in coUision with several enormous camels ; ran foul of various Egyptian officers, naval and inilitary ; and narrowly escaped upsetting numerous blind people at every turn ; besides our trampling over whole hosts of half-starved dogs, that are always lurking about the bazaars. To attempt to reason with our drivers was out of the question : the more we attempted to pull up, the more they shouted and urged on the animals ; and to turn in the narrow, crowded streets was impossible. The boys laughed, and seemed to enjoy it of all things, beating the unfortunate dogs most unmercifully whenever they came across them. After many hair-breadth escapes of camels, old women, and buffaloes, we arrived safe at our boat, and were heartily glad to get our selves on board again, after the noise and bustle we had just left. We were rather surprised to see one of the Basha's coaches-and-four parading the streets. The donkeys of Egypt are a small but well-made and active race. They are all closely shaven except the legs. The saddle is a high pad, somewhat like that used in Gallicia, but it does not project so much forward. They are the only mode of conveyance at Alexandria, and are ridden by all persons, even QUALIFICATION OF AN EGYPTIAN DONKEY. 249 those of rank ; you can have one with its attendant for about five piastres, or twelve pence halfpenny a day — formerly they were the only animals Chris tians were allowed to ride. 15th. On our landing this morning we were instantly beset by at least two dozen of our last night's persecutors, who were anxiously waiting our arrival, and through whom we had absolutely to fight our way, nevertheless they followed us through the town, determined to capture us at all hazards — every now and then running with their donkeys be fore us, exclaiming — " Him best dunkey," — " you Inglise no walk" — " him kick .highest" — "him dum fine Jock ass" — " me show you catacomb." After several fruitless efforts to get rid of them we had to strike — further resistance was vain — indeed I deem it the part of prudence to adopt the prevailing creed of the country, and bow to your inevitable fate ; the only way to escape the assault of a multitude is to get' at once on the first that comes up and bela bour your way through the rest. Having paid his respects to his consul, one of the first visits a European makes on his arrival at Alexandria, is to Cleopatra's needle and Pompey's pillar, and thither we bent our steps. These mag nificent obelisks, to which authors have assigned the ridiculous name of Cleopatra's needles, are situated outside the present town, near the shore of the new harbour, amidst heaps of rubbish, drifted sands, and pitfalls ; the debris of the former city, which extends 250 CLEOPATRA S NEEDLES. a great distance all round, including that part on which Pompey's pillar stands, and even as far as the shores of the lake Mareotis ; the poorer people are constantly at work among its ruins, as the scarcity of stones here is very great, and they ob tain much from the foundations of the old walls scattered about some ten or twelve feet below the present surface — for "her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted." As these were the first object of Egyptian gran deur and antiquity we had seen we were greatly struck with them. All who have travelled them selves will, I think, acknowledge how very difficult it is to convey by words a description of objects such as these; or without an appearance of affec tation, to embody in language the feelings that its recollections will arouse. Blocks of stone of such magnitude must ever excite wonder, how much more so when we know they contain a record of some of the mysteries of the religion of the most extraordinary, the most enlightened, as well as the most ancient people of the world. They are gene rally supposed by antiquaries to have decorated the entrance to the palace of the Ptolemies in the days of Egyptian grandeur, for which purpose they must have been carried down the Nile from the quarries of upper Egypt. The one nearest the town is prostrate, lying with its base towards the shore, and imbedded to about half its depth in the sand and rubbish. It is sixty-three feet in length THE PROSTRATE OBELISK. 251 from the round of the mortice to the bevel of the top, the extreme end of which is broken off; the whole measurement from out to out seventy feet, by six and a half feet in breadth at base. The hiero glyphics with which it is covered are sharper and in better preservation than those of the one still stand ing, on the eastern face of which they are much de faced, probably by the action of the prevailing wind, which, blowing from the desert for centuries, loaded with particles of fine siliceous sand, has had this powerful effect. Both of them undoubtedly stood on pedestals, and are composed of the most beautiful rose-coloured granite, somewhat brighter in colour than that of Pompey's pillar. The sand and accu mulating rubbish have covered up the pedestal of the standing one, and a considerable portion of its base. The prostration of the obelisk has been errone ously attributed to the French, during their occu pation of Egypt, and a modern writer first refers its downfall to an earthquake, but in a subseqent note says, " I afterwards learned it had been thrown down by Chiandi, an Italian engineer, in the service of the Basha, the pedestal having been blown up, and the fragments used in constructing a fort close at hand. In the same manner the obelisk itself was to have been disposed of, but this fine monument of antiquity was saved for the time by the interference of the English consul, it being the property of Great Britain." 252 ANTIQUITY OF ITS PRESENT POSITION. The French generally assign its downfall to the English, and in this they are joined by one of the last writers upon Egypt — an American traveller — who states, when speaking of the standing one, or that generally denominated Cleopatra's needle, " By its side, half buried in the sand, lies a fallen brother of the same size, and about the same age, said to have been taken down by the English many years ago, for the purpose of being carried to England, but the Basha prevented it." Now, that this obelisk must have been in its prostrate condition for some centuries we learn from the work of the accurate and erudite Sandys, who, speaking of Alexandria, in I6IO, says, "of an tiquities there are few remainders, only one hiero- glyphical obelisk of Theban marble, as hard, well nigh, as porphyry, but of a deeper red, and speckled alike, called Pharaoh's needle, standing where once stood the palace of Alexandria, and another lying by, and like it half buried in the rubbish." And again, from the following passage in the rare and curious old work of Frere Nicole Lestuen, published in 1517, we may conclude it was prostrate in his day, as he mentions but one standing : " Be la on egt mtm au grant lieu ou estoit la sale martnte tt encore t^t une grat toulonne toute tfune T^itvxt tit merueilleuiSe Jaultcuv en meinotre tfu fair t atat ung tapttal agu : et semlile a une tour quf la uott ire lofng. €titt toulonne entire couleur rouge et mafntes lettres iant fafctes a lentour: plus Jaulte a merueflle que neSt icel le qui est a romme aujreS Ue Stand pferre ; laqlle tstoit a ujces We t^Ste tcu tn ^lejrantfne ; et est ajipovtee a j-onime." ITS REMOVAL. 253 Indeed we might have conjectured its remaining for a long time in a condition similar to the present, from the fact of the greater sharpness of the hiero glyphics on all sides* — although when standing it must have been exposed to the same injurious influ ences as its neighbour.f The moment we arrived at the obelisks, our attendant dragoman and the donkey boys com menced a most destructive attack upon each of its corners and angles with great stones, hammering away to procure us specimens to take with us, and did not at all understand our desiring them to desist, and saying we did not wish it to be broken, at which they laughed most heartily. I should imagine the height of Cleopatra's needles to be, if cleared, about eighty feet, the height of that at Rome. A traveller of 1319 very gravely informs us that there are no eyes in Cleopatra's needles ! ! ! In its immediate vicinity the Jews have enclosed a large piece of ground with a high wall for a burial- * There are excavations or tunnels made tmder it in two places to obtain building materials, that enabled me to decide upon this point. t The removal of one or other of these obehsks to England has been long contemplated, and the delay has never been satis factorily accounted for ; they are ours by right of conquest and presentation. In an article lately published in the Dublin Uni versity Magazine, I proposed to have this prostrate obelisk conveyed to England, and with some sphinxes and other me morials of Egyptian conquest, erected as the Nelson testimonial. For the particulars of that paper, and the letters I have received on the subject, see Appendix I. 254 A PALM GROVE. place, and are now erecting a handsome synagogue within. If nothing else, toleration, at least, is com mencing in Egypt, as heretofore none of that stricken race were allowed a place of public wor ship. We next visited the pillar, and on our way passed by some groves of tall palms — the first collection of those truly eastern and magnificent trees we had yet seen. I know few objects of more striking beauty than a palm grove ; their slender, leafless, mail-clad stems shoot up without a single branch for sixty or eighty feet, when their waving plumes form most graceful arches over head, in the twining tra cery of their dark foliage. The great father of botany has well denominated this noble race " The princes and patricians of the vegetable king dom." Beyond this is one of the outer gates, with a deep fosse and drawbridge, where the Arabs and a few Bedawees hold a kind of market for their flocks — from this we had a good view of the pillar, standing upon a rising ground in the midst of an extensive plain, a continuation of the ruins of the ancient city, on which scarcely a single lichen finds sustenance. It seems now the undisputed abode of the lizard, the kestril, and the grass-hopper. With out another object to catch the eye, or break the unvaried outline of the landscape, its appearance, when seen at a distance, thus accurately defined against the clear blue sky, has in it something im pressively grand and noble ; itself the monument of POMPEY S PILLAR. 255 a city, and a people of " by-gone days," it raises its tall form majestically from among the modern sepulchres and gilded tombs of yesterday. I can perfectly agree with Denon, that in the shaft of Pompey's pillar consists its beauty ; one solid piece of red granite still retaining its beau tiful smooth polish, and sixty-five feet in height. The capital, which surmounts it, is a very rude attempt at the Corinthian order, the foliage very plain and meagre, and altogether it looks too short for its shaft. This alone ought, I think, to mark its construction at a date much earlier than writers are willing to assign. I cannot help likening it to a draft, or rough model of the rich foliage and high-wrought ornament of those Corinthian capi tals I have seen in Greece, especially those of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, which must be ac knowledged as the finest specimens in existence ; but compared with them, this seems almost a dif ferent order of architecture. The base ap pears much too high, and out of proportion, even for a single column ; it is fourteen feet in breadth, and stands upon a corresponding plat form of mason-work, which was so much under mined, as to threaten its downfall some years ago, but is now repaired. The exact height of the pillar from the ground, is now ascertained to be ninety feet.* * For further information on the subject of Pompey's pillar, see Appendix K, 256 NAUTICAL HIEROGLYPHICS. A general mistake exists in supposing that there are no hieroglyphics upon the shaft of Pompey's pillar. I regret to say, that it is now nearly covered with them, and although the greater number are as unintelligible as those of Cleopatra's needle, yet the frequent, repetition of the H. M. S. attest the scientific research of the mids and reefers touch ing at Alexandria. Young gentlemen of the royal navy, let me ask in sober earnestness, in what con sists the honour and glory of having your names emblazoned upon every post and pillar, in characters such as those in which Morrison's pills or Warren's blacking is set forth upon a dead wall in the neighbourhood of London ? In England I am sure you would not, even if you dared, deface with black paint, in letters a foot long, any of our national monuments. It is not your calling ; leave • it to the sign-painters, or some of the travelling agents of Leeds or Manchester. The long tried worth — the unflinching courage — the gallantry, and noble daring of those proud bulwarks of Britain's liberties, whose names you have bedaubed upon this and other objects of antiquity throughout the Mediterranean, require no such homage to their greatness. In one of the efforts to place a name higher up the pillar the paint-pot upset, and has disfigured it very much. A few Greeks had clambered to the top, by means of a rickety grass- rope ladder, and had a small blue flag* flying at * The Greek revolutionary flag. Strange to see it in this THE CEMETERY. 257 top. They had fastened up a dirty bit of paper stating, that gentlemen travellers would be insured a perfectly safe ascent for the sum of half a dollar. It was an amusement that none of our party were inclined to indulge in. Quantities of fragments of different coloured marbles, and bits of polished porphyry are scattered around. In the plain beneath is the cemetery of the present city, the tombs of which are generally of mason-work, raised a couple of feet from the ground, narrow, and without any slab at top ; at either end is an upright post or stele, that at the head being mostly expressive of the rank and sex of the deceased. In the men, it is surmounted by a turban, such as was worn by his tribe, or descrip tive of the office he held during life, as that of Kadee, Mufti, or Memlook, &c. Those of females are without any ornament, and are marked by the simple turboosh. On the front of the pillar is the name and station of the deceased, and a verse of the Kooran ; many of those are beautifully exe cuted in gilt letters, raised on an azure blue ground. All those pillars, and many of the tombs themselves are of white marble. A great number of them have a small open space in the centre of the top of the tomb, in which is planted a root of the aloe, which from its longevity, as well as its requiring so country, and within sight of the villa of Ibrahim Basha. The French erected the cap of liberty upon it, which was afterwards Temoved by the British. VOL. I. S 258 EASTERN LAMENTATION. little sustenance, is a type of immortality, besides being believed by the Moos'lims to be an infallible antidote against the evil eye, which they greatly dread, imagining that its power extends as well over the dead as the living. Others of the higher orders have small cupolas,* supported by corner pillars erected over them; all are kept scrupu lously clean and white-washed. I did not see any marabuts, or tombs of saints among them ; but each family mausoleum is enclosed by a low wall, and the different vaults arranged side by side. All those who have suffered decapitation are without any turban or ornament at top, and so their graves are easily distinguished. As we passed along, we met several funerals of the lower order ; the body being carried upon a rude bier without any coffin, and attended by about a dozen people. On our return to the city, we met a group of women pro ceeding in procession to the house of mourning, in number about thirty, walking two and two, clap ping their hands together, and chanting a funeral dirge, not unlike the " wild Irish cry," or keenan. Many of them had disflgured their arms and faces and naked breasts with mud, a practice related by "" Herodotus as in use among the Egyptian women of his day. It is to this also that in all probability the Scriptures so often refer, when describing sack cloth and ashes as typical of " mourning. These women were of the very lowest class. * Dr. Shaw derives the word cupola from the Arabic term cubb'ha, which is apphed to those small domes in Barbary. THE DOCK-YARD COMMISSIONERS. 259 We were waited upon this morning by the surveyor of the navy, Mohammed Effendi, whose embossed card! in the latest London fashion, was certainly more than we expected to have seen in Egypt. He is an exceedingly inteUigent man, was educated in some of the best dock-yards in England, and so far overcame the prejudices of Islamism, as to have married one of our countrywomen. 16th. Attended by Mohammed, we visited the dock-yard and arsenal, which must certainly be admitted to be the greatest national undertaking of the present Basha, and taken in connection with the cannon foundry and arms manufactory at Cairo, shows much of returning civilization, and of the introduction (perhaps we should say, revival) of the arts in this extraordinary country. Of all the modern works of Egypt it is that best worth seeing, and is an object of much interest, even to those more conversant with naval works; as, with the exception of the three higher powers, I doubt whether any of the European states could exhibit finer. We were first ushered into an office near the entrance, where the commissioners of the dock-yard were seated cross-legged on a dee wan. They were exceedingly courteous, as, indeed, we invariably found the higher classes of Egyptian Moos'lims. Coffee was presented, in small china cups holding about a third of one of ours, not on a tray, but handed to each individual by a separate servant, in a small silver stand, 260 EASTERN SALUTATION. (zurf) exactly like an egg-cup, which I have always found very serviceable, as the cups are so hot you are in great danger of burning your fingers. The coffee is far superior to that commonly used by us ; it is drunk without cream or sugar, boiling hot, and, as they never strain it, thick as mud ; yet it has a delicious fragrance. Who will say that it is not a more grateful and more rational, while it is fully as refreshing, and much less injurious beverage than those intoxicating liquors in use in our northern countries. In this, my first visit into polite society in the East, I was surprised at seeing each of the Moos'lims present make the usual salutation, by touching the forehead with the tips of the right- hand fingers, on receiving their coffee. At first, I imagined it for the servant, but I afterwards learned, that it is intended for the master of the house, who returns it. Their salute is peculiarly easy and graceful; besides that mentioned above, they generally approach the open hand to the lips, and then touch the forehead. To an intimate friend or superior, the salutation is by laying the hand first upon the breast, and then touching the lips and forehead, accompanied by a gentle inclination of the body forward. Their dress was remarkably handsome. The outer cloak or beneesh of brown or drab cloth, trimmed with sable, fell in loose folds upon the deewan, where they sat cross-legged, leaving their red, pointed VESSELS ON THE STOCKS. 261 slippers on the floor beneath ; their under gar ment of striped silk was confined round the waist by a splendid cashmere shawl, in which was placed the ink-horn* — the badge of their profession ; the turban bold, yet graceful, of white spotted muslin, over-shadowed a face, handsome, expressive, and intellectual. The eyes of all those men were of exceeding brilliancy, and their long silky beards gave a dignity to their appearance, such as is not to be found in the trim, well-shaven features of the European. Some few Christians, who were engaged in the office, wore black, the only colour allowed them in Egypt. But we must pay a visit to those fine vessels now upon the stocks ; — and here is one just ready to be launched, which I will tell you something about, without having your ears assailed by that most stunning of all noises, the calking and coppering. This is a two-decker, but corresponding in number of guns to our three-deckers, than any of which it is larger, being 3000 tons. It is not so long as some of ours, being but 189 feet by 40 feet in beam, and will mount 100 guns.f The timber of these vessels is confessedly very inferior, and much smaller than would be used in any Eng hsh vessel of war ; but as there are no forest trees in this land, most of it is imported from Trieste. They endeavour to make up in quantity for defici- * "The writer's ink-horn worn by the side." — Ezek. 9. t The Rodney 92, is 243 feet in length, and 2598 tons. 262 THE EGYPTIAN NAVY. ency in quality, so that the bottoms of those vessels are perfect beds of timber. This is the tenth of this class, and there are eight in commission. The ninth was brought out of the docks yesterday to be rigged and got ready for sea. The complement of rcien on board each of these is 1005, including officers, who in rank and number correspond to those of the English navy. Besides the ten line- of-battle ships, there are seven frigates, an armed steamer, four corvettes, eight brigs, and other small craft in cofiamission. So far as the vessels go, they are, I suspect, rather more than a match for the Porte.* In our walk round the yard we were surprised at the number and extent of the works, all divided into their several departments — and at the order and regularity that prevailed. Brass foundries, carvers, blacksmiths, carpenters, sail- makers, and all the different requisites in ship building, upon a most extensive scale, all worked by native hands, who amount to about 800. — The stores and arsenal were as neat, as clean, and as orderly as could possibly be. Originally the heads of the different departments were Europeans, but at present the situations are nearly all filled by natives, who rose under their instruction, or were educated in France or England ; among them was the principal mathematical instrument maker, a * While the above is passing through the press, accounts have arrived, bringing the intelligence of the Turkish fleet having been delivered up to Mahommad Alee. ARTISANS. 263 very intelligent young man. How very fluently, and with what a good accent, many of these speak our language. There is an extensive rope-walk, and we saw some of the cables being worked by a patent machine; the head of this department is a Spaniard, but there is also a native fully capable of conducting the work. I was much struck with the skill and neatness of several of the workmen, parti cularly in brass-turning, carving, &c. We were shown a handsome room for the drawings, plans, engine-work, &c. and several models of the crack English vessels. There is a mosque in the yard, whither the men go flve times a day to pray for about five or ten minutes. It is a small, but pretty building, covered with clematis and other creepers now in blow, and has a pretty fountain attached to it, where the men perform their ablutions each time they go to wor ship. All the workmen are enlisted in the Basha's service, as sailors or soldiers, and are drilled occa sionally, so as to be capable of almost immediate service. They are fed, clothed, and get from fifteen to thirty piastres a month pay, which they and all the men in the service of Mohammad Alee receive intotheir own hands, topreventanysortof peculation. The wages of these artisans are raised according to their merit, and are never in the same arrear as those of the army or navy. The greater number are married, their wives inhabiting wretched hovels outside the town ; if they have sons, each receives 264 MATRIMONIAL SPECULATION. fifteen piastres a month from the government, and the child must be brought to receive it in his own hand. Their wives are all in some sort of traffic or huxtering, and tend much to the support of their husbands ; so that the more wives a soldier or tradesman in Alexandria has, the better he lives ! ! ! The majority have a plurality, and if sons are the result, it is rather a good speculation. The men work fi-om sunrise to sunset, with the exception of an hour at breakfast and dinner ; they get three meals a day, and during our visit the drum beat to the mid-day meal, which consists of a plen tiful supply of coarse brown bread and bean porridge ; and for breakfast they are allowed, in addition, olives with some vinegar and oil. All the artisans are given meat once a week, and the troops once a month. They are divided into messes of three and five each. The greatest order and quiet pre vailed, and if the countenance be an index of the inner man, ctmtentment seemed to reign amongst them. The anchors, and most of the foreign goods in the dock-yard were English, and there was also a vast number of fine brass and metal guns in most perfect preservation lately fished up in Aboukir bay. I next day visited one of the vessels of war, No. 8, along with its surgeon, Mr. Abbott, an Engr lishman, whose salary of lOl. a month and rations, (consisting of beans and brown bread,) although equal to the ordinary expenses of a country where necessaries are so cheap, is yet insufficient induce- A LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP. 265 ment to any number of well- educated English medi cal men to enter the service of the Basha, and consequently, with the exception of the professors at Cairo and those filling higher stations, the general run of European medical men in the service are ignorant and uneducated Italians and Frenchmen. I found this vessel and others that I visited parti cularly clean and orderly, and this is-the more marked, as there is a greater quantity of brass inlaying and ornamental work in them than is usual in any of our men-of-war. This is a 100 gun ship, but equal in tonnage to ours carrying 120. The uniform is a dark brown, and the officers are principally distinguished from the men by the fineness of the regimentals, and having an anchor, star, or crescent, emble matic of their rank, and composed of silver, gold, or jewels on the left breast. In the navy as well as the army neither beard nor whiskers are allowed ; except the mustache, all must be close shaven daily ; this at first was considered a very great innovation, and was loudly complained of as quite too Christian and un- circumcised a form. The men are trained to mili tary tactics, as well as to go aloft, and in this latter they are often very clumsy, to the no small amuse ment of any English tars who may be lowering top gallants, or reefing topsails at the same time. But much cannot be expected from a navy called into existence since the battle of Navarino, and whose service has heretofore consisted in a visit to Candia during the summer. There is a moolah or priest on 2j6 the hospital. board each ship. The men are now allowed to smoke in watches, and a certain number each night are permitted to go-to their families, who live near th§ town. There was an air of great simplicity in the officers' berths, even in that of the captain's ; a plain deewan surrounded two sides of the cabiri — a table with writing materials, and a couple of chairs ; and on the side of each was hung a plain glazed frame, in which was written the name of God, and sometimes a verse of the Kooran underneath. — From a desire to avoid even the appearance of any "graven image," there are no figure-heads to any of the Egyptian vessels. There is a naval academy at Alexandria, where the young officers are instructed ; a noble establishment, having accommodation for 1200 students. There is an extensive native hospital outside the city, in the large barracks erected by Napoleon, but in a professional point of view it is lamentably deficient. The chief surgeon, an Italian,, was going his rounds at the time I called. In addition to a most incongruous Franko-Turkish costume, he had on a large hnen apron, tucked under his chin, of any colour but white, with a capacious pocket in front, well stored with plasters, pills, and potions, caustics and instruments, which were pUed in turns as he went along, preceded by an hospital mate, with a tin pan containing burning incense, which, though a perfume and highly needful, was stifling in the extreme. THE SLAVE MARKET. 267 There are many good bazaars in Alexandria, and in the Frank quarter, shops kept mostly by Greeks and Italians, where every description of European article may be obtained. By far the best part of the modern town is that lately built by the Basha, for the residence of the different consuls. This encloses a handsome square, and the houses, which are mostly detached, are some of the finest in Egypt. On the roof of each is placed a flag staff, which each diplomat endeavours to erect higher than the rest. The slave market here is so insignificant, that but for the incident of my introduction into it, I should have passed it over. While groping my way one day through some of the dirtiest and darkest parts ofthe city, our Maltese servant, Paulo, assuming a most comic grin, ushered me suddenly through a small, arched passage, into a filthy, gloomy court, little removed in wretchedness from an Irish pound. On entering, about a dozen or two young creatures of both sexes, but principally girls, perfectly black, and with scarcely a rag of covering on them, rushed tumultuously out of the low dens by which the court was surrounded, wondering at my Frank dress, and particularly delighted at the sight of a dead flamingo I carried in my hand, and which they seemed to recognize as an old acquaintance, these birds being very plenty in the Dongola country, from whence most of those slaves are taken. So sudden and unexpected was my entre, 268 THE FISH MARKET. and so very strange the scene, that I almost forgot where I was, till an involuntary start awoke me from my reverie, as one of the slave dealers, a most kidnapping-looking scoundrel, stept up, and inquired if I wished to become a purchaser. I did not, as I dared not, knock him down. The greater number of those slaves are girls,,-. from ten to fifteen years of age, and generally bought for the purpose of household servants. They seemed quite unconscious of a situation which Christians look upon as so degrading. These young ladies, although nearly in a state of nature, had all necklaces and bracelets of blue beads — had their hair plaited in small twists, and were already beginning to assume the modesty of Moham- . madan women, and to attempt a covering over their faces, while the rest of their persons were totally devoid of garments ! The fish-market is very uncertain ; at times it has a good supply both of sea-fish and those pro cured in the Nile, and the different ponds and lagoons left by the inundation, particularly the binney of Bruce, and mullet, the largest I have ever seen, some weighing from eight to one hun dred pounds.* The number of dromedaries in Alexandria is very great, on account of the different caravans, and hun dreds of young ones may be seen daily in the neigh- * Sec Appendix L. DROMEDARIES. 269 bourhood. Except, perhaps, ayoungbuffalo, no animal presents a more grotesque appearance than a young camel or dromedary, with a thick coating of hair, of a very light fawn colour, almost approaching to white ; their thin, drawn-up body, which at this age appears even shorter than in adult life, supported on legs that look like stilts, and with an awkward ness of gait natural to all, but rendered truly ridiculous, by their attempt at playful gambol. It is curious that all the young I have ever seen of this beautifully constructed animal, have a quantity of shaggy hair ; this, in some places, rather in creases as they grow up, especially in camels, which are habituated to the variable climate of parts of Asia Minor. Here, they are, however, all nearly devoid of hair, when full grown. Now, although the camel is well adapted to receive its Arab name — " the ship of the desert" — yet in the warm cli mates where they are now known, whence comes this provision of warm clothing? What does re main on them is close shaven, except a tuft on either hip, and on the forehead, and the tail, which is closely dipt on the back, but with a row of stiff hairs on either side, like the shaft and plumelets of a feather. The dromedaries here are much larger than those of the Canary Islands. The true Bac trian, or two-hunched camel, is unknown in this part of the east, and is now extremely rare. The distinction made in common usage between the camel and dromedary, is the same as that between 270 HISTORY OF THE DROMEDARY. the dray and the race-horse. The former being animals of exceeding slow gait, clumsy make, and solely adapted for burden ; while the latter, which are very rare, in comparison with the number of the others, are much taller, and slighter made ; more light, easy, and active in their movements, going at a pace of eight or ten miles an hour ; tra velling upwards of seventy miles a day, and used solely for the purpose of dispatch, and by the couriers, who sit cross-legged on a wooden frame work, placed upon the hump. The movement is a kind of slinging trot, the animal moving its long neck from side to side as it goes along. They are generally . very smooth, in good condition, and may be at once known by their " blood." It appears to be to such a beast that Jeremiah alludes, when speaking of the " swift dromedary." The water is carried about the city in large leathern bags, slung on the sides of camels, and these are most miserable-looking brutes. Docile and obedient as the camel generally is, yet when vexed and enraged, it becomes a truly for midable animal. When heated or overburdened, besides attempting to lie down, they have a power of inflating the pinkish flaccid membrane of the mouth and tongue, and blowing it out of the side of the mouth, where it hangs down a considerable way, covered with frothy saliva ; the animal moves its head rapidly from side to side, and frequently (if ridden) turns round, and looks furiously into DIFFERENT KINDS OF CAMELS. 271 the very face of his rider, uttering, at the same time, a short, abrupt 'sound in the throat. This note of anger is most startHng, and during its con tinuance, they will draw in this inflated bag, and blow it forth again with great violence, the eyes flashing fire, and stamping with the fore-feet. If the camel be not now either soothed or cowed by his keeper, he will often bear off his rider, and throwing down his burden, rush at the object of his anger, and lifting him up, dash him with ter rific fury against the earth. I have seen a man in the large square of Alexandria, rescued with great difficulty from the terrors of such a scene. Although it is vaunted as a new discovery, that the camel can sustain hunger by the absorption of its lump; as well as thirst, by the provision nature has made in the sacculated stomach for carrying water, yet this was long known to the owners of these animals. An old author, John Leo Africanus, mentions the fact of having seen them, when on a long journey, and deprived of food, consume " first the flesh of their bunches, then their bellies, and last their hips:" This same author very properly enumerates three varieties of camel : the first, called Hugiun, are thick and tall, and the fittest for carrying bur dens ; this is the common camel of Africa. The second, called Becheti, have a double bunch, which renders it fit for carriage and riding; but these are only reared in Asia. The third, called Ragna- hill, being of a slender, low structure, are unquali- 272 ZOOLOGY OF THE CAMEL. fied for carriage, but go beyond the other two in swiftness ; this is what may be denominated the dro medary, and it is one of this description that is used yearly to carry the sacred mahmil to Mekka, and ever after enjoys exemption from labour. The phenomenon of the protrusion of the membrane of the mouth, is worthy the attention of zoologists, and was remarked long ago by the observant Sandys, who, though attributing it to a different cause — that of supplying moisture — says, " for in his frequent belchings, he thrust up a bladder, which moistened his throat and mouth."* Their subsisting on their fat is quite in accordance with the most acknowledged facts in the animal economy ; it being a reservoir to be used upon emergencies, as in hibernating animals, the tail of particular kinds of sheep, the hump of the bison, or in the human subject in any protracted illness or long ab stinence ; and I conceive it to be for the same useful purpose that those plates of fat, so much praised by our gourmands, are placed in the sides of the turtle. * Appendix M. 273 CHAPTER X, EGYPT. Harbour of the Jlahmoudie^A Kanghia — The Canal Egyptian Plagues Cotton Plant — Appearance of the Country — Game — Mode of Cleaning the Canal — Atfe — The Nile — Boatmen — The English Ensign — Composition of the soil — Seenei-y — Husbandry — Birds— The Fellaheen — Their Costumes — Arab Females — Their Dress — An Egyptian Eye — Old Women — Habitations — Sheykhs — Self-mutilation — Cyclopean Population — Conscription — Boolac — Approach to the Capital — Cairo — Hotel de Jardin — The Lions — Citadel — View from it — Mosque of the BSsha — Joseph's Well — Palace of the Basha — The Hareem — The Arm Factory — Massacre of the Memlooks — Mosque of Sooltan Hassan — Description of its Interior — The Streets — Inhabitants — Shop-keepers — Nightly Stillness — The Mooeddiu's Chant. Saturday, 20th. This morning was spent in pre paring for our journey to Cairo.* At three o'clock we arrived at the harbour of the Mahmoudie canal, which is without exception one of the most abomi nable sewers that this dirty country can boast of. The banks rise high and precipitous from the water, and are generally crowded with dirty Arabs, half- * Before we left Alexandria we met most unexpectedly Mr. A. Finlay, who was on his way from Bombay to England, but who consented to return with us to Cairo, and to whose knowledge of Eastern manners and customs we were much indebted in our route through the Levant, whither he accom panied us. VOL. I. T 274 THE MAHMOUDIE HARBOUR. naked women, and blear-icyed children, squatted on logs of timber, bales of cotton, and heaps of coal, from the mines of Syria. These, with troops of camels — a wretched shed for a custom-house — a filthy coffee- shop — a troop of the never-failing donkeys, and a Babel of tongues, such as can only be experienced among the Arabs, are the impediments and annoy ances a traveller has to push himself and his baggage through, in order to reach that most uncomfortable of conveyances — a Mahmoudie kanghia. For nearly a mile the line of boats extends, as close as they can possibly be crammed, and it is usual for European (at least English) travellers to have their boats sunk for some days before, choosing rather to encounter the damp and dirt consequent on its immersion in the mud of the canal, than to suffer from the numerous cockroaches and other living torments that invariably infest these conveyances. We were unable, from want of time, to submit our boat to this process, so we had to endure (I cannot say with patience) our tormentors, which in the shape of creeping things, appear as the remnant of the plagues that once swarmed through out all the quarters of this land. Our kanghia was a long narrow boat, sharp at both ends, with a high projecting stern, a cabin, consisting of a kind of tent-house raised over the deck, and in size about equal to a good dog-kennel, barely capable of coiitaining four of us, who found great difficulty in sitting upright. Our steersman, a venerable grey- THE CANAL. 275 bearded Arab, sat perched on the roof of the cabin. These boats have a long mast and latteen sail, but as the wind was contrary we were unable to set it, and so commenced our journey by track ing, which was done by four of our crew ; making about two miles an hour. If the waters of the Tagus resemble pea-soup, this could be most justly likened to thin porridge, flavoured with the essence of divers carcases of buffaloes, camels, and asses, in every possible state of decomposition, on which innumerable flocks of gulls and several vultures were making their evening's meal. Our attention was more forcibly drawn to the scene, from the circumstance of our being obliged to use this most filthy fluid ; for, although we had been careful in providing ourselves with the other ne cessaries for such a voyage, as provisions, bedding, cooking apparatus, &c. we totally forgot until too late the most essential — a supply of pure water. Leaving Alexandria, the canal winds along the shores of Mareotis, from which it is only separated by the bank. Independent of its value as a means of communication, this fluid, as a manure, is of great use in enriching the land along its banks, for which object it is raised, either in Persian wheels, or the simple apparatus of the pole and basket, worked by a single man. The only green things along its banks are a few acacias. We spent a night of unusual discomfort, for, though we were all fatigued, and had made 276 EGYPTIAN PLAGUES. desperate determinations to sleep, and had actually fallen asleep several times, our slumbers were of short duration ; for packed as we were — the squeak ing of a rat under one of our heads — the flight of a cockroach into our faces — the bite of a bug — the incessant attacks of fleas — or the loathsome crawl-* ings of more intolerable and disgusting vermin, forced one or other of us from the short oblivion of our annoyances, and roused all in time to sympathise with, or laugh at the miseries of the sufferer, who in vainly endeavouring to free himself from his tormentors, awoke the whole party. When we arose in the morning we found that our Arabs had fared better, for having moored the boat to a post on the bank, they were quietly enjoying their slumber, so that we were only twenty-five miles from where we had set out the day before. It was excessively cold at this early hour, the thermometer standing below 50. After breakfast we landed, and as the boat made but little way, we were able to keep up with it, shooting along the banks. The country here is exceedingly fer tile ; the corn and flax were well up, and of a richer green than I had any where seen, with large plantations of cotton, which, however, is here but a small shrub, not bigger than a currant bush ; and the cotton, now bursting from its capsules, make those inclosures look as if a flock of sheep had run through the bushes, and left the greater part of their fleeces on the thorns. The THE COTTON PLANT. 277 introduction of this plant into Egypt has been at tended with the most signal success ; and though twenty-five years have not elapsed since the first sprig of it took root, it is now one of the principal sources of revenue, and the most extensive article of export. In 1 820, a scheme of manufacturing it in the country was commenced, and the Basha went to an enormous expenditure of men and money, in erecting cotton mills, and procuring spinners, engineers, and machinery from Europe. At first these men worked with great energy, and the Basha was fain to believe the interested stories of his French and Italian overseers, that he could thus, in a short time, become the rival of Glasgow and Manchester. Crowds of natives were driven into the factories ; the machinery, of a rude and imperfect description, was made by ignorant hands, and soon got out of order. I understand that a system of peculation was carried on by the foreign instructors, and the outlay was immense. After wards the war in which Egypt has been engaged for some years past, has been so great a drain upon the population, that the different cotton mills have, in a great measure, been abandoned. Mohammad Alee is now, however, pursuing a wiser and a better policy, in curtailing the number of the spinning and weaving mills, and only manu facturing in the country a sufficiency for its own consumption, and the remainder of the raw mate rial is sold into Europe. Machines for compres- 278 APPEARANCE;OF THE COUNTRY. sing the bales are multiplied at Alexandria, and tbe export into England bids fair to exceed both tbe East and West Indies,"^ or America. We left six English traders in the harbour of Alexandria re ceiving cotton. Aldiough of a dark colour, and not of the very finest description, it is now much valued in our markets. The Basha has established telegraphic com munications along this canal to the capital from Alexandria, and to Rosetta by the banks of the Nile from Atfe. The country is one immense flat, but only cultivated along the ba,nks of the canal, or around the "villages, which are placed upon little hillocks, rising like islands out of this interminable plain, andwhich, with their square mud houses, domed dovecotes, and groves of tall palms, with the white minaret of the hamlet-mosque peeping from out their wide-spreading branches, have a very pictu resque and pleasing effect. In other places occur large tracts of uncultivated swamp or sandy slobs, which are covered with countless numbers of geese, and water-fowl of all descriptions, so close as ab solutely to cover the grouiid ; they are, however, very wary, and as there is no possible cover, the sportsmen can seldom get near enough for a shot. I should imagine the apparatus of Colonel Hawker would commit great devastation among the feathered tribe here. The avoset is particularly plenty; also bee-eaters, {merops apiaster and m. tavia,) and in the corn-fields, the paddy-bird, so tame, that it MODE OF CLEANING THE CANAL. 279 can be knocked down with a stick ; its stately walk, its light and elegant snow-white plumage, fawn- coloured erectile crest, and yellow legs and bill, make this bird one of the most beautiful in Egypt ; and like the robin with us, its domestic habits, and appearing to put itself under the protection of man, is the reason why it is erroneously supposed to be held sacred by the modern Egyptians. The field lark is a larger bird than ours, with a black erectile tuft on the head. Pigeons, in vast flocks, supplied us with our daily meals, and hoopoes fill every bush. But let the bird be large or small shot by the Mooslim, ' it is turned towards Mekka, and its throat cut, otherwise it would be considered unclean, and to use it would be deemed pollution. Jackals are met in the thicker parts of the country; and the ditches and lagoons teem with fish, principally mullet, and also binny, {cyprinus binny and cyp. nilotica.) As there is a continual filling up of this canal, both by the deposits from the water, and the wearing of the banks, the clay of which, from its want of tenacity, is continually slipping in, it re quires frequent cleaning, which is effected by means of a large dridge, worked by a wheel of great size, set in motion by men inside, much in the manner of a tread-mill. The mud is carried away in small baskets on the head by women and young girls ; yet though apparently loathsome their occupation, they all seemed light-hearted. 280 ATFE. singing gaily, and clapping the hands to keep time. Many of the younger ones were pretty, and wore bracelets, anklets, nose jewels of silver, and beads, although covered with mud, and only dressed in a dirty blue chemise. As you approach the Nile, large sheets of water occur, the remains of the previous year's inundation; some of these communicate by locks with the canal. In the banks of the canal are vast quan tities of bivalve shells, principally the tellinaflumi- nea, unio Egyptica, and U7iio hilotica of Caillaud. About four o'clock we arrived at Atfe, where the canal communicates with the Nile by means of a lock, so narrow, however, that boats never pass from one into the other. The gates are only opened when the Nile is high, or when the water of the canal becomes too low; exhausted by eva poration, or the drain of irrigation. Atfe, though a small and insignificant place, exhibits all the stir and bustle of a commercial port. The view of the Nile here is truly grand, and awakens sen sations, heightened by expectation, and not disap pointed by the reality. It is about 500 yards across, and runs at the rate of about two miles an hour ; the water not so muddy as that of the canal, and when filtered, particularly sweet, especially when there is no other than that of the canal to be got. The operation of filtering, as it is termed, (but properly of deposition, as the water only requires to stand still, and throw down THE NILE BOATMEN. 2al its sediment,) is performed in earthenware vessels, unglazed, delicately thin, and of beautiful antique shapes. These being placed in the shade, the water is cooled by evaporation, as well as cleared. Our Greek servant, who had proceeded hither the night before? had along with the British vice- consul, procured us a boat much more comfortable than the one we had left, and except for the cargo oT raw hides which was piled in the hold imme diately outside our cabin door, and the increase of rats consequent thereon, we should have con sidered ourselves very fortunate. This kanghia was one of the largest size, having two masts and sails, and a double cabin, in the larger of which was a table with seats, and windows along the sides. Our Arab crew were a dirty but well-formed and hardy set of men ; their food, beans and brown bread, mashed up together in a wooden bowl, round which they all sat without distinction — each dipping his hand in the dish, first reminded me of an Eastern custom that every Christian well remembers. Active and obedient, they were ever ready to tend, or shift the cumbrous yards and heavy sails to the different windings of the river, or changes of the wind, as well as to plunge into the water like so many amphibious animals at a moment's warning, upon the boat's touching any of the numerous sand-banks that occurred along our course. The old Reis would sit at the helm, perched upon the high poop for hours together. 282 VILLAGES ON THE NILE. without exchanging a word, except the occasional salaam aleikim, to the salutation of a similar oc cupant of a passing kanghia. Numerous villages occur along the bank, with groves of limes and orange trees, and surrounded by carobs and acacias, in which hundreds of doves nestle. '^1^^^- Our morning temperature was excessively severe, and till seven o'clock generally as low as 47°, rising during the day to 75°. This variation is most trying to invalids, and will be felt by all Europeans. We hoisted the English ensign, which is well known and much respected along the river, and will save the boat and crew from any of the impo sitions or exactions so frequent here. The greater part of Monday the wind was against us ; and as the boat made but little way, we landed and walked a considerable distance, shooting along the banks, and observing the country, of which nothing can be COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL. 283 seen from the deck of a boat, owing to the height of the banks, the flatness of the land, and the low ness of the water at this season of the year. The banks vary in height from four to nineteen feet, but to' tell the exact strata from the section would be impossible, so great a variety occurs in different positions. You see, however, several layers appearing in some places, alternating in thickness from one-half of an inch to three or six inches, and differing likewise in colour and consti tuents — some consisting of a dark loam, and others of a lighter colour, and having in them quantities of mica* and minute particles of iron pyrites, which, with the siliceous earth, lime, and magnesia, are yearly carried down by the inundation, and depo sited in proportion to the ratio of the rise of this river, so that by the quantity of this valuable manure, the crop must vary as well as by the extent of land covered by the inundation. The Nile is yearly changing its channel, throwing up banks in some places, and encroaching upon its former limits in others, and thus it must have again and again traversed and cut through the same parts of the valley in which 'it is confined. Stones or * It appears to me more than probable that it is the small shining yellowish particles of this mica, adhering to the feet of the thousands of pigeons that are constantly feeding along its banks, that hare given rise to the opinion of gold dust being carried into Greece and the Ionian isles by the flocks of these birds that migrate yearly to those countries from Egyi)t, and not, as is supposed, from the interior of Africa. 284 SCENERY OF THE NILE. gravel of any kind are very rare in this section of the bank, and in no instance did I see any organic remains or any shells since leaving Atfe. Towards the fork of the Delta the river becomes very tortuous on the Canopic branch, and runs in some places upwards of three miles an hour. At this point the fertile land varies in breadth from two to one half, or even one quarter of a mile. In some places as far as the eye can reach you see nothing but green ; in others the desert approaches very close to the water ; and even here, so low down, and so near the seat of government and the two great cities, there is much land uncultivated. The people seem little acquainted with agriculture, and the only instrument of husbandry in common use is the mattock, or short hoe, and a very rude wooden plough, which barely scratches the soil four inches deep; but the land is so soft and pulverisable that little more is required. Pigeon factories,- and whole villages solely erected as dove-cots, form (as they are as yet untaxed,) a great source ofthe livelihood of the people, and flocks of lapwings and plover swarm in every field. The balearic crane we frequently met in the morning, and although we saw both swifts and swallows at Alexandria, and martins afterwards about Cairo, not one of the hirundines appeared during this part of our journey. Hares I shot more than once, similar to ours, but with longer hair, having a shght tinge of black at the extremity, and the ears being nearly THE FELLAHEEN. 285 black The Fellaheen, or lower orders, in this part of Egypt, appeared to be poor, dirty, and idle — numbers lying basking in the sun — rising on our approach merely for the purpose of asking a buck shese. The poorer classes of Egyptian women are much less tenacious of their beauty or their modesty than they were some years ago. Great numbers now go without the yashmac, or nosebag, required to be worn by Mohammadan females, their only covering being a blue linen chemise, which, fitting pretty tightly, often exhibits the out line of a figure of surpassing grace and elegance. This garment reaches somewhat below the knees, and is open in front as far as the waist, which, though never subjected to the torture of lace or whalebone, is, in many of those Arab girls, slender without contortion, and proportionate without compression. The breasts of those who have had children (and few here arrived at sixteen who have not) become, from want of covering or support, exceedingly pendant, and to a European eye, disgusting. The young children, who are invariably naked, are carried astride upon the hip or shoulders, and the mother, with a pitcher of water on the head, and her infant thus seated, and both balanced with unerring accuracy, offers an interesting subject for the pencil of the painter. All the females along the Nile are tattooed upon some part of the face, chin, or temple. The lines are marked in blue, and differ in figure and extent, 286 ARAB FEMALES. according to the several tribes or villages to which they belong. Those who are in a better condition, and adhere to ancient custom, with more accuracy wear the face-cover {boorks), consisting of a stripe of black crape, or linen, about eight inches wide at top, where it is fastened to the head-dress by an ornamental clasp, or circular bit of brass, which comes down over the root of the nose — the upper margin is closely applied- , immediately below the eyes, and the lower end hangs down in front to the knees, or lower ; above the upper margin peep a pair of most bewitching and invariably black eyes, rendered more sparkling by the dark line of kohl or liban surrounding them — the eyebrows arched with the same. A triangular piece of muslin is brought over the forehead, and hangs down behind below the waist, and thus there are but about two inches of the face left to view. Many will here appear so careful of their charms, that, although nearly in a state of nudity, they will draw with becoming modesty some portion of their ragged only garment across the face on meeting a stranger, though by so doing they expose more of their person than is in accordance with our notions of decency — yet such is the fashion of Egypt. All who can muster a few piasters are provided with rings of brass or silver, or strings of beads in the ears, and on the wrists and ankles. Sbme few wear large silver nose-rings, passed through a hole, not in the septum, but through one of the alee. The THEIR DRESS. 287 colour of most ofthe Egyptian women is light olive — the features of many are regular, and, to my taste, pleasing— -the regularity of outline still pre serves a similarity to that of the ancient race more particularly seen in the long lozenge-shaped eye. The eye of the Arab girl, and more parti cularly the Egyptian, is so peculiar, and so often caused me to stop and admire its beauties, that I may be excused dwelHng on it a few moments. All use the liban, or black line, adorning the eye lid ; this is renewed every three or four days with a kind of bodkin ; not, however, as it is generally believed in Europe, upon the outer part of the eye-lid. It is applied in a most accurate and dexterous manner all along that part of the edge of the eyelid within, and along the roots of the eye-lashes, where both lids present a flat surface to each other, denominated in technical language the tursal margin of the eyelids. This ancient practice of the east, although it approaches to a piece of foolish decoration, is based upon a thorough knowledge and study of the beauty of a perfect eye. When the eye-lashes are in perfection, and of a black colour, as all here are, they present, at a little distance, not a collection of hairs, but a black line, and to increase this line of beauty the easterns add the liban. The liquid black of what is generally called the pupil, or the whole of the black part of the eye, is much heightened by the eliptic hne by which it is encircled ; and though at first it appears 288 AN EGYPTIAN EYE. SO extraordinary, and may, after all, be denomi nated an acquired taste ; yet there is a swimming loveliness in those brilliants set in jet that I cannot but admire. MODERN EYE. ANCIENT EVE. Unless when Negro blood mingles with that of the Arab, the traveller can still recognise " A Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt," and with a life and animation of expression that give their "lips that speaking air, "As if a word were hovering there." Few countries but can boast of beauty among its fair daughters, but I will fearlessly assert that no other clime can exhibit the wrinkle and decre pitude of old age so soon, so marked, or so very disgustingly as this. Precocious in womanhood, mothers in almost childhood, and premature in old age, here the female of thirty or forty possesses none of the venerable appearance of other countries^ but a haggard and withered form that one can hardly believe was so lately the buoyant girl of the Nile ; yet this does not prevent them drawing the end of their kerchief over the lower part of the face on the approach of man, especially if a Giaour. SHEYKHS. 289 The habitations are miserable hovels ; square mud- walls and flat roofs, which are generally coated with small cakes of camel dung, pasted on them to dry, the only fuel of the country. These it was lately contemplated to tax, and the amount of piasters per thousand actually discussed, but on a representation to the Basha, the scheme was aban doned. The number of santons, or holy men, that formerly swarmed through the country is much decreased. Each village is governed by a sheykh, whose house is somewhat better than the rest, and who is generally found seated on his segaddeh or a mat before his door, smoking the tchibouk or sheesheh, leading a life of extreme idleness — col lecting the taxes — hearing petty complaints, or , presiding over the administration of the bastinado. Nearly all the young men you meet are blind of an eye, generally the right one, and have lost the index finger of the right hand ; this act of muti lation is done by themselves to avoid the conscrip tion. I have known them, on hearing the tallyho of the conscription officers, deliberately redden a pointed stick in the fire and thrust it into the eye. At Cairo a little boy, not more than ten years of age, who worked in the garden of the hotel, on being informed by way of joke that the officers of the Basha were approaching, ran most heroically to a trowel, placed it on his finger, while his sister, still younger, chopped it off with a stone ! He bore it without a murmur, and held it up as a trophy of no VOL. I. u 290 CONSCRIPTION. ordinary conquest. The thumb of one of our crew was still raw from a similar operation ; and what with the effects of the ophthalmia, and the terrors of the conscription, there will soon appear a cyclopean population. The Basha has, however, very properly put a stop to this self-mutilation, by making such offenders punishable by perpetual working in the arsenal or dockyard. A great outcry has arisen on account of the con scription, and travellers have loudly exclaimed against so horrid an alternative being forced on the people ; but without at all advocating that, perhaps necessary evil, I would ask is it worse than the press-gang we have so lately had recourse to, in our own navy, and may be obliged to apply to again in England ? How few soldiers would come forward to enlist in our towns and hamlets, without the agency of the bounty, the stirring notes of the fife and drum, the red coat, the gay cockade, or the crimp sergeant ? As we ascended the country, hawks, buzzards, and vultures of a great size, became more plenty ; and innumerable flocks of geese, ducks, and teal. The doves are so tame around the habitations, as to be almost within reach of the hand ; and plovers swarm through the large broken ground. There are three kinds of these birds, the charadrius Egypticus, charadrius Alexandrias, and charadrius spinosus.* All these afforded us much amusement through the day, and books, chess, and conversation, whiled * Appendix N. BOOLACK. 291 away the evenings, till the morning of Wednesday, the 24th, when, on waking, we found ourselves fast approaching the capital of Egypt. Groves of magnificent trees clothe the banks of the Nile ; and factories rise on either hand. We sailed past the palace of Shoubrah, and its noble gardens, with the steam yacht of the Basha moored beside it, and passing through hundreds of gaily-painted kanghias, arrived at Boolack, the port of Cairo, about break fast-time. We were quickly ashore, and having procured donkeys, proceeded at once to Musr, the Arab name for Cairo. Boolack is a kind of suburb, with a handsome mosque, whose minaret and dome will recompense a careful inspection. But we hasten to the " queen of cities," whose thousand domes and minarets are now rising through the vista of wide- spreading palms, feathery bananas, and groves of carobs and acacias. The intervening ground, of about a mile, is clothed with a luxuriant crop of corn, interspersed with groves of limes and orange trees, and the road, raised some feet above the sur rounding level, to preserve it from the inundation, is bordered by a row of carob and acacias, which, when full grown, will much improve the approach. The citadel forms a prominent object in the centre of this immense city, thrown into relief by the black wall of the Mo kattam mountains, which rise behind it. This en trance to the city presents a most animated scene, and such as can be beheld only in the greatest thorough- 292 APPROACH TO THE CAPITAL. fare of the east : long files of camels ; whole hareems of hermetically veiled women, seated cross-legged on their donkeys, and attended by their sable guar dians ; Turkish nobles on their magnificent horses, preceded by their pipe-bearer, and followed by a tribe of servants ; Arab sheykhs ; men of all the different nations of Europe, travellers like our selves, or settlers in the land ; each in his different avocation, and mingling with the ragged dirty Fellah, and the well-clad soldier, pass and repass in endless variety, or throng tumultuously to the narrow gates that lead to the interior. Immediately outside the town, we were shown the house in which Kleber was assassinated. Passing a few narrow streets we presently arrived at the Esbekeyah, a handsome square, formed, it is said, in the shape of Napoleon's hat, and surrounded by a canal into which the Nile is admitted during the overflow. The raised walks are ornamented with some handsome trees, which when full grown, will form a cool and really beautiful promenade. The streets are wider and much better than those of Alexandria or Algiers ; and the lattice-work which covers the windows is light, elegant, and tasteful. Some fine specimens of Saracenic architecture present themselves in the different gates and mosques ; the brown stone of which they are formed give them a sombre hue, to relieve which, Arab taste has painted them with red stripes and spots. We passed the palace of Abbas Basha, one of the THE CITADEL. 29 younger sons of Mohammad Alee ; and who is much more popular than Ibrahim, who is said to be more feared than loved. We found the English hotel so full that we could not procure accommodation, so we proceeded to the French, the Hotel De Jardin, kept by an Englishman, Mr. Manson. As our stay in Cairo must necessarily be short, we proceeded at once to view the lions — literally, as it happened. Five lionesses and a lion were confined near the entrance of the citadel, not in cages, but heavily chained, seated on a bench that ran along the room ; their Arab keeper seemed quite familiar with them, handling them all with impunity. The view from the top of the citadel is cer tainly most splendid, and here it was that we first felt we were in the land of Egypt, for from its summit we first beheld those mysterious monuments of the past, the pyramids. Those of Geza, the nearest and largest, although nine miles distant, appeared to be not more than half a mile ; beyond them, the immense desert mingles with the horizon ; and those of Sakara and Dashoor rise in the dis tance, the Nile winding by their feet ; behind us the dark Mokattam rocks ; beneath us Cairo, the hum and bustle of its thousand tongues ascending through the still air. Outside the city, on the one side, is a plain ^f whitened modern sepulchres, animated by the many bands of mourning friends, bearing to their last home the remains of the hundreds who die daily in this vast city. On the other hand rise up 294 MOSQUE^ OF THE BASHA. the tombs of the Memlook sooltans, crowned by the fret-work domes of their splendid mosques and slen der minarets. These are surrounded by the desert, and near to them was situated the encampment of the Mekka pilgrimage, where three thousand tents glittered in the sunshine, and upwards of 20,000 persons of all ages and sexes were con gregated before their final departure for the tomb of the prophet. A row of plain granite columns, still standing, crowns the summit of the citadel ; all that now remains of Saladin's lordly hall. After the manner of most eastern princes, Mohammad Alee is erecting a mosque, which promises to be one of great splendour. The inside is completely lined with highly polished marble, of a description found near this, being of a greyish white colour, beautifully marked with transparent veins of brown, resembhng Derbyshire spar. It looks exceedingly well at a distance, but, on a close inspection, is found to be very porous, scarcely six inches of it being without a hole, but filled up with composition. It is worked with astonishing neatness, and some of the orna ments were beautifully cut, by the labour of a number of Arab boys, over whom a soldier was keeping guard. Beside it is erected a splendid fountain, for the ablutions of the pious Moos'lims, of a bluish- grey Italian marble ; the ornaments and reliefs of which were not inferior to any I ever saw. The next object we were conducted to was Joseph's well — not the Joseph of Scripture, but the celebrated Joseph's well. 295 Sooltan Saladin. The soldier at the gate was very unwilling to admit us without the talismanic buck shese ; and snatching the key from the old sybil who performs the part of cicerone, shouldered his mus ket, made it rattle with a slap, and stood boldly in the doorway. So formidable a front by any other soldier might have deterred persons from proceed ing farther ; and rather than accede to his lawless demand we were about to apply for admission to a superior officer, when one of our company who had been long in Egypt, and knew what an Egyptian soldier was, seizing the man by the shoulder, pro ceeded to administer a rebuke a posteriori, which so frightened the fellow that, laying down the musket in great trepidation, he instantly produced the required key. This well is cut through the solid rock, said to be 270 feet in depth, of a greyish fossel limestone, similar to that I shall have occasion to describe at the pyramids, and differing in the shells it contains from the Mokattam rocks behind it. The shaft of the well is of considerable width, and outside the natural wall is hewn out a large winding descent with apertures cut to admit light and a view of the well; about midway down is an extensive chamber and landing-place, where a pair of bullocks work a Per sian wheel that raises the water, from whence it is again conducted to the top by a similar contrivance. At this landing-place is shown the tomb of one of the servants of Saladin. Although rudely con- 296 PALACE OF THE BASHA. structed, the whole is a noble work, and quite capable of supplying the citadel in case of an attack. In our walks through the citadel we were con ducted to the palace of the great master of Egypt. A noble lofty hall opened to a splendid staircase of marble, and from the gallery to which it conducted we were led into the presence chamber, a large and well- proportioned apartment, fitted up with great taste, and partaking of the European as well as the Arabic style. It was perfectly devoid of what we would call furni ture ; a deewan, or low seat, ran round three sides of the room, raised about two feet from the floor, covered with well-stuffed cushions, and at' each cor ner was placed a velvet and gold cushion, and an embroidered carpet — that for the Basha on the right hand side being of most elegant and costly workmanship. In an arched recess, at?the lower end, were two slender Corinthian pillars, formed of the same marble of which the mosque is being built. A superb Persian carpet, and light blue silk window- curtains completed the furniture. The roof is domed, and above the cornice are painted in per spective, views of all the different seats and palaces of Mohammad Alee. These, although not very well executed, gave an air of taste and lightness to the room. Adjoining it is a small closet for holding private conferences ; and where, no doubt, the sharp piercing eye of the Basha so often endeavours to read the mind of the wily diplomate. Beside it is the entrance to the hareem, where some of the vice- THE ARMS FACTORY. 297 regal family still reside. A thick crimson curtain hangs before the forbidden entrance, behind which some of our party attempted to look; and, although a massive door was all they could see, it so frightened the attendant, that he, in a most beseeching tone cried out " Oh Allah forbid, Allah forbid." Within the walls of the enclosure is an old tower of the Blenheim style of architecture, where the telegraph is worked that communicates with Alex andria. We next visited the arms factory, where there were 1500 men at work, some of whom appeared most admirable artisans. I could not but wish them a better employment, but I anticipated the day when the same hands shall be turned towards the more useful art of erecting steam-engines to increase the irrigation of the Nile. Some of the arms made here^ would not disgrace Birmingham. Each de partment is separate, and it has a most extensive cannon foundry ; most of the guns of Mohammad Alee are brass, of which he is particularly proud. Over the door of the boring department is this inscription — " Vive Moham'mad Alee, patron de les arts !" Originally the overseers of each of these works, denominated instructors, were foreigners, but wherev.er it was possible they have been superseded by native hands.* Our way out of the citadel lay through a place * This and other arms factories in Cairo are capable of sending out 4000 muskets a month. 298 MASSACRE OF THE MEMLOOKS. that will be ever memorable in Egypt, and one of the first inquired for by the traveller ; the spot where the murder of the Memlooks took place. It is a long narrow entrance, with high battlements on either side, the upper gate leading to the palace of the Basha, the lower opening into the space of the mosque of Sooltan Hassan. Here on the festival held on Toussoon's becoming a Basha they were invited, and when the procession of 500 was ranged in this narrow pass, both gates were closed, and the troops who were concealed be hind the breast-wall, rose and poured down a fire ¦ that in a few minutes annihilated the dynasty of 600 years. . There were no means of escaping, or of attacking their destroyers — one instance alone oc curred — a Memlook bey, amidst the shower of balls that poured round him, perceived a narrow staircase leading to the rampart, up which in a moment of despair he forced his horse, which actually clambered up the passage ; and fighting his way through the soldiers on the ramparts, leaped him over the parapet of the turret on the right side of the gate, and, strange to say, although the horse was crushed in pieces, the man escaped unhurt. He fled for refuge to the adjoining mosque, and is still alive in Cairo, his life being granted him by the Basha, whom it is said he par ticularly resembles in appearance. What a scene must not this narrow space have presented with the bodies of 500 men, arrayed in all the gorgeous trappings with which they delighted to deck them- MOSQUE OF SOOLTAN HASSAN. 299 selves, mingled with the carcases of their splendidly caparisoned horses ; motionless in death but still retaining the expression of proud defiance, mortal fear, or wild despair, in which they severally met their cruel and unavoidable fate. This act of Mohammad Alee's has been often discussed, and doing so now would be to review his whole life, policy, and government of Egypt. Certain it is he could have taken no step towards the improvement ofthe country during the existence of those ruthless tyrants, whose bodies became as it were stepping-stones to his present greatness. The mosque of Sooltan Hassan is one of the best worth visiting in Cairo ; it was formerly inac cessible to Christians, or required a special order, but our large party did not experience the slightest difficulty in gaining admission. It is an old build ing of great height and extent, but like most public buildings in this crowded city, it is difficult to obtain a proper view of it. The porch and doorway are of great size and beauty, but at present much dilapidated. The ornamental work of the roof hangs like so many stalactites, in the most extraor dinary manner ; the court is more remarkable for its extent than beauty, and is paved with a variety of black and white marbles, and porphyry, the ge neral decoration of the mosques of Cairo. The usual fountain plays in the centre, and from it we looked through a series of light arches and colonnades into the interior, which we were about to enter. 300 INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE. when a difficulty~arose, as not even the moollah, or pious Moos'lim would enter into his place of worship without taking off his shoes ; but some of our party wearing straps and tight boots were un willing to take them off lest they might not get them on again. This difficulty was however got over by our attendant, who lifting up the mat before us, permitted us to proceed with him round the walls of the interior. A number of pious Moos'lims were at their devo tions, and although they looked at the intrusion of the Giaours with a scowling eye, we were allowed to pass unmolested. A few years ago and it is more than probable death would have awaited the Christian who should dare to pollute a mosque with his shoes on ; as it was, if one of us had touched the mat it would have been deemed impure, and must have been burned. In this way we were con ducted round the mosque to an enclosure at the ex treme end, where the tomb of Sooltan Hassan stands, constructed of plain black and white marble, with a very old edition of the Kooran laid upon its top, the whole surrounded by a close and orna mented grating. The dome that covers this part of the mosque must have been originally of great beauty, but its principal attraction, the stalactite work, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and coloured glass, is now fast falling into decay. On the floor are stains, said to arise from the blood shed in one of the many disgraceful broils which took place during the reign THE STREETS OF CAIRO. 301 of the Memlooks ; and on the wall the old Imam called our notice to a round mark, some eighteen inches in diameter, which was the size of the loaf sold in Sooltan Hassan's time for six paras, (three farthings.) Golden age indeed! — the old gentle man seemed to regret it much, and bemoaned the present time in comparison. At several corners of the streets are hand some reservoirs for water, with gilt trellis-work, hav ing a number of spouts and chained goblets. The crowds in some of the streets and bazaars make them at particular times of the day almost impassa ble. If we except China and Japan, I do believe that natives of every country of the world will be met with in the streets of Cairo. Besides the resi dent population of Egypt, Turks, Copts, and Jews, the Greeks are, I think, the most numerous. Levantine Christians, Syrians, and Europeans, of every country, travellers to Egypt, and those passing and repassing to India ; besides its being the line of the different caravans to Mekka twice a year, and the great commercial city of this part of Africa, may have, at an earlier date, earned for it the name of the greatest thoroughfare in the world. Crowds of donkeys with Europeans, bear down upon you at every turn, on stepping aside from which you are very likely to encounter a train of some twenty camels, which either crush you against the wall or tread you under foot with the greatest unconcern. Groups of Bedawee cavalry are constantly passing through the 302 SHOPKEEPERS. town (the irregular troops, nominally under Mo hammad Alee,) whose enormous Memlook stirrups threaten you with decapitation, an accident that would apparently gratify their savage occupants. The streets intersect each other even less than at Alexandria, so that you are obliged to go a circuit of miles to a place that may not be a tenth of the dis tance^ arising from those circles which enclose hand some gardens and palaces. There is an extensive Frank quarter, in which the shops are mostly French; and as usual every thing the worst and the dearest. Each street has its own gate, which is locked at night, and has a guard attached to it, no person being allowed to pass without a lantern, which is formed of paper, made to fold up, and is carried by every one in his pocket. The bazaars of Cairo are, some of them, of great extent and magnificence, and are covered over-head. Through them no beast is allowed a passage, and, al though the shops appear at first insignificant, they will be found to contain much wealth. Each different trade and each separate article has its particular quarter. The Turkish shopkeeper uses little art to induce purchasers ; sitting jn solemn silence, scarcely deeming it worth while to remove the pipe when you wish to see or know the price of any thing. But towards each other, or to those Franks whom they know, or who are habited in eastern costume, they are exceedingly courteous, and pro vide a pipe and coffee during the negociation. They NIGHTLY STILLNESS. 303 are sure to ask a Frank, but more especially an Englishman, more than five times the value of any article, and will invariably sell cheaper to a Moham madan. Our accommodation at the hotel was tole rable, though not so good as we should have had at the English. Even thus high up the Nile, the mornings and evenings are yet cool. The extreme stillness and quiet of this immense city after dark was to us most extraordinary at first ; and when about nine or ten o'clock I opened the window of my apartment, and looked out upon the noble panorama spread beneath and around me, I could scarcely believe that it was the scene of action for so many thousand living beings ; who but a few hours before thronged every avenue, street, and lane of this immense metropolis. It was while so musing, and with The deep blue moonlight like a pall Of solemn beauty round me — that those thrilling strains of the Mooeddiu's call to worship, broke upon my ear, so sweet, so clear and musical, as the first note of prayers broke from the minaret of the mosque of Hassan, and was car ried distinct and sonorous upon the midnight air, not broken by a single echo, but heard until its dying notes faded in the distance, and minaret after minaret took up the chant till the whole rose in one swelling chorus — " Come to prayer — come to prayer ! come to the temple of salvation ! great 304 THE mooeddin's chant. God ! great God ! I attest there is no God but God, and Mohammad is the prophet of the Lord ! !" I have heard it often ; never, however, upon so great a scale as here ; never more distinct or musical, or with that startling note that wakes every fibre of the frame, gives a double beat to every vessel, and rivets every sense as the ear takes in the sound and the mind assumes a tone of fervour and devo tion at the thought of a nation, in many respects so far beneath our own, thus calling to the worship of our common God, and answered by her p.eople, not with the sneer of scorn, the silence of contempt, or the apathy of indifference, but with a decorum and apparent piety, that would well become professing Christian kingdoms, who in their attempt to do away with a national religion, would do well to listen to the Mooeddin's chant. 30£ CHAPTER XII. EGYPT. Suburhs of Cairo — The Mekka Pilgrimage — Camels — Bedawees — Tombs of the Memlooks — Mokattam Rocks — Tombs of the Kaliefs — Mausoleum of Moham mad Alee — Ancient Customs — The Mad-house — Description of its Inmates — Reflections on Insanity — The Slave Market — Abyssinian Girls — Nubians — Their Ideas of Modesty — ^Mohammadan Slavery — Comparison with Christian — Hotels of Cairo — Coffee Manufactory — A Kahweh — Tobacco — Its Use — Pipes — Hemp — Description used — Inquiry into the use of Eastern Stimulants — Temperance Societies — Egyptian Ladies — Eastern Coquettes — A Plague Dog — Intrepidity of an Enghsh Physician — Visit to Shoubrah — Beauty of the Road — Gardens of the Hareem — Oriental Luxury — Baths — A Kiosk — Mooslim HospitaUty — The Basha — His Retinue — A Conversazione — The Egyptian Society — An English Minister. Thursday, 25th. We rode out this morning by the gate of victory, which is the best entrance to the city. It is exceedingly handsome, and affords a beautiful specimen of eastern ornamental archi tecture. Beyond it the desert commences almost immediately ; the roads dusty and unpleasant, and a suburb of small huts and low Arab tents, similar to that I before mentioned at Alexandria, stretches into the plain. No two places can present cha racters so different as the opposite sides of the city VOL. I. X 306 SUBURBS OF CAIRO. of Cairo. On the other side from that we are now upon, the fertile, verdant valley of Egypt, che quered with waving palms, spreads from either side of its mother Nile, while here the boundless arid sands commence in gentle undulations, now covered with the tents and horses of the rear of the Mekka pilgrimage, the major part of which set off yester day. Some thousands still remained, and the spectacle they afforded was most imposing. Hun dreds upon hundreds of tents and paviUions, many of silk, and of different colours, glistened in the sun. The horses were tied by the forefoot to one of the stakes of the tent-ropes ;* many of them were of great beauty, as to shape and power, but few in what an English jockey would call high condition. I was particularly struck with their exceeding gentleness, and apparent affection for the children, who, with the greatest safety, played over any part of their bodies. Hundreds of camels were ranged in rows upon their haunches, waiting to be loaded. The power of knowing when they are sufficiently loaded is truly wonderful in these, animals. The moment a single stone weight of burden is placed upon it above what it is in the habit of carry ing, it becomes uneasy, utters its threatening * Such was the method used in the time of Elisha, when the Syrians fled and left the " horses and asses tied, and the tents as they were." 2nd Kings, vii. 10. BEDAWEES. 307 note, and attempts to rise ; if it be held down, and the attempt to over-load it is persisted in, it becomes quite ungovernable, and rises up in spite of every effort of the attendant to keep it down. Amidst the tents was held a kind of fair, of all sorts of necessaries, each of the Hadjees providing themselves with things required on their journey. Beyond them was a large collection of Bedawee cavalry, most of whom were the irregular troops in the pay of the viceroy. Their horses did not at all equal the opinion we had conceived of them, being small, lanky, and coated with a quantity of hair ; yet they are capable of enduring the greatest fatigue, and when manoeuvring upon the plain, display more mettle and training than any horses I have ever seen. The enormous saddle which they wear is formed mostly of wood, and comes up behind and before so high, that although it is difficult to get out of it, yet if once the rider is thrown on the steed's neck, it is impossible to get back without dismounting. The saddle and saddle-cloth are generally ornamented with scarlet, and gold fringe, &c. The riders present a curious appearance, wrapt up in their flowing white dress, which is often so carried over the faces, that little more of their features are seen than those of the females. The usual rope of camel's hair confines this over the forehead, and a yellowish handkerchief is worn close to the head, with the ends hanging down on each side of the face to the shoulder. 308 APPEARANCE OF THE BEDAWEES. t This, with their grim faces, piercing black eyes, and invariable frown, gives them a very formi dable look. As a characteristic of this race I should mention,- that they are invariably the leanest men I ever beheld; nothing but bone and muscle, and so perfectly devoid of fat, that many of the strongest appear wrinkled, from the want of that rotundity and cushioning given to other people by this useful material ; and the skin looks so dry_ and shrivelled up, that they have, many of them, the appearance of an old anatomical preparation, or well-preserved mummy ; and yet the fatigue, hardships, and deprivation of food and water that these men endure, are beyond conception. In order to comply with the latest order of the horseguards at Cairo, and yet to avoid the com plete resignation of their original and accustomed weapons, these Bedawees have got a long bayonet attached to their firelocks, which are kept fixed, and slung across the back, and as the musket is long and light, it can be used as a lance, as well as a gun. From this we bent our steps towards the tombs of the Memlooks, situate at about two miles from the city, in the desert, by the way leading to Suez. These magnificent mausolea present a most im posing appearance when viewed at some distance, rising up from the plain of sand like the towers and public buildings of a large town. They con- ' TOMBS OF THE MEMLOOKS. 309 sist of a collection of mosques, many of which are of great magnitude ; the domes and minarets of most exquisite workmanship. The former deeply carved in the grey sand-stone in beautiful patterns, and the latter, some of the highest and most tasteful of the kind I have ever witnessed, but all going rapidly to decay since the extinction of the stranger lords, whose sepulchres they cover. We found those we entered inhabited by a set of filthy old people, who live mostly on the terraces and upper stories, where their wretched huts, squalid misery, and the dirty tattered rags in which they are clad, form a mournful contrast to the gilding, and strik ing, though deserted grandeur, by which they are surrounded. The fountains, many of which were of great beauty, and whose murmur once re-echoed through the spacious courts around, are now dry, or the little water which their basins contained stagnant, and covered with a green scum. The pulpits of the mosques are all of stone, carved with a taste and elegance of design worthy of imitation. Beside the open space of the mosques and underneath the dome, but still railed-in from the unholy touch of the Giaour, or the Nazarene, are the tombs, plain, and without ornament, and although the names of many an occupant of these sepulchres caused terror in their life, and were re membered with horror after their death, yet the poor people who conducted us to them, with that instinctive veneration which the Mohammadans 310 MOKATTAM ROCKS. observe for their dead, appeared quite shocked at our requesting permission to enter the apart ments. We spent some hours in wandering over this splendid necropolis, and left its precincts pondering over the period when its now silent tenants swayed with bloody hands the destinies of this hap less land. Our course was then directed round the south-eastern side of the citadel, where heaps of rubbish accumulating for centuries, formed by the cleaning of the city, have grown into hills, the magnitude of which can only be believed by those who have seen them. Beyond this com mence the Mokattam rocks, which extend par- rallel to the Nile, and bound the eastern side of the valley of Egypt for its whole extent. The number of fossils to be found here, but which time did not permit me to examine, are well worthy of the attention of the naturalist, as they have not, as far as I am aware, been yet accurately described, or have any number of them been yet brought to this country. From hence we turned to the tombs of the Kaliefs or Khaleifeh's,* of less magnitude, but in better state of preservation than those we had left. They are situated in rows, with large streets between, and in connection with the mosques. Attached to each tomb are collections of those sacred relics of thieir saints and martyrs, veneration for * Improperly written caliphs by the English. MAUSOLEUM OF MOHAMMAD ALEE. 311 which has of late crept into the religion of the Pro phet, and to extinguish which the Wahabees have made such fierce and zealous endeavours. These objects are now guarded with more than ordinary strictness, and owing to those places being less frequented by Franks than others in the city, we were allowed to enter but few. There was one, however, that had for us a greater interest, being the tomb where the present ruler purposes to take up his final abode, and into this we procured a ready admission. A handsome court-yard, adorned with gardens and well-grown trees, surrounded the building, which, on our entrance, disclosed to us a scene we were perfectly unprepared for. We were conducted into a large and well lit chamber, which, strange to say, was in the form of a cross. In the centre of this was a row of tombs in white marble, constructed in the usual Turkish style. The slele, or head-stone at the end of each beauti fully carved, and adorned with flowers, and verses of the Kooran in relief, gilt on an azure ground, and surmounted by the head-dress expressive of the sex and rank of the deceased, who were all the different members of Mohammad Alee's family. Several splendid chandeliers hung from the arched roof; the floor between the tombs was covered with, the most costly Persian carpets, in which we sunk literally ankle deep, and copies of the Kooran lay open on stands in several places. Many of the tombs were strewed with flowers, not 312 ANCIENT CUSTOMS. yet withered, and the apartment was well lit from windows in the European style, furnished with splendid silken curtains. At one end of the cham ber is a space left for his highness ; and it is a spot he frequently visits, as beside it lie the remains of that wife to whom he was so long and devotedly attached. No less than thirty or forty persons have been interred in this place, some of whom were of the family of Ibrahim Basha. The greatest care and attention is bestowed to preserve the neat ness and order of this tomb, so perfectly different from the damp, neglected state in which such places are left with us. On the top of one of the mosques attached to a tomb near this, we were shown a small model of a boat, where food and water are daily supplied by the priests for the birds of the neigh bourhood ; a practice still continued from the days of Herodotus. Most of these tombs belonged to the Turkish nobility at Cairo, and from this place to the city we passed through thousands of tombs, the burial-places of the present inhabitants ; their white glistening appearance darkened in places by groups of mourning friends, or passing funerals. 25th. To-day we went to inspect two of the most revolting and disgusting sights at Cairo — ^the slave-market, and the mad-house. On reaching the door of the latter, which was originally a mosque, we were stopt by our con ductor, to purchase a few cakes of coarse THE MAD-HOUSE. 313 bread, a supply of which is always kept in the adjoining porch for supplying the visiters, who thus become a principal, though precarious means of supporting its wretched inmates. We were led through a narrow passage, where all was still and silent as the tomb ; a few steps farther, and we were introduced into a large oblong room, when a yell arose of the most un earthly kind my ears were ever assailed by — so startling, that some of our party involuntarily drew back with horror. Our sight — our smell — our hear ing — were overwhelmed with a combination of dis gusting realities, such as I believe no other place can exhibit. Around this apartment were arranged a number of dens, about four feet square, closed in front with massive iron gratings. In each of these gloomy, filthy cells, was a human being, per fectly naked, or with the remnant of the tattered rag he may have worn on his entrance years be fore, fantastically tied about some part of his per son. His hair and beard long and matted ; his nails grown into talons ; emaciated ; covered with vermin, and coated with unutterable filth; an iron collar rivetted about his neck, binding him by a massive chain either to a ring in the wallf or connecting him through a circular aperture with his fellow maniac in the adjoining cell. Upon our entrance each — like a ravenous ani mal in a menagerie, when the keeper arrives with food — roused from his lair or his lethargy, and 314 LUNATICS. rushed with savage wildness to the grating, ex tending a withered hand for the expected morsel. The foam of frenzied agony was on every lip ; the fire of maniac fury was in every eye, and the poor madman's yell softened into the jabber of satisfaction as each in turn snatched his morsel, and devoured it with a growl I can only liken to a tiger's. Our pity is raised, and all our tender sympathies awakened, for the poor harmless idiot, or melan choly madman; but we must tremble before the outbreak of the violent and raging maniac. I will not disgust my readers with a recital of the sickening scene I witnessed in the female depart ment, where the frown and whip of the savage keeper rendered unnecessary the chain, the collar, or the grating. Even with the care and attention shown to those unfortunates in our own country, the sight of mad ness is one of the most humiliating and pitiable we can witness ; but here, where no pains are taken to improve their condition ; no care for their wants, and no medical skill to inquire into the causes of their malady, or the possibility of their cure, it is a truly awful spectacle. I need hardly say, that recovery is rare. Indeed it would be a miracle, as the first glimmerings of returning reason must be instantly and completely destroyed on the patient finding himself immured in a dungeon, replete with such horrors. REFLECTIONS ON INSANITY. 315 Few travellers who have visited this establish ment but have expressed their opinion upon the state in which it is kept. Of this Mr. Wilkinson says : — " Though con ducted in a disgraceful manner by its present direc tors, and inferior managers, we cannot but highly appreciate the humanity of Sooltan Qula'son, almost the only Mooslim king or governor of Egypt, who set on foot a charitable institution for the benefit of the people. By his orders the patients, whatever might be the nature of their complaint, were regu larly attended by medical men, and nurses attached to the establishment ; and their minds were relieved by the introduction of a band of music, which played at intervals on a platform in the court of the interior. But the neglect and embezzlement of the directors would have reduced the whole building to a ruined condition had it not been for the benevolence of Sayd el Mahrooque, who undertook the necessaryre- pairs, and detected the misappropriation of its funds." This institution, called Morostan, is one of consi derable antiquity at Cairo, where for many years it was the only charitable establishment — it was founded in 1280, by the celebrated El Quaelsem e Naser Mohammad II. It is astonishing that there are so few insane among a people so excitable and imaginative as the Mooslims — the only cause I can assign is their religion of fatahsm. The " Allah Keriem" — God's will be done — is a disposition that is not very favourable to their workings of insanity. 316 THE SLAVE MARKET. The Europeans and medical men of Cairo should inquire into and reform this disgrace upon huma nity. We next visited the slave-market, which is here of great extent. It was remarkable that as a seller of bread sat at the gate of the mad-house, the shop adjoining the gate of the slave-market was occupied by a vendor of koorbags, or Arab whips. Within was a large open court, surrounded by a number of small dark chambers, which rose in terraces around it ; these contained the better class of slaves, who were all Abyssinian girls, from ten to eighteen years of age, with a yellowish olive complexion, long straight noses, handsome features, and par ticularly melting black eyes, the hair long and black, and the lips somewhat thicker than those of persons of a similar cast of countenance, which, naturally melancholy in this race, was rendered more so by their present sad condition. All were decently dressed, many decorated with silver anklets and bracelets, and some few had nose rings. Several were in tears, and all hung down their heads, and appeared ashamed of their degraded, hopeless situation, but brightened into a smile on our offering a few piasters. Most of these girls have been either kidnapped by the slave dealers, or sold by their own friends for a few trinkets or glass beads ; large quantities of the latter are manufactured in Europe and sent here in packages, several of which I met as Atfe. Their eyes were blackened NUBIANS. 317 like to the Mohammadan females, and many were remarkable for their tall, light, and elegant figures. In the centre of the court were arranged a number of mats, divided into compartments, on which were squatted whole families of negroes, principally from Nubia and Dongola, and who were for the most part captives, taken in war by some neighbouring tribes. The majority "of these were females from eight to twelve years of age, who are purchased for household servants. Although nearly naked, the young Nubian had still the inherent love of decora tion, and strings of blue beads adorned the necks of many who could not boast even a chemise. They were all tattooed in various places about the head and breast, each according to the manner of their tribe, and their woolly pates dressed in plats about the size of whip-cord, and well greased with rancid lard, which hung in bunches over either ear. These young creatures appeared perfectly unconscious of their state, and, as far as appearance went, were happy. In intermediate places sat the different slave merchants, Turks, and Arabs ; and Bedawees, stalk- ingabout in their Burnooses, and buyers, occasionally pointing out the slave they wished to purchase, who were called by the owner and carefully examined ; if they had covering on it was removed and they were made to exhibit their shapes, and paces like a horse at an auction mart. These young negresses can be pur chased for from thirty to forty dollars ; the Abyssy- 318 A Nubian's modesty. nians go as high as a hundred. These slaves so soon adopt the manners and religion of their masters, that I have known a girl, when purchased by a Moham madan, lift up her only covering to shade her face while following him from the slave-market ! During an early morning visit I witnessed a very extraordinary scene here ; all the negresses, young and old, had ranged themselves round the walls of the upper terraces, and were greasing their bodies and heads, which shone lustrously in the warm sun shine ; they reminded me of so many cormorants pluming themselves upon a rock after their evening's meal. As manual field labour is seldom or never accomplished by slaves in this country, there are few adult males brought down, and the boys are principally used as grooms and confidential servants. There is a white slave market adjoining this, where Georgians and Circassians are kept, but no Euro pean is allowed to enter. Having thus described an eastern slave market, let us inquire what slavery is in the east. The very term is, no doubt, one from which human na ture shrinks with repugnance ; but it is not here " the soul-debasing task-work of a servile bondage" as among Christian nations, and, apart from the miseries of separation from friends and country, it is an un doubted change to many for the better. The worst part is the voyage down the Nile, or the passage across the desert, where they are sub jected to much hardship and villany from the slave- MOHAMMADAN SLAVERY. 319 dealers. Many of the male slaves in the east become officers, and rise to places of trust in the state, and numbers obtain their freedom in a few years. True it is that the master can kill his slave, but few are so foolish as to incur such a personal loss. They are far better fed, clothed, and taken care of than free servants at Cairo, whom they despise and look upon as inferiors, often boasting, by saying " they were slaves and not servants." Less manual labour is required of them than of the freemen, and all are acquainted with the political importance a race of slaves now extinct once assumed in Egypt. As regards the female slaves, I before stated that the Nubians were all used as under servants and attendants upon the ladies of the hareem ; but the Abyssinians, for whom, from their interesting appear ance, and somewhat greater advance in civilization, our sympathies would be more excited, are gene rally, purchased as concubines, a state in the present condition of morality in Egypt often pre ferable to that of wife, who can divorce herself or be divorced for any trifle, while the other can de mand or insist on a proper allowance. The chil dren of these women are free, and they themselves are generally made so on the birth of the flrst-born, especially if he be a son, and numbers are married to their masters, and become not only the most affectionate, but the most faithful women in the community. Compare this with Christian slavery — compare it 320 HOTELS. likewise with the condition of those people in their native state, and we must acknowledge it an im provement of their condition. It was the slavery of the primitive Hebrew nations, allowed by Scripture and practised by the patriarchs, but which refinement and Christianity, the well-being of society, and the respect which man owes his fellow, alike forbid. Our hotel at Cairo, though by no means the best, was comfortable, and its owner, Mr. Manson, for merly in the service of the Basha, endeavoured to make it so. Attached to it is a handsome garden, growing some rare and beautiful tamarisks and acacias. A billiard-room forms its under part, which being much frequented by the instructors, foreigners, and officials, bothnative and European, and the usual class of idle loungers which fill such places in all countries, has made it quite a place of news in the evenings, where the politics of Great Britain, as reported in the last papers, or detailed by the latest traveller, the different arrivals in the city, the last levee of Mohammad Alee, and the war in Syria, &c. are discussed. We generally dined early, and as there were at Cairo several visitors of various countries, who like ourselves, could not obtain accommodation in the other inn, we were not at a loss for society, both agreeable and instructive, as we enjoyed our pipes and coffee. And now a few words on those two articles of eastern luxury. I was anxious to see and become COFFEE MANUFACTORY. 321 acquainted with the manufacture of coffee, which far surpasses ours in flavour and aroma. The pre paration of this is another royal monopoly. I visited the factory, a large oblong room, containing a series of roasters over stoves running down the centre. Here the fresh beans are placed, at tended with the greatest care, and watched with such nicety that a single minute is not allowed to elapse after they have acquired the desired state of torrification until they are removed. They are then placed in large stone mortars, set in a raised bench of stone-work, which surrounds the whole apartment, and opposite each of these is placed a man who pounds the contents with an immense metal pestle, worked with both hands, to a state of the finest commi nution. The coffee is then sifted, the coarser grains separated, and again submitted to the pounding process, which is continued till it is reduced to an almost impalpable powder, so fine, indeed, that it not only imparts its flavour and essence to, but absolutely mixes with, the water. All the men engaged at the work were black slaves, nearly naked, as the heat is very great ; and in producing the finest description, some spend a whole day at a few pounds of berries. It is not ground in a mill, but is always reduced by pounding to a state of the finest powder. When the coffee is about to be prepared for use, the water is boiled in the coffee-pot, the coffee put in at the point of boiling, suffered to simmer some time, the vessel VOL. I V 322 A KAHWEH. shaken, and allowed to stand a few minutes in order to settle, and then poured off ; and it has this peculiarity over every other, that so fine is the powder that both with what is dissolved and suspended in the fluid, it is thick, and at the same time perfectly clear. This is its state of perfection, a state not always got in the kahwehs or coffee-shops, where it is often muddy, and always too thick for the taste of Euro peans. How much of life and manners are to be seen in a coffee-shop ! the solemn visages and portly per sons of the turbaned visiters are revealed in momen tary glimpses, as the veil of smoke clears away, upon the renewal of a pipe or the sipping of a cup of coffee ; and the Arab story-teller, singing his tale from the beauties of the thousand-and-one nights, or some popular romance, in all the glowing imagery, all the rapid enunciation, and all the touching pathos of an eastern bard. 'Tis true, that as I sat and listened among the crowd I could not understand one word he uttered; but I saw the fire of his eye, I felt the power though not the meaning of his language, and caught the spirit of his song, though I could not fully appreciate the letter ; for such is eloquence — proudest, noblest of the innate powers of man, which all can feel — the untutored Indians surrounding the Mohawk warrior, equally with the refined audience of the gifted senator. It may appear strange that an article so much tobacco. 323 abused as tobacco is in England, is yet made use of in one shape or another by nearly one-half of the inhabitants of the world, yet such is the fact. Here in Cairo it is smoked by all, rich and poor, male and female, and the consumption is immense ; but then it must be acknowledged that it is as per fectly different an article in flavour, perfume, and effect, as any two things can well be, from the stuff manufactured for general use in Great Britain. The description most in use is the Gebalee Latakea. It undergoes no artificial process ; but the dried leaves are placed in a semicircular case or box, with a smooth face on an inclined plane ; into which they are packed very tight and cut down in very fine shreds with an instrument not unlike a hay-knife, worked by the right hand, while with the left the tobacco is pushed gradually forward to meet the edge of the cutter. This tobacco, which, as the name implies, comes from Latakea, (the ancient Laodicea),is exceedingly mild, and has a natural perfume, that would not be disre lished even in a European drawing-room; its fragrance is peculiar to itself, and its action on the nervous system is perfectly different from any in com mon use here, as, even when a quantity is smoked, it has neither the sickening nor narcotising effect of ours, but a gently stimulating action on the intellectual powers, at the same time that it soothes and tran quillizes the spirits. It is smoked through a long pipe of cherry-tree ; or plain wood, ornamented with .324 PIPES. blue, pink, or scarlet silk, fastened on with gold thread, wrought in a frame in a most ingenious manner. The bowl is of plain red clay, but the principal part of the tchibook is the mouth-piece, — some of which cost upwards of twenty dollars ; — it is of amber, ornamented with enamel, and in some with precious stones. The form and colour of this mouth piece is as much subject to the caprice of fashion as is the form and cut of any article of dress with us. The present form is a long oval piece of a pale yellow colour, opaque and uniform, without marks or veins. The Mohammadan is often as extrava gant in the number and equipment of his pipes as is an Englishman in his dogs, guns, or horses. For each of his guests or visitors a separate one is brought ; and when he rides abroad to any distance, his pipe-bearer goes along with him. There is another form of pipe, more like the hookah, consisting of a glass or wooden vessel, con taining water, through which the smoke is made to pass, and received by the person in a long flexible tube. The tobacco used differs from the other, in its being much more narcotic. It is called Toombak ; and being damped, it is laid in small pieces on a grating at the top of a brass tube leading into the water-vessel with some hghted charcoal over it. Considerable difficulty is experienced in smoking this pipe, and as a very strong inhalation is neces sary, a quantity of the smoke mixes with the atmos pheric air, and is received into the lungs, and HEMP. 325 this, added to the increased exertion in respira tion, makes this form of smoking unpleasant, nay, absolutely dangerous. The apparatus used is called a sheesheh, but I would strongly advise all Europeans to abstain from it. A third form of pipe, that is used by the lower orders, is con structed on the same principle as the last, but is merely a cocoa-nut, and a piece of cane for a tube : it is carried in the hand, and is that from which the fumes of the hemp* as well as tobacco are inhaled by those who are addicted to that species of intoxi cation. Opium-eating is a practice little known in Egypt, at least among the aboriginal inhabitants. I made particular inquiry as to whether the use of coffee and tobacco shortens life, or is injurious to health. As far as I could judge they do not ; and now, as regards the former of these two substances, in such constant use throughout the east, no possible com parison can be made between it and those beverages *The leaves and capsules of hemp, called in Egypt hasheesh, were employed in some countries of the east, in very ancient times, to induce an exhilarating intoxication. Herodotus informs us that the Scythians had a custom of burning the seeds of this plant in religious ceremonies and also in baths, and that they became in toxicated. Chewing or smoking it, for a similarpurpose, prevailed in India at a very early age ; thence it was introduced into Persia, and, about sis centuries ago, was adopted in Egypt, but chiefly by the lower order; though Mr. Lane, who has vnitten upon it, says that " several men, eminent in literature and religion, and numbers of fakeers, yielded to the fascination of this degrading custom. The leaves are used alone, or mixed with tobacco for smoking. The term hashshash, or hemp-smoker, is one of 326 EASTERN STIMULANTS. indulged in by our countrymen of all ranks. Can the agreeable, soothing, comparatively healthy, or at least, innocuous effects of this cheap and conve nient fluid be for a moment likened to the delete rious, debasing results arising from the use' of ardent spirits, drunk no matter under what guise. Dis eases, the effects of drunkenness, and the horrors of delirium tremens, are almost unknown in Egypt. Why do not temperance societies endeavour to have the duties on coffee lowered, and by estaUish- ing shops for the sale of it, as manufactured in the east, afford the newly-reclaimed drunkard some slight but harmless stimulant, and give to all a refreshment loudly called for in this country ? But the coffee must be prepared according to the oriental mode, and the price so lowered as to allow the poor man to purchase it as a luxury, without materially curtailing his income. I grieve to state what I contumely, and signifies as well a noisy, boisterous person." — Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. It is the cannabis Indica, or Indian variety, which is used as a stimulant; it is there principally cultivated as a luxury, and besides being smoked and chewed, an intoxicating beverage is extracted from it. Some suppose that our word assassin, a name applied to murderers at the time of the crusades, and who made, it is said, use of this drug, is derived from tbe word hasha- sheen : others say it was from As Hassin, or the old man of the mountains, their founder. I have been informed by my friend Surgeon W. C. Hood, while these pages were passing through the press, that some plants of it itrc growing in the iVpothecary's Gardens at Chelsea, and that it is there used for fumigating the green-houses, stoves, &c. EGYPTIAN LADIES. 327 beUeve to be a fact, that Frankish intercourse is , daily conducing to the drinking of wine in the east. Few females of the better class are to be met with in the streets of Alexandria, but they throng the avenues of the capital in great numbers, and are nearly all dressed alike ; the outer garment being a large black silk cloak, enveloping the whole person, and coming up over the head and low down on the forehead. It is open in front, and held out from the waist by the hands ; as it does not meet before, the gown or under garment is displayed, a tunic of pink, rose-colour, or white. The face veil, or boorko, is mostly of white thick muslin attached to the head immediately below the eyes, and hangs down to the very feet, which are clad in large yellow leather boots. A more inelegant costume (figure they have none) I have never witnessed than a Mooslim female of the upper class, waddling along, wrapped in the voluminous folds of her immense cloak. Nothing whatever of a Cairo lady's person can be seen but the eyes; and they offer a striking con trast to the rather too accurately defined persons of the lower orders. I never saw females walk so badly as they do. This probably arises from their feet being so tender, owing to their walking so little, and remaining barefooted in the hareem. The hands are never seen, as it is a point of etiquette to keep them concealed in the folds of the cloak. Although these ladies appear in the most pub lic places, and mix in the most crowded assem- 328 EASTERN COQUETTES. blies, no acquaintance or relative, be he ever so near, brother, father, or husband, ventures to re cognize them abroad, as it would be considered a very great affront so to do ; implying that the lady exposed herself so much, that friends were able to recognise her in the public streets. Such are the manners of Egyptians towards each other ; but the Frank who mixes in a crowd of Mooslim ladies, will soon perceive that eyes and elbows too speak most eloquently, and the gay titter that he hears on all sides, with the occasional drawing aside, as if by accident, of the face veil, done with an art that shows considerable progress in the science of coquetry, all tell him that the im mured life the ladies here spend, is by no. means congenial to their inclinations. The state of morality in the higher circles consequent on this condition of society, is just what might be expected.* You frequently meet whole hareems proceeding rank and file to the bath, the tombs, or other places of public resort open to respectable females, mounted cross-legged on their donkeys, and at- * I have reduced much of my notes, obtained either by inquiry or observation, during my stay here, since I read Mr. Lane's beautiful work on the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians ; his long residence in the country, ac quaintance with its language, adoption of its habits, and accuracy of description, have given him facihties not usually to be met with ; and all who have walked the streets of the Egyptian metropolis, will recognize the accuracy of his life- sketched illustrations. A PLAGUE DOG. 329 tended by their sable, beardless guardians. At other times some wealthy Turk mounted on his richly caparisoned horse, attended by his groom and pipe-bearer, and followed by his wives and children, who bring up the rear on donkeys, with a servant at the head of each. A dog at the hotel attracted our notice ; it had a peculiar description of palsy, an interrupted and sudden seizure of the body, as if it had received an electric shock ; the limbs bending under it, and the whole body trembling violently for a second, when it again appeared in perfect health. About six months previous, a Frank had the plague, and none would go near him ; this dog, however, never left him, and carried to him whatever. was left for his use ; and was also in the constant practice of licking the plague sores. The man recovered, but the dog fell ill ; boils, analogous to those of the plague, broke out on it ; it remained in the apartment of the man it had so lately nursed, and finally, it, too, escaped ; but it recovered with the affection I describe. It has since taken up its quarters at the Hotel de Jardin, and has become, by its history, a general favourite. In other respects, it is in good health.* * In connection with this I may remark,, that while at Alex andria, I was informed of an act of a British medical man, that redounds not Jess to the credit of the individual, than to the country that gave him birth. A man was dying of plague; one of the ulcers being over a large artery, it became, in medical language, phagedenic, or eating, and eventually opened the femoral 330 AN ENGLISH PHYSICIAN. 26th. We visited the Basha's palace at Shou brah, about three miles from the city ; the road, one of the most beautiful about Cairo, lies parallel to, and at a short distance from the Nile, affording transient glimpses of the river, enlivened by the passing kanghias, gliding gracefully on the glisten ing stream, whose slender waving yards and white sails peep through the vistas of green foliage which here skirt the water. The road, which is raised some feet above the surrounding level, to permit ac cess to the city during the inundation, is bordered by a continuous line of splendid lotus trees ; and such is the rapidity of vegetation here, that although but fifteen years planted, they are of such size that in a short time their branches will meet at top, forming a magnificent shaded approach worthy of the " queen of cities," and no where else to be equalled. The ground on either side was now green with corn and vetches, and clumps of white mulberry and olive trees start up here and there. The path itself is not the least interesting: the couriers passing and repassing upon their dromedaries, at a rapid pace, to the royal residence, and the number of persons artery in the groin; hoemorrhage commenced, and the blood gushed in such torrents, that life must, in a few moments, have become extinct. The surgeon, who was standing by, instantly thrust his fingers into the wound, laid hold of the bleeding vessel, and on the spot performed an operation which, under the most favour able circumstances, is looked upon as most intricate, and requiring considerable skill; that of taking up the iliac artery. The patient recovered, and the surgeon escaped the infection! ! VISIT TO SHOUBRAH. 331 who throng this avenue, gave a spirit and animation that added to the charms of our ride. As the vice roy had taken up his residence for the present at Shoubrah we could not well expect admittance to the palace, so we were contented to visit the grounds and gardens, which are worth seeing, as being laid out in the true Arab style, and though partaking of the stiffness and formality of straight walks and dipt hedges which were in fashion among ourselves some years ago, are not without their beauty and their admirers. These gardens are most extensive, and kept in beautiful order, the walks bordered with hedges of rosemary and lavender, enclosing plats filled with orange trees. They are divided into different compartments, and the walks radi ate from a centre, in which is placed a lovely spacious fountain, shaded by the wide-spreading branches of some noble tamarisk or acacia, or by the feathery plumes of tall and waving palms. The water is managed with great taste, and plays in fountains of the clearest snow-white marble ; the floor is paved in mosaic, and a low seat surrounds the whole, raised at one end for the Basha. I know of nothing I have seen in this clime that realized to my mind the ideas I had formed of oriental luxury, like those fountains. It is here, beneath the shade of evergreens which constitute the sides and roof of these embowered halls, beside the sweet murmur of the sparkling waters, whose spray cooled the air already loaded with the delicious perfumes of the .332 GARDENS OF THE HAREEM. tropic flower — the stillness left by parting day, broken only by the music of the evening songster, or the touching notes of woman's voice — that an eastern prince, surrounded by all that youth and beauty, the fascination of external charms, and the witcheries of allurement can bestow, may, with his corrupt notions of religion, be almost excused for feeling that such is paradise, such the garden where black-eyed houries with " Every charm To win the wisest, and the coldest warm," minister to the pleasures of the brave and pious descendant of the prophet of Mekka. In his younger days these fountains were the even ing refuge of Egypt's present lord, when, attended by his hareem, he wooed the quiet of a daylight's close, and sought, in the solace of these calm retreats, a moment's release from the torturing cares of public life. At one end of this garden is an extensive aviary, and at the other a most sumptuous bath : here the water, which fills a large space, issues from the mouths of enormous marble crocodiles, placed around a central basin, where a pure and sparkhng jet plays to a great height ; while at each of the outer corners is placed a huge lion, emitting from distended jaws the crystal fluid in continuous streams. The bath is surrounded by a sumptuous colonnade, with white marble pillars whose bases and Co. MOOSLIM HOSPITALITY. 333 rinthian capitals are of burnished brass. Two of the sides of this colonnade are formed into cham bers and refectories, in the usual style, the whole well lighted with gas. The side of this garden verges off into a park, where some magnificent white deer and several ostriches are kept. The whole of these grounds were once the daily walk of the vice regal hareem, and death awaited the man whom accident or design might cause to linger in its pre cincts after the ladies entered; but beautiful and extensive as it is, those females felt it was still a bondage, and could each plant or fountain find utterance for its secret, it would perhaps echo the sigh of many a fair Circassian maid, who longed to wander amidst the colder climes and sterner beauties of her native land. On our return we stopped at a kiosk in order to rest and obtain some refreshment. Immediately on our entrance pipes and coffee were presented to us, although we had not yet ordered any, and on some of our party stating their unwillingness to partake of it, they were informed that it had been ordered for us by a Turkish merchant who sat near us playing chess ; he saw that we were strangers, and directed them to be prepared on our approach — this is hospitality worthy of imitation. After pipes, coffee, and sweetmeats had been served, a tray, with glasses of rum, and bumpers too, was handed to each. Although meant in kindness, I confess I felt ashamed of the compliment, for to a Mohammadan 334 THE BASHA. it would have been a gross insult, but the Turk had been led to think, from experience, that it was a stimulant congenial to the taste of a Christian and an Englishman. While remounting, Mohammad Alee Basha passed on his way to visit his daughter, who is married in Cairo ; a father, brother, or uncle being the only males allowed to visit a Turkish lady, except her husband. Seeing a company of Franks, his pace slackened to salute us, thus affording us a view of this extraordinary man. He is a fine-looking old man, now upwards of seventy,* with a very long silver beard ; he was dressed in scarlet, and wore the simple turboosh, which he is anxious to introduce, and sets the example in his own person. The turban would have been, to him at least, a much more becoming head-dress. Slight as was our view of him, it did not pass without making us feel the power of an eye of more brilliancy and penetration than I ever beheld. His equipage was very plain — he sat in an old lumbering machine, which in England would be styled a superannuated family coach ; drawn, however, by four most magnificent white horses, which were managed with cons'iderable skill by an Arab coachman ; about a dozen cavalry officers of his staff rode beside his carriage, and six or eight dromedaries followed, each carrying some * 17fi9, the birth year of Napoleon, Wellington, and Mo hammad Alee. THE EGYPTIAN SOCIETY. 335 different article, such as the small table and tray used at meals, pipes, &c. This plain and unostenta tious retinue is quite an anomaly in a Basha of Egypt ; and such as would have been considered quite too plain for one of the very least of the Memlook lords. Our short stay in the capital, and his Highness being particularly engaged on our arrival, prevented our presentation ; nor do I, for my own part, at all regret it, as I am the less likely when summing up the character and criticizing the actions of Mo hammad Alee, to be influenced by his reception of, or attention to us. Our very intelligent countryman, the British vice-consul. Dr. Walne, obligingly opens his house twice a week for the entertainment of foreigners. We accepted his invitation this evening, and met several very agreeable and well-informed people of different nations, but principally English, either settlers in the country, travellers like ourselves, or passengers to India. The conversation naturally turned on the country we were in, and the pros pects and advantages of the " Egyptian Society," lately got up by Dr. Walne, and which offers to the trav#ller and foreign resident, a source of information and improvement he could not pos sibly have obtained by any other means. Rooms have been fltted up, a collection of the best works on Egypt procured, and a museum is in progress of col lection. Here the literary and scientific investigator, engaged in the study of Egypt, (for it is a study 336 an ENGLISH MINISTER. in itself,) can have access to sources of information that no one person could possibly otherwise obtain. In no other country, and among no other people, is the power of show more influential than among the Egyptians, whose ideas of personal or na tional greatness are derived from the appearance of external grandeur, and formal observances, empty though they be. England has felt, and ac knowledged this in times past, and it would now be well if her representative here considered it too, and did not allow the Arab fellah to point at him the finger of derision, nor the writer to tell of the minister of Great Britain riding through the streets of Cairo on an ass ! The honour and integrity of our representative are known and appreciated, and his acquaintance with the diplomatic art is doubtless great, but the compensation allowed by our govern ment and the East India Company, would surely allow of a little more state, when such is absolutely necessary to ensure both personal and national respect. 337 CHAPTER XIII. EGYPT. Visit to the Hospital — The Eye-wards — Egyptian Ophthalmia — Its causes — Treatment — College and School of Medicine — Students — Professors — Dissec tions — Museum — Instruction — The Maternity — Benefits of the Institution — The Magician — Description of the Exhibition — The Incantation — Its failure — Trial of the powers of Magic — Proofs of its Deception — Inference — The Serpent- charmer — The Coluber Haje — Snake-eating — A Subscription Ball — Female Dress — The Sufa — Gambling — Compliment to the British — Old Cairo — The Ferry — Plains of Geza — The Gossamer — Taxes — The Crops — Pyramids of Aboosier — ^Plains of Memphis — Irrigation — The Desert — Rocks — Opinions concerning Birds — insectiverous Hawks — The Scarabseus — Its Habits — Its sacred character — The Sacking of the Tombs — Sackara — Catacombs — A Deformed Mummy — Tomb of Bergami — Hieroglyphics — Antiques. Let us now inquire into the state of science, and of the medical schools of Egypt. Saturday 27- Our vice-consul. Dr. Walne, hav ing given me a letter of introduction to the chief medical attendant. Dr. Pruner, I this morning visited the hospital and medical college at Casser- el-Ein. This splendid establishment, decidedly the^ best constituted, and the one which reflects most credit on the humanity and liberality of the Basha of any ofthe recent improvements in Egypt, is situated in the midst of a most charming park, about VOL. I, z -838 VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL. a mile from the city. The road lay through groves of olives lately planted ; the ground was covered with a most luxuriant crop of corn, and the different planta tions, as well as the whole of the way-side, are bor dered by rows of carobs and acacias, which will soon afford a cool and most delightful shade. Around the palace of Ibrahim Basha, which stands near this, are groves of orange trees, limes, and bananas. The hospital is a noble building; airy, most admirably located, and of great extent, forming a square, each side of which is upwards of three hundred feet in length, with a large court in the centre. It is two stories high, and one of the sides and part of the front are occupied by the students and different departments of the medical school. The morning visit was proceeding when I arrived, and I am bound to say that a cleaner, better regulated and conducted medical establishment I never visited. It is on the plan of most British hospitals — a long corridor with wards on one side ; these, forty in number, areJofty and well ventilated, and are capable of containing 1200 patients. Besides this, there is a civil hospital in the city, which has accommodation for about three hundred. The medical attendants were all European, and consisted of the six professors of the school, and Dr. Pruner, who has likewise the care of the civil hospital in the city. The number of patients labouring under diseases of the eye, and whom I was especially anxious to see, amounted to hun- EGYPTIAN OPHTHALMIA. 339 dreds, but the cases of acute ophthalmia in the hospital at that moment were but few. When it is prevalent in autumn, 700 are frequently in the house at once, and not less than 300 often present themselves in a morning. Egyptian ophthalmia has attracted so much atten tion, and has become a subject of such general interest, that I may be excused a brief notice of what appeared to me to be some of the predisposing causes of this formidable malady. The affection appears to be decidedly epidemic, and occurs periodically during the season of the Khumaseen winds, and is particularly violent in autumn, after the fall of the Nile, and when many noxious exhalations rise — the effects of the late inundation. It varies in character every year, both as to violence and dura tion, and generally retains the type it commenced with throughout. This the medical men study accurately, and on the greater or less quantity of inflammation lies the line of treatment, such as bleeding, &c. As a predisposing cause I con ceive that the formation of the eye in the lower orders, those who are most exposed, contributes to the susceptibility of this disease. First, then, we have a pecuUarity of form in the eye of the lower class ; the cilise, or eye-lashes, are poor, ill-set, and scanty, and the eye-brows very small and particularly devoid of hair. Secondly — Diseases of the eye-Uds and other appendages of that organ, such as trichasis, or 340 ITS CAUSES. irregularity of the lashes; ectropion and entropion, a turning out or inwards of the hairs; and diseases of their roots, interfering with the natural secretion of the adjacent glands. Thirdly — Exposure to the rays of a powerful sun, without any kind of shade or defence, as the turboosh, or even the turban offers little or none. Fourthly — The sand-drifts and hot winds at the season of the Khumaseen. Fifthly — The epidemic nature of the disease, similar to that of the other mucous membranes. Sixthly — Extreme dirtiness. Little idea can be formed of this without seeing it ; the eye, or face is seldom washed ; the natural discharge is allowed to accumulate, and often a number of ffies will be found collected in the corners, to remove which, would be considered unlucky. I have invariably remarked, that in the Mooslim ablutions before prayer, although they wash the arms to the elbows, the feet, back of the neck, crown of the head, and behind the ears, they always avoid washing the eyes. I do not think that blackening the edge of the eye-lids at all contributes towards ophthalmia, and females, even allowing for their comparative numbers, and the circumstances in which they are placed, are much less liable to it than men. By the Europeans in the country it is generally attributed to suppressed perspiration ; but, why should not the inhabitants of other warm countries be subject to a similar disease, where the heat is TREATMENT OF OPHTHALMIA. 341 much greater, and the same cause of suppression exists ? Bleeding is not generally resorted to, unless it assumes a very inflammatory type. Locally, astringent lotions, such as nitrate of silver,* sul phate of zinc, and the medicine of the old pharma- copseias, the aqua saffarina are applied. When perfect cure is not effected, the most usual forms of blemish are slight nebulae, or opacity, generally in the centre of the cornea, staphyloma of a small portion, or of the whole eye, and total loss of the organ ; but cataract is much less frequent than might be expected. The pharmaceutical department is under the care of the professor of pharmacy, and the stu dents of the college assist in turn to compound medicine, and become acquainted with the practical details of that most necessary branch of medical education. The pharmacy was on a scale of great magniflcence ; beautifully clean, in comparison with such establishments in England, and had in it all the most valuable and approved medicines, many of which were prepared in the laboratory by native hands. I was next transferred to the care of Dr. Sicher, who conducted me through the college and school of medicine, which, as I before stated, forms a part of the building of the hospital, so that the student * Styled by the natives the Devil's Fire. 342 COLLEGE AND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. has but to cross the court from his dormitory to the ward, and can proceed from thence in a few minutes to the dissecting theatre, or lecture-room ; become acquainted with materia medica under the same roof in which he sleeps, and enjoy his morn ing's walk in the botanic garden beneath his window. Besides this, they are all required to become acquainted with practical operative che mistry, and for that purpose are sent for a certain time to work at the chloride of lime and saltpetre manufactories. This system, added to that of the general medical education here given, is one well worthy of imitation in Great Britain, and reflects no small credit on its founder. Clot Bey. At the date of my visit there were three hun dred students in the college, who were fed, clothed, educated, and paid by the Basha. The dormitories, and other apartments of these young men were clean and airy, and they themselves appeared orderly and attentive. They all wear a uniform ; are regularly drilled as soldiers, and rise in rank and pay according to proficiency. The pay varies from twenty to fifty piasters a month, and they are allowed out of the college once a week, on the Sabbath. The nominal duration of study is five years ; but the greater number are drafted off into the army or navy, after three years ; some few remain as long as seven. The school of medicine consists of seven pro- PROFESSORS. 343 fessorships, viz. — anatomy and physiology, surgery, pathology and internal clinique, pathology and external clinique, medicine and chemistry, botany and materia medica, and pharmacy. Instruction is given by means of an Arab interpreter, or drago man ; the professor writes his lecture, and it is translated to the class by the interpreter. The majority of the professors are French, and their salary is somewhat more than £200 a year. They are all obliged to wear the Egyptian uni form, and shave the head, but no sacrifice of religion or principle is demanded ; and, I need hardly remark, that all Europeans, or Chris tians, are under the protection of their respec tive flags, and should they be convicted of any misdemeanour, must be handed over to their consul. The laboratory contained a good chemical appa ratus, and the dissecting-room several subjects. This latter indispensable requisite to medical education, it would be scarcely . worth mention ing, but that it occurred among a people whose strong religious prejudices prohibited even the touching of a dead body in some cases ; and the introduction of this novel science, was one of the most difficult things Mohammad Alee had to en force for a long time. He in the first place referred it to the priesthood, who obstinately set their faces against it, declaring it utterly incompatible with the religion of the Prophet of Mekka. The 344 ANATOMICAL MUSEUM. Basha's answer, that it was his royal wish and pleasure that they should legalize the act, and that, if they did not speedily do so, it was more than probable they themselves should form material for the first experiment in this branch of the practical sciences, soon brought them to reconcile their pre judices with his unbending will. Attached to the school is a museum, containing the usual anatomical preparations, besides a daily increasing zoological collection, and some good wax models — principally the workmanship of an Arab boy — and under the direction of the anatomical professor, Dr. Sicher. The progress of this collection is now an object of much interest, and the most beneficial results may be expected from it by the lover of science, as well as the naturalist. As yet, the want of funds to support this museum has prevented it from being as extensive as it might be, in a country offering so wide a field ; but the preparations are well done, and like all such infant institutions, it wisely gives, a place to everything that is offered to it. I should hope, that as many of the animals in it, are not yet introduced into our museums, we might be able to procure some in return for a set of wax models, or some such articles which could not be procured there. There is a printing establishment connected with the hospital, where several of the most approved works on medical science are translated, and printed in Arabic. The chemical laboratory is a STUDENTS. 345 handsome, spacious apartment, well furnished with apparatus, and all other necessaries ; and I was informed by the professors, that it was a science in which the pupils took great interest, and made considerable progress. Besides professional edu cation, general literary and religious instruction is provided for these students. There is a mosque inside the walls, and two or three Ulemas. The Europeans connected with this, and indeed with most of the recent improvements in Egypt complain, that the pupils are removed from their care, and sent into active service too soon. In other departments of the state, they say, this might be passed over, and would eventually find its remedy ; but in this case, it is a serious error, for if it be true of other sciences, that a little knowledge is dangerous, how much more so is it in medicine, where the unedu cated, or partially educated are emboldened by that little knowledge to sins of commission in addition to those of omission. I have often heard it said of this, as well as of all the colleges and places of instruction, " Oh, what could you possibly expect from a set of illiterate brutes whom the Basha took but yesterday from the plough, or the Nile bucket ; surely, you do not suppose that such persons, without any previous ideas, can be taught science ?" But what other native material had Mohammad Alee than this ? And although they are at present illiterate, and cannot be expected to have the same ideas as Europeans of that rank in society 346 INSTRUCTION. who go to learned professions, will not the next generation be of a superior description ? True it is, he keeps them too short a time, and many are removed after three years ; but the demands of his large army compel him to do this ; and^the army must be without medical assistance entirely, or have such as three years' education can afford, a period which was not required by countries more to the north-west of the meridian than Egypt, not many years ago.* I confess I felt particularly disgusted at hearing the Europeans, and even some of the instructors themselves in other de partments, who receive the pay of the Basha, and whose livelihood depends upon the existence of those institutions, sneering at his attempts to revive the literature and arts of Egypt in the persons of its present inhabitants. Mindful not only of the lives of his soldiers and subjects, but even of the merest female in his dominions, he has re-introduced the famed mid- wives of Egypt ; and I daily met a French lady, * Those who raise this outcry against the insufliciency of education in the Egyptian doctors, would do well to inquire what description of men it was that the lives of British soldiers, and more particularly British sailors, were entrusted to during the last war, and they will find, that it was to persons much inferior in medical education to those at pre sent in Egypt. Nay, at the present moment they will find practitioners, patronised by the public, and permitted by the government, and the colleges, in every town and village in Great Britain, who have no such claims to support. THE MATERNITY. 347 a pupil of the celebrated Parisian accoucheuse Mad. Boivin, driving in a gig through the streets of Cairo. " The importance of a maternity was sensibly felt in Egypt, where women in labour were entrusted to the care of the most ignorant and superstitious midwives. In 1832 Clot Bey proposed and obtained the establishment of a school for midwives ; twenty Negresses and Abyssinians were collected in a place for this purpose, under the direction of a ''sage femme,' of the maternity at Paris, an Arabian physician, who had graduaited in France, and a " Ulema" to instruct in religion and literature. The pupils read and write Arabic, and learn the theory and practice of midwifery. This school of obstetricy daily acquires the im portance it deserves. The number of pupils now amounts to fifty, and their instruction is confided to the five most skilful among them, under the direction and surveillance of the ' sage femme,' physician, and Ulema."* The civil hospital at the Esbekiah contains three hundred patients, and there is also a school of ve terinary surgery with one hundred and twenty students. " Thus," says Mr. Waghorn, " in the regeneration of Egypt, medicine has been, and ought to be one of the most powerful instruments. "The ascendancy which its ministers exercise * Mr. Waghorn's Tract, " Egypt as it is in 1838," do cument B, furnished by Mucktar Bey, Minister of Public Instruction. 348 BENEFITS OF THE INSTITUTION. throughout the whole of society by their mission of philanthropy, has rendered the union of two people essentially different, more intimate — ex acted gratitude, encouraged devotedness, and has broken down the barrier that existed between the worshippers of Christ and those of the prophet — a superstitious but popular hatred. " The devotedness of the European physicians — their heroic struggle against the plague — their praiseworthy and entire disregard of their own lives, have produced invaluable results ; but it was especially the formation of the school at Abouzabel, which gave a new era to medicine in Egypt, a glorious epoch for the enlightened sovereign. " Initiated in the different sciences which belong to the art of medicine, and which constitute the well-informed man, the medical pupils became so many apostles, destined to spread the light of knowledge in the midst of a people still enslaved by prejudice and ignorance." Having heard much of the extraordinary powers of the famous magician, we were anxious to see him, and to judge for ourselves how far he had acquired a right to even that celebrity with which travellers in this land of wonders have invested him. And now I must say that no one was more inclined to give a fair trial to the powers of magic — more willing to be astonished, or wished more to see what others have seen than I was, and for myself and friends THE MAGIC[AN. 349 who witnessed his attempt — and which was certainly to us an imposition — I am compelled to confess it was a miserable and complete yo?7Mre. My narrative is simply this ; we sent for the magician in the morn ing, desiring his presence that night. While we were at dinner, about three o'clock, he came, in order to obtain a dollar to make preparations ; this he did as well to reconnoitre as to make sure of the money. He sat for some time and appeared parti cularly watchful and attentive to every thing going forward. In the evening he came again, and a great number of travellers from different coun tries had assembled in the room to witness his performance. The magician appeared to be a middle-aged man, of rather swarthy complexion ; with a long and silky brown beard, and exceeding quickness and brilliancy of eye. He wore a dark-coloured gibbeh, or outer garment, and a green turban. A chafing-dish with some lighted charcoal was brought in, together with writing materials. He seated himself on the floor opposite the chafing- dish, and desired that a young boy of about nine or ten years of age might be brought to him. A second person whom we had not at first observed, and who sat at the door among a crowd of servants, and the people of the hotel, instantly produced a httle boy who I found was the usual attendant of the magician ; however he was allowed to pro ceed in his own way. The boy was placed opposite 350 THE INCANTATION. to him on the other side of the chafing-dish, and the man wrote some characters in Arabic on slips of paper ; one of these he placed on the forehead of the boy, underneath his turboosh or cap ; the others he burned from time to time in the fire ; he then made some characters upon another piece of paper, and crumpling it up so as to form a cup, he placed it in the boy's right hand, and poured some ofthe ink into the hollow of the paper, desiring the boy to keep his eye steadily fixed upon the black ' shining mirror of the ink. He then commenced a kind of incantation, repeating the same words over and over again as fast as he possibly could, rocking his body backward and forward all the time, and occasionally throwing some incense on the fire, which rose in fumes, and almost enveloped the operators within it. ITS FAILURE. 351 After some time he asked the boy if he saw any thing, and being answered twice or thrice in the ne gative, he continued the incantation with redoubled energy ; at length the boy said he saw two people sweeping the street, and then a man on a white horse approach ; that the sweeping ceased, and he sat down on the deewan ; presently the figures vanished, and the magician demanded of us what we would have appear in the mirror. A gentleman present desired that a lady of his acquaintance in Syria should be brought up ; this lady was described by the boy as an ill-favoured person, with red hair, and seated tete-a-tete upon a sofa with a black man. As our friend had already described her to us as a person of considerable personal beauty, a hearty laugh went round, in which the ma gician and boy joined, (at least as much as a Mooslim can laugh,) supposing they had made a good hit. He was tried with other persons in England, but always failed ; however as he made an attempt to describe somebody, and seemed evidentiy prepared by the magician, we dismissed him and procured another ; the very one who a few days before had so valiantly chopped off his finger. He certainly not being educated to the affair, was unable to see anything but his own face, although the incantation was repeated till the operator was nearly hoarse, and the smoke of the frankincense had well nigh smothered the littie boy. A third was tried, but with Hke success ; the magician, however, asserted, that from their having 352 TRIAL OF THE POWERS OF MAGIC. some evil thoughts, or from some untoward cir cumstances, they were unable to see the person he wished — in fact they were not magnetisable. To try still further the powers of this man, a Greek chief, who was present, brought in a picture case, containing the portrait of a lady then ahve, and offered the man a hundred dollars, which he placed in the hands of Count Albert, if he could then, either himself or by his own boy, describe the dress and fea tures of the person represented in the picture. This he declined at the time, but said he would come on Sunday and do it. He soon slunk down stairs and decamped, and I need hardly say he never came back. So much for our magician, who we all agreed was a complete hoax, and a much more clumsy conjuror than an English fair could afford. There was decidedly an endeavour to deceive, and of this I am the more convinced by a circumstance related to me by our vice-consul. Dr. Walne. Some English travellers wished to see the magi cian, and an evening was appointed for his perfor mance. He arrived, and the company not relishing the accomplice he had brought with him, one of the servants of the consulate was sent out to procure a boy, but directed to be on his guard, and not take any whom he might suspect of being in the pay of the conjuror. Now in the vicinity of the consulate a number of streets meet, and on the servant coming to one, a man asked him where he was going ; being informed of his errand, he instantly said, " Oh SERPENT EATING. 353 here is one for you," producing a boy who was in waiting. The servant perceiving the trick refused him and turned another way ; again and again the same thing happened. In fact, fearful of failure, they had beset every avenue with boys instructed by the magician. Hence, I think, it is a fair inference to draw, that where there is a studied endeavour to practise a deception there is no reality. Except by the Almighty's permission, satanic in fluence is the only power by which the representa tion of persons living or dead could be thus really " brought up" in a distant land, and that power I do not believe now exists. I have heard and read many wonderful accounts of those men, but such was our experience. Not the least wonderful, and certainly one of the most disgusting performances we saw, was that of serpent eating. An Arab, of most ferocious mien and appearance, presented himself one day at our hotel for this purpose. He had a bag full of snakes, principally the coluber haje,* several of * The Haje {Coluber Haje, Linn.) Geoffl-. Egypt. Rept. pi. vii. and Savigny, suppl. pi. ill, in which the neck is indented somewhat less than the Cobra De Capello used by the Indian jugglers, and which is greenish, bordered with brown. " The jugglers of this country, by pressing its nape with the finger, know how to throw this serpent into a kind of catalepsy, which renders it stiff and immoveable, thus seeming to change it into a rod or stick. The habit which the Haje has of raising itself upright when approached, made the ancient Egyptians believe that it guarded the fields which it inhabited. They made it the VOL. I. 2 A 354 SERPENT EATING. which he took out, and hanging some round his neck and on his arms, he placed others on the ground, and by treading on their tails, irritated them so as to make them become erect, raising themselves up, swelling out their necks laterally in a most re markable manner, and assuming with their extended jaws, vibrating forked tongue, and hissing note, a most threatening aspect, as they formed a circle round the serpent charmer. Their fangs had been, however, previously removed. For a four-piaster piece, he offered to eat one for our amusement, and accordingly, taking it up, he held it at full length opposite his face, for some minutes, his eyes glistened with a most inhuman brightness, his lip curled, and the muscles of his face played with unusual and apparently involuntary motions, displaying a set of particularly white teeth within the setting of his thick and grisly black beard and moustache. Each end of the serpent writhed in his hand ; he placed the centre across his mouth, and with one champ bit it in two, and then placing one end of the twining severed snake within his jaws, nipped off a large mouthful, and putting his finger to the still living morsel, to give it a jerk, bolted it. The stream of blood trickling hke emblem of the protecting Divinity of the world, and sculptured it on the portals of all their temples on the two sides of a globe. It is incontestably the serpent which the ancients have described under the name of Aspic of Egypt, of Cleopatra, &c." — Cuvier, Animal Kingdom. A BALL. 355 gravy from the corners of his mouth, and, the head and tail of the snake he still held up, twining in his bloody hands — a more demoniac face I do not think I ever beheld, or a scene more sickening ; but it is his mode of living, and there are many more pleasing, but perhaps less honest, as I that evening had an opportunity of observing. An invitation from the managers introduced me to a public ball, held in the house of one of the European representatives. The scene inspired particular interest in a foreigner, as from the num ber and diversity of costumes, it had all the appear ance of a masquerade, while the ridiculous oddity ofthe dress of some of the men, strengthened the illu sion. These being in the native service, and glad of an opportunity of reviving, even in dress, the recollections of their father-land, had assumed their old garbs, but had covered their heads (shaven to meet the "regulation") with the red turboosh, which made them look as if they had crowned their finery with old Kilmarnock night-caps. A number of ladies were present, principally French, but dressed in the Levantine costume. Some few were natives, Jews, Copts, or Syrian Christians. The general effect of their costume was pleasing, though strange; the wide trowsers, tied tightly round the ancles, made their beautiful littie feet look still smaller ; the loose, flowing robe of pink or white, and the short under-garment, were very becoming. The bosom is, however, much more 353 ladies' HEAD-DRESS. exposed than in England ; indeed, it is gene rally stripped in front as low down as the waist, which is worn immediately under the arm-pits. The upper part of the person is clothed in a velvet spencer, broidered with gold, hanging below the waist, open in front, the sleeves reaching half way down to the elbow. Notwithstanding that there is much of beauty, taste, and elegance in the costume of the upper ranks of ladies, yet according to our notions of form, they are wretched flgures, and evidently made for the ottoman, and not the dance. Their eye-lids were painted with the kohl,* and the hands, fingers, and nails, stained with henna, {lawsonia inermis, or Egyptian privet.) This marking of the eyelids is, I confess, only seen in perfection in persons of very dark complexion, and natural depth of colour ; in persons of light complexion, it is by no means pretty. But I here saw a style of head-dress peculiarly oriental, and surpassing everything I could have conceived of its grace and beauty. The whole of the hair, which was in many of vast length and jetty blackness, was plaited in numberless small plaits, about the size of a piece of whipcord, and at every inch or two of their length was fastened a small gold coin, worked into the plait, which hung down on the neck * A black powder used by all classes of females to darken the edges of the eyelids, produced by burning a kind of liban, an aromatic resin, or shells of almonds; also lead, and formerly antimony. THE FARO TABLE. 357 and shoulders far below the waist, and when spark ling in the light of the ball-room, had quite the appearance of a delicately-embroidered veil, this is called the safa. One or two plaits were brought round the head, and on the front was hung an orna ment formed by a number of small thin coins, set in a kind of mail-work, that fell some way over the fore head. Others wore the turboosh ; while the more elderly had their heads enveloped in the folds of broad and highly-ornamented turbans, and all wore a profusion of gold and precious stones, and costly shawls were tied round the lower part of the body, that hung down behind to the very ground. The room, which was small, was crowded to excess, and hot in proportion. The disagreeably loud and discordant music of Pandean pipes, harpsichord, guitars, and mandolins, was only overcome by the authoritative roar of the master of the ceremo nies, who marshalled the dancers through the qua drille. There cannot be much amusement in these balls, and I fear we must proceed into an adjoining apartment, where a certain stillness, and a dense crowd surrounding a long table, may offer some explanation. Here the collection of anxious faces, and the display of gold and cards solve the mystery. Faro is, I believe, the true and only incen tive to these meetings. Some Jews held the table, and although I understood they paid a large sum. for having it in this gentleman' s house, yet it seemed a thriving speculation. The rage 358 EXCURSION TO THE PYRAMIDS. for gambling, both here and at Alexandria, is almost incredible. You cannot go into a Frank coffee-house, or any place of public entertainment, without seeing cards and dice at every moment of the day. The Mooslims are proverbial gamblers, and meet ready companions in the Greek and Italian residents, and an occasional gull in some English sea-captain, trading to the Levant. Presently an Arab servant entered, crying " punch ! punch !" and carrying a tray of half-and- half, composed of raw new rum or brandy, and boiling water ; by way of distinction, it was pressed upon the British who were present, and their pohte refusal of the scalding liquid not a httle astonished the Turks, who all imagine, and with some reason I confess, that spirits, in some shape or another, are necessary to the existence, or at least to the enjoy ment of these western islanders. I left the assembly at an early hour, to prepare for an excursion I had purposed to the tombs and pyramids of Sackara and Dashoor, while my friends remained to share in the more social plea sures of the capital. Jan. 28th. Having prepared provisions and other necessaries, I procured three donkies and two Egyptian guides, and accompanied by our Maltese servant Paulo, set out early in the morn ing. About an hour's ride cleared us of the city, and brought us to the ferry at Old Cairo; as soon as our approach was espied, we were assailed FERRY AT OLD CAIRO. 359 by a whole host of boatmen, several of whoni made attempts to carry the donkeys on board by main force, and the koorbag alone prevented similar treatment of ourselves. The width of the river here is about five hundred yards, and a few minutes transported us bag and baggage to the village of Geza, on the opposite bank, the site of Memphis, and of all that remains of that once flourishing city. It is a great thoroughfare, and at this early hour of the day, a scene of considerable interest. The grain and green feeding for the cattle of the city, which consists, for the most part, of a small vetch, grown in the country be yond the Nile, is every morning ferried across this part of the river, carried on camels, the animal with its burden being shipped on board a boat, just large enough to contain it and the boatman. I remained some time watching this novel scene, and the instinct and dexterity of this noble animal, in placing itself in the frail vessel, were beyond con ception. Arrived at the water's edge, the boat is brought as close as possible, and a plank laid from it to the shore ; on this the camel steps, and cautiously feeling its way, plants itself in the centre, and going down upon its knees, adjusts its body and the load, so as to preserve the balance of the whole ; here it sits with the greatest patience, and without a stir, till it is ferried across. In this crouching attitude, with the load of corn or vetches projecting over the sides, and often dipping in the 360 TAXATION. stream, and their heads turned to the prow, they form curious pictures floating to the opposite side. Leaving the village we entered upon one of the most picturesque, and luxuriant plains I beheld in Egypt, perhaps, I might add, to be seen in the world. The soil is a rich brown mould, without the admixture of a single stone or pebble, and every inch of it productive ; no sort of fence, or inclosure is to be seen for miles around, but one vast undulating line of green, which in our imme diate vicinity, sparkled with the diamond drops of morning dew, that fringed the threads of the gossa mer, gently undulating in the momentarily increas ing sunbeams.* Occasional mounds formed the sites of villages, over-canopied by the tallest and most splendid date trees. Some of these superb groves, especially along the river side, are acknowledged to be the finest in the country ; each of them bears a heavy tax, and once the view of the plantation is made, and the price fixed, the people are compelled to pay it, even though several of the trees should die ; but at the same time, care is taken to place every new plant on the tax-gatherer's book, even before it commences to bear. This duty is one loudly complained of by the people, and requires * I have so frequently remarked this action of the spider's web at times when there was not a breath of wind stirring, that we must suppose it to arise either from the action of the sun's rays, the vapour rising from the earth, or the vibrating motion caused by the falling of the drops of water. THE CROPS. 361 some better regulation. There is much outcry made at present about the taxation of Egypt. It is, no doubt, over-taxed, and it is quite time that something should be done to inquire into, and remedy this defect. Great quantities of the crops are mortgaged long before they are cut, but although no excuse for such conduct here, it would be well for those who exclaim against it, to inquire into the oppressive duties imposed upon the natives of the interior of British India, and they may probably find not only a parallel for Egypt, but a solution of the question respecting the frequent famines that have of late years attracted so much attention. Whatever may be the rate, the payer now knows how much he has to pay, while heretofore, it was regulated by the daily wants of rapacious lords, and levied whenever luxury or ambition required it. But to return to our text. The crops were mostly beans and bar ley ; the former, which was partly in blossom, is a small kind, but forms one of the principal articles of food for the people. Great numbers of both men and women were now in the fields, engaged with the bean crop.* It is sown in drills, and the old stalks are made use of to support and protect the young, till they have acquired sufficient strength. There is a continual succession of * Herodotus informs us that the ancient Egyptians ate no beans. 362 THE PLAIN OF MEMPHIS. bean-crops going forward, and many are planting in one part of a field, when the remainder is in full bloom. The great pyramids of Geza now came into the landscape, appearing on the boundary of the cultivated plain, and though still several miles distant, seemed as if within a mile or less, to raise their huge giant forms, and stood forth in solitary monumental grandeur, that thought may faintly conceive, but words cannot express. Our track lay obliquely across the country, towards the pyramids of Aboosier, which now became dis tinctly visible, leaving those of Geza on our right to be visited on our return. A raised narrow road traversed the noble plain of Memphis, intersected by numerous canals for admit ting the inundations of the Nile, not unlike the dykes of Holland, and several small lakes and ponds* of stagnant water, left by the vast overflow, filled with fish of different kinds. Two crops are the ordi nary return from the natural irrigation ; three, how ever, can be procured by artificial means, but the quantity of land so worked, must, in places distant from the river, be necessarily very limited. What * Numbers of men were engaged in raising the water firom these, either by the pole and bucket or in sachs. The water, once brought to the proper level, is distributed to the different parts of the crop, as each may require it, in little furrows made by the foot of the labourer, as described in Deuteronomy, xi. 10, 11 — where Moses in depicting the beauties and fertihty of Canaan, says, " It is not as the land of Egypt, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs." THE DESERT. 363 wonders would not a few steam engines effect in this department ; with their aid, and a proper rota tion of crops, no doubt four could be obtained yearly. The sugar-cane is now grown in considerable quantity, and the manufacture is in a most flourish ing condition. The colocynth, or bitter apple, has also become an article of considerable trade, and the opium I examined was fully as good in appear ance, and as clean as any Turkish or East Indian ; but as it too has become a royal monopoly itcannot be expected to be so productive as it would otherwise be. Thousands of teal that sported in every pond and pool afforded us ample sport, and curlews were in such abundance as to shadow the earth over which they flew ; they were, however, just as wary as their fraternity at home. The white egrets having become objects of interest from their exceeding familiarity, we gave up shooting at them. Larks were in great abundance, and buzzards of enormous size sailed over our heads. About midway between the pyramids of Geza and Aboosier we arrived at the desert, and here it was that the full force of the Egyptian fable, regarding the perpetual contest of Typhon and Osiris, became apparent, for the desert is yearly encroaching on the cultivated land wher ever the inundation has not extended. The line of demarcation is most accurately defined, and as the crop which ought naturally to extend to the very verge of the sand, and which acts like a wall to keep out the desert is in many parts of Egypt neglected 364 THE DESERT. from want of labourers, it is slowly but undoubtedly conducing to the narrowing of the land, an event which all writers agree has taken place since the days of the ancient Egyptians. We are now upon the vast Lybian desert, the fertile plains of Egypt to our left, the pyramids of Geza behind us, those of Dashoor and Sakara in front, and raised a considerable height from the valley of the Nile by a ledge of rock that runs parallel with the fertile land. This wall of rock is partly covered with the sand which, rising in a crest above it, and in some places presenting an undulating surface, as it bounds over the barrier, gives it the remarkable appearance of one vast rolling swell suddenly arrested in its onward course to swallow up the land, which smiles beneath it in all the luxuriance of nature's richest clothing. Were I to offer an opinion of my own I should say that this rock once formed the enclosure of a vast city .that extended all along the plain, between the pyramids and the river ; and should any wealthy or enterprising traveller attempt to clear away some of the saijd that now covers its face, at one or two points, I am strongly inclined to think, judging from what I saw at Sakara, that many tombs and excavations would be discovered, as it is more than conjecture that the catacombs extend the whole length of the pyramids. It may be in some secret or traditionary knowledge of this kind that- originates the story told by the Arabs, of there being BIRDS. 365 a subterranean passage all along from the chambers of Sakara to the pyramid of Cheops. Numbers of birds fluttered over the desert, and several noble eagles soared high above our heads in the hquid ether of an atmosphere peculiarly Egyptian. It was a most lovely day, though one of the warmest I experienced since our arrival, and as we passed forward I had ample opportunity of observing the various animals around me. The swallow tribe were in great plenty ; the red-breasted swallow, and the small grey martin particularly attracted our notice. I find that this little bird does not migrate like the swifts, (which, however, do not approach this part of the country,) but remain all the year round in the vicinity of the pyramids. I was not a little surprised at the good feeling and familiarity that seemed to exist between them and numbers of kestrils that flew with the most graceful motion, now skimming in rapid flight along the sands, and anon balanced on extended wing for minutes toge ther ere they pounced upon their quarry. These were not birds, but a large species of grass or sand- hopper, with remarkably brilliant crimson legs. The wings and back of this insect were the exact colour of the sand, so that when the animal lay quiet on the ground not even the eye of a hawk could dis tinguish it. The bird, however, marked with un erring accuracy the spot whereon it alighted, and remained hovering over it, as described, till the insect again took flight, when its red legs and under- 366 THE SCARABCEUS. part of the body rendering it very conspicuous, he pounced upon it while on the wing. But neither did this hawk appear to mind the smaller birds, nor did they, as if aware of their security, seem to pay the least attention to him. Although at con stant war in other countries, here the swallow and hawk were on the best terms. I dissected several of these kestrils, and found that instead of the usual membraneous stomach, peculiar to rapacious birds, theirs had been altered to meet the exigency of the case, and had become a perfect gizzard, hav ing a detached cuticle stained of a bright red by the colouring matter of the grasshopper, pieces of the hard shells of which, and small pebbles, I invariably found in the digestive apparatus of this insectivorous hawk. The pratingole is also found in the vicinity of Cairo, and I have one in my possession now, brought from the neighbourhood of old Cairo, but they are rare. Another animal that particularly called my atten tion, and excited my admiration, was the Scaraboeus, or sacred beetle ; these were running about in all directions in the warm sunshine, engaged in rolling their balls over the desert with such industry, and in so curious a manner, that I cannot refrain, although on the path to the pyramids, from stopping to notice the little animal so famed in Egyptian story, and that formed so conspicuous a part in the symbolic language and the mythology of this ancient people. The more I consider the habits and manners of THE SCARABCEUS. 367 animals, the more am I convinced that it was an accurate observation of their natural history and in stinct that arrested the attention of the ancients, and on which was formed much of their hieroglyphic system. This was not peculiar to the Egyptians, for we flnd the car of Bacchus drawn by tigers, evi dently alluding to his conquest of a country to which those animals were peculiar, and in like manner are represented the conquests of Alexander, not expressed in words or any written character, but shown forth by the representations of the ani mals peculiar to each region, as depicted in the mosaic pavement at Prseneste. These little creatures, which are possessed of amazing strength and perseverance, form balls of clay and camel's dung, which they mix up into a kind of mortar, very like that used by swallows to construct their nests ; in these they deposit their eggs, and thus it forms a crust or shell to the larvae within ; they then roll these balls, when sufficiently dried, over the sand in a truly remarkable manner. The male is provided with two projections in the form of horns on the head, and uses them as a lever to raise and push the ball forward from behind, while the female mounting before keeps it revolving onward by drawing it down with her fore feet. Sometimes three or four will get about one ball either for the mere sake of work, or to get it over any impediment. Others again propel them with their hind legs, and will sometimes 368 THE SCARABCEUS. assume the most grotesque attitudes, literally stand ing on their heads and pushing at them with their hind feet, as in the annexed cut. So far as I am able to judge they keep rolling these balls about over the sand for the whole day, and do not merely place them in holes, like other coleopterous insects. I have watched them at even ing, and as soon as the sun had set they invariably deserted their charge, and returned to their holes, and what is more remarkable, if the day became suddenly clouded, off they waddled, and left the ball till a gleam of returning sunshine again called them to work with renewed vigour. It ap pears to me from the manner they rolled these balls they intended that the sun should act equally on all sides of them, and thus secure the heat in the process of incubation. It may, however, be but for the purpose of drying the surface. The sexes of these beetles are well known to the Arabs, one of whom, who could just speak a word or two of Eng lish, pointed out the difference in the forms of the men and the women scarabeei. THE SACKING OF THE TOMBS. 369 Scarabaei, in every shape and attitude, and of all sizes, are figured on the Egyptian monuments, are used in the hieroglyphics, and models of them are generally found on the breasts of mummies ; be sides many of a smaller size form part of the neck laces worn by such. In these two latter positions they may have been used as amulets. Others are carved in different stones and gems, as signets having the names of the Ptolemies, &c. cut in hiero glyphics on the face. It was the emblem of creative power, of the earth, and of the sun, in which latter case the ball alone is often used.* I now passed the pyramids of Abouseer, but without time to do more than just look at them. They are apparently less carefully constructed than either those of Geza or Sackara, and are much dila pidated. The whole of the ground I now rode over presented a most extraordinary spectacle ; for miles it is literally strewn over with the sacking ofthe tombs — remains of human bones and of the inferior animals, which since their exposure to light have become intensely white, but excessively friable, crumbling in the fingers ; quantities of linen, pieces of broken mummy cases, and bits of blue crockery ware. The whole plain is covered with heaps of rubbish, like mole-hills, thrown up from the tombs, which have been opened by the Arabs for the sake of their contents. These tombs consist of square * Appendix O. VOL. I. 2 B 370 THE VILLAGE OF SACKAKA. apertures in the groiind faced with stone, or cut in the sand-stone rock, but now nearly choked with rubbish. I was well inclined to spend some time in examining the bones of the different animals on which my donkey trode at every step ; but Paulo hurried me onward, as the day was wearing, and we had yet to make some preparation for our night's sojourn in the tombs. We arrived at the village of Sackara about three or four o'clock, but could hear nothing of the third donkey whLch had been sent round by the plain'; it was to have met us here, and as it was the bearer of the provender, and the wretched place we were in could afford us little or nothings our situation was any thing but enviable. Paulo was for applying to the sheik, and threatening him with the inevitable displeasure of Mohammad Alee unless we were instantly supplied — ^however we soon spied him creeping towards us. We then retraced our steps to the tombs, which are situate in the rock to the north-west of the village. Arrived thither we found some Arab guides whom a Frenchman had the day before employed to raise a mummy for him, and which he had just then deserted, leaving the case and the different broken parts of the body in one of the large chambers, strewn about — having had it removed from a pit in the neighbourhood for the mere purpose of seeing it opened, and for the sake of the ornaments it might contain. This wasteful proceeding is one too often resorted to by tra- DEFORMED MUMMY. 371 vellers ; it had, however, its use, as the very frag ments he threw aside as useless, were to me one of the most interesting objects I could have discovered. The mummy case itself was one of great beauty and perfection, and evidently belonged to a person above the lower order. The head, chest, and arms having been stript of their cover ings, were flung into a corner of the chamber, and on examining I found that the arms of the body, which appeared to be that of a young man, pre sented an appearance so truly abnormal, and so different from any thing the effect of disease, or known congenital malformation in the human body, that I carried them with me, and they will be found figured in the appendix.* I determined to take up my abode in the outer chamber of this sepulchre for the night, and so placed my blankets and provisions in one corner, while the donkey-men provided for themselves and their animals in another, and set about lighting a fire. Numbers of the Arabs, several of whom are Bedawees, reside in these tombs, whose principal livelihood is obtained either in searching for aur tiquities, raising mummies, or acting as guides. They are the wildest and most ferocious-looking set of people I think I ever saw, and seem ^ despise the cultivating Egyptians of the neighbouring vil lage with the greatest cordiality. * Appendix P. 372 THE CATACOMBS OF SACKARA. The moment it was known that a Frank wished to see the tombs and pyramids, I was beset by a whole bevy of them, and although I chose one who appeared the most intelligent and least vociferous of the party, yet the rest were determined to come for the sake of a chance piaster, though warned of iheir uselessness, and the slight hopes of reward. The entrance to the catacombs, which extend for near a mile along here, is very close to the top of the ledge of rock which just peeps above the surface x)f the sand, and you descend into the opening, which is exceedingly narrow and nearly choked up with rubbish. This tomb, to which the Arabs give the name of Bergami, is one of vast extent, and matchless elegance of design and finish ; all carved with the greatest precision out of the solid rock. Its outer hall, or apartment, is of great size, and adorned "with massive pillars on either hand. Off the sides of this portion of the tomb are a series of small chambers, their walls covered with hieroglyphics ; in form they are for the most part square, and have in general three niches for the bodies ; one opposite the door, and one on either side. Two square wells lead down to a great depth into a lower tier of sepulchral chambers, similarly coated with phonetic writing. These characters are not, I find, carved in the actual walls, but on slabs of stone about six or eight inches thick, with which all the minor apartments are coated, connected THEIR PROBABLE EXTENT. 373 with such accuracy, that the joining is with difficulty discerned. The cement used was lime, still retaining its power of effervescence ; it resembles close-ground pumice-stone, of a pinkish grey colour, is of ex cessive hardness ; and adheres with the greatest tenacity to the smooth surface of the slabs, which are a kind of Portland stone, and easily worked. The hieroglyphics are of two sorts, one cut about one-fourth of an inch in the stone, the other in alto relievo ; the former were painted, and the colours of many remain most perfect, although it is ac knowledged that these tombs must have been formed 2500 years ago at least. The ascent to the entrance of these tombs is very steep, and formed of the sand and stones, &c. leading to the top of the range of rock which here faces toward the west. Were the present entrances the original ones ? And is the under tier of chambers but a story, in one vast hypogea carved in the side of the rock to which there was an entrance below, or at the several sets of apartments ? Analogy of other rock-carved sepulchres, as at Petra and Telmessus, and on a small scale in the side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, would lead me to suppose, that were the sand that now forms the enormous mass of the descent cleared away, the front of this range of rock would be found to present the openings of many hundreds of tombs, equal in extent and beauty to that we now visited. It is much to be regretted, that enterprising tra- 374 REPOSITORY OF ANTIQUITIES. vellers have not, instead of rushing on to Thebes, &c., spent some time, and examined more carefully the catacombs of Sackara, to which little has been added since the days of Pocock and Dr. Shaw. It is even now the great reservoir from whence the Arabs get the numbers of minor antiquities that supply the Cairo market ; but they are fearful of revealing the place of their treasure, as its expose might deprive them of its profit. 375 CHAPTER VII. EGYPT. yisit to one of the pyramids of Sackara — Its entrance — Chambers — Roof — Re marks upon the pyramid — Buckshese — Tomb of Beer-dor-etho — The plain of Memphis — Inquiry into the probable site of that city — Opinions of authors — Reflections on its destruction — Scene in a tomb — Mooslim ablutions — Mummy pita — Difficulty of exploring — Urns of the Ibis — Desert grouse — Hyenas-— Ap proach to the great pyi-amids — The sphynx — A pic-nic at the pyramids — As cent of that of Chephrenes — Its construction — Difficulties ofthe ascent — Coating — Description of Herodotus — Dangerous position — View from the summit- Mode of descent — Pyramid of Cheops — The king's chamber — Acoustic tubes — A picture — Upper chambers — .Their use and construction — Crystaline incrusta tion — Colonel Vyse — Interior of Belzoni's or Chephrenes' pyramid — Return to Alexandria — Inspection of the catacombs — Description of the excavations — Their probable date — Lake Mareotis — Shells. My next visit was to the neighbouring pyramid, which is about one-fourth of a mile distant ; the intervening ground being similar to that near Abouseer, burrowed like a rabbit warren in the sands and rubbish, mixed with the fragments of mummies, bits of blue porcelain, linen, and great quantities of agates. This pyramid, although formed on the type of those at Geza is somewhat different in external appearance, being apparently constructed in steps, five of which appear above the sands, each step up- 37 6 THE PYRAMIDS OF SACKARA. wards of twenty-five feet high ; what the real ele vation of this pyramid was it is difficult to say, as the entrance which, like all the rest, is on the north side, and was very likely about the centre of the mass, is now several feet below the level of the surround ing ground. The sand must have covered up the greater part of it, as even in Pocock's time there were six ranges of steps, and that which was above ground in his day, is now far below the surface ; either this monument has never been finished, or much more than the coating has been torn off. The entrance to this pyramid is seldom made, and the hole to which our Arab guide Alee pointed had very much the look of a fox earth, and was nearly choked with sand, stone, and rubbish. As considerable difficulty is experienced in passing this aperture, the Arabs commenced stripping themselves to the mere loin cloth, and Alee taking the lights with him contrived to get his thin sinewy body into the hole, where he remained with his head out, and the sand again closing round his neck, and as he grinned to me to follow, his bright eyes, swarthy cunning face, and shaven pate, partook more of the appear ance of some of the inferior animals peeping out of their holes than the human face divine. I wished Paulo to accompany us, but the calculating Maltese having but little of Egyptian enthusiasm in him, stated his willingness to remain outside, as he very seriously informed me, to prevent hyenas or other wild beasts from rushing in upon us during REMARKABLE CHAMBER. 377 our stay ; so taking off my hat, coat and shoes, I prepared to follow, which I had to do, not on all fours, but backwards, and a la serpent ; the sand and dust getting into my mouth, and the heat and close ness of the passage was most annoying. As I was quite unused to the movement, and made but little way, my friend Alee gave me an occasional pull by the feet which considerably assisted my ingress through this exceeding narrow passage, which is at an angle of 27°, similar to the rest of the pyramids. We are now in the first chamber, and the Arabs having struck a light, which they do very adroitly with a piece of the dried pith of the palm branch, and the usual flint and steel, it enabled us to see that we were in a very extensive hall, domed, and of greater comparative height than that of any other ofthe pyra mids. This is the only one in which wood enters into the composition ; it is used in the roof, the floor and sides of the hall being cut out of the solid rock, similar to those at Geza. Toward the side opposite the entrance, and to the right hand, is a large sarcophagus of polished sonorous granite, but the floor of this apartment is now covered, for some feet, with stones and dirt, which have been taken from excavations made by some one in the eastern side. The roof of this chamber is worthy of note — it is not flat and formed of large blocks of stone laid cross-wise, as in all the larger pyramids, but is constructed in the manner of a bee-hive dome similar to that of the tomb of Agamemnon at My- 378 PECULIAR FORM OF ROOF. cene, and the tumulus of New Grange, in Ireland ; where the arch is formed of large stones laid flat, each one projecting beyond that underneath, and the whole crowned by one large flag at top ; here, however, although the type is retained, it is some what different by wood being used, not so much to support as to close in the centre. It requires a con siderable quantity of light to examine this carefiilly, and I am inclined to think that the beams of timber still seen in the top of this apartment may have been used but for the purpose of scaffolding or a temporary support, and not to keep up the roof, as no wood could be sufficiently strong to sustain such a vast weight as the upper part of this enormous mass. I throw this out, however, more as a hint to future explorers, who would do well to examine it more carefully than my time permitted.* From- this hall the guides led me to a low narrow gallery, that descended at an angle greater than that of the ex ternal passage to three small chambers, the doorr ways of which were beautifully adorned with flowers and other ornaments, and the walls covered with hieroglyphics. Those chambers were cut out of the solid rock, and faced with stones similar in "' The observant Dr. Pococke remarked a similar form of roof in the great pyramid of Dashour, called by him El Herein Elkebeie-El-Barieh, or the great pyramid to the north. He says, " at the height of ten feet six inches a tier of stones set in on each side five inches, and in the same manner twelve tiers, one over another, so as that the top either ends in a point, or, as I rather conjecture, it may be a foot broad." REMARKS UPON THE PYRAMID. 379 every respect to that I have already described in the adjacent tombs. They must be at least 100 feet below the level of the ground outside, and are of exceeding elegance of design and execution, but they are now nearly choked up with stones and rubbish, and their walls and roofs in several places pulled down in search for treasure, &c. the Arabs say by the French some time ago. The passage leading to them was the most difficult to get through I ever experienced, as my torn clothes and bruised person could attest ; and when I had seen every thing, and crept every where I could, and was once more in the light of day, I do not think I ever felt the refreshment of a drink of bad water, and the delights of fresh air so much as after that hour's work. From the examination I afterwards made of the other pyramids, I am inclined to believe that this one is of a different era from the great pyramids of Geza. Besides differing in external construction, internally its first chamber differs in the archi tecture of its roof, as I before observed ; it has also a second passage leading from its principal hall, and in it are found hieroglyphics. Were I to offer a conjecture as to its date, I should say, that it was constructed prior to the pyramids of Geza. Its roof shows an early form of architec ture, and there being no hieroglyphics in those of Cheops and Chephrenes may be thus accounted for. Cheops, who, Herodotus informs us, constructed 380 PROBABLE ANTIQUITY OF THIS PYRAMID. the great pyramid of Geza, may have been one of the race of shepherd kings, who were an abomination to the Egyptians. He was particularly disliked on account of his despising their religion, forbidding sacrifices, and shutting up their temples ; and as he would naturally be held in disrepute by the priests, who were, in all probability, the' only persons acquainted with the hieroglyphics, or sacred writing,* he was therefore unable to have such in his work, as the Egyptian characters said to be on the outside of the coating, and detailing the accounts of the work, are believed by Larcher, and other learned commentators, to have been common, not hieroglyphic characters.f Thus, it appears to me, that the finding of hieroglyphics in this pyramid, is a decided proof of its antiquity, as the very oldest edifices in Egypt are those whereon we find such writing. I trust some future visitor will inquire into this pyramid more accurately. As it was very late, and I felt so much ex hausted, I sent some of the Arabs to the mummy pits to bring me a few of the pots containing the embalmed ibises, and retraced my steps to the tombs, where I took up my night's bivouac. The donkey-boys had arranged my pallet in one corner, with the lid of a mummy-case for ray * Hieroglyph from teo-os sacred, and Xf^vc/jta to carve. f Herodotus tells us, they have two sorts of letters, the one appropriated to sacred subjects, the other allowed for common purposes. BUCKSHESE. 381 pillow, and the under part of the coffin serving as a corn-trough for the asses to feed out of. I found several visitors on my return ; wild, savage creatures, each bringing some trifling bit of crockery-ware, or small blue idol, and crying out, " Antique, Antique, Buckshese, Buckshese, Inglese, a Buckshese." Odious word ! How it yet echoes in my hearing. The cunning and finesse of these people was beyond any thing I could have imagined, and were it not for their annoying importunity, it would have been ridi culous and amusing. They seemed to study the taste of the purchaser, as at one time, seeing me examine some bits of linen, they all rushed out, collected it in armfuls, and coming in one by one, each held out his portion, crying, "Buckshese." At another time, bones and pieces of mummies were the articles in demand, and finding that I had no paras, or small copper coin, they brought every thing separately, in hopes of ob taining a piaster. I endeavoured by every pos sible means to get rid of my tormentors, but all to no purpose, they continued to increase to upwards of twenty, and fearful of losing sight of me for a moment, and so giving up even the chance of reward, they sent into the village to get themselves some bread. If I mentioned the name of Moham mad Alee, they all bowed the head, but none stirred to go. If I turned them out by force, it was but to see them in a few minutes come creep- 382 TOMB OF BEER-DOR-ETHO. ing in again by some of the different holes and crannies of this many-chambered sepulchre ; and if I walked out myself, it was but to turn suddenly round as some wily Arab whispered in my ear, " Buckshese," and held out some foolish, valueless article for my inspection. This never-ceasing theme of Eastern cupidity, is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the first word a European hears on landing, and it continues to ring in his ears till he . leaves the country. If you ask a question, Buckshese is demanded ; no bargain is concluded without it ; nay, the very appearance of an Eng lishman is enough to make the young children run out, and cry " Buckshese." I verily believe it is the first word taught in lisping childhood, and like the obolus of the Roman, it is the last thing in their mouths. They will do any thing for, and nothing without it. An old Arab proverb says, " give a Turk money with one hand, and he will let you pluck out his eyes with the other." This tomb, which is the usual resting place of travellers visiting Sackara, is called by the Arabs Beer-dor-etho ; is of great extent, having series of chambers with niches for the bodies, and also sarcophogi of selenitic granite, but there are no hieroglyphics. Immediately over where I had placed myself, was an eliptic arch, cut in the stone, between two of the upright posts. But that the Egyptians were acquainted with the arch, is now so well known, that I need not dwell upon THE PLAIN OF MEMPHIS. . 383 it here, as the labours of Wilkinson and Belzoni have put it beyond question. It was now about sun-down, and as I sat upon one of the adjoining hillocks that crown this range of rock, while Paulo was preparing my coffee, I enjoyed the splendid picture that lay stretched beneath me, and mused upon the days of the past — while fancy conjured up the recollection of far distant eras, and gave shape, form, and life itself to the undulating line of gray sand that occupied the space between me and the glowing fertile plain of Fayoum. This space, now so lone and desolate, was once crowded with the edifices, and noisy with the people of Memphis. Notwithstanding the learned descriptions, as to the site of this vast city, by the savans of both ancient and modern times, the un pretending traveller who sits thus, with a view commanding the whole range of country, and the quotations of Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, fresh in his memory, may be able to advance an opinion as to its probable situation. If we con sult the works of the last two centuries we find them disagree, some placing it at Geza, others, and those the most numerous, at Metraheny, a village a few miles further up the Nile than Sackara, and near to the pyramids of Dashour, which were then in sight, and rising like so many huge tents or paviUons out of the desert. It appears to me that Memphis stood not exactiy at either of those two places, but lay along the whole length of the pyra- 384 THE SITE OF MEMPHIS. mids — extending from Dashour down to Geza, which latter it did not quite reach, as Pliny tells us the pyramids (evidently the large ones) were between Memphis and the Delta, one league from the Nile, two from Memphis, and near the village of Busiris. Herodotus says, that to reach Memphis from Nau- cratis they had to pass by the pyramids ; and Strabo speaks of it as eleven miles from the Delta, and five from the heights on which the pyramids are built. But whatever discrepancy may occur in writers, the vicinity of these tombs and the pyramids, which most antiquarians are now agreed as to their having a sepulchral use, ought to decide the ques tion. The French, in their Description de I'Egypt, boast of a discovery, and will fix the place at Me- trahaine, because Citizen Contelle found there the broken wrist of a statue forty-five feet high!! although Denon says — " The multitude of pyra mids scattered over the district of Sackara, the plain of the monks, and the caves of the ibis, all prove that this territory was the necropolis to the south of Memphis, and that the village opposite to this, in which the pyramids of Geza are situated, was another necropolis, or city of the dead, which formed the northern extremity of Memphis, and by these we may measure the extent of the aneient city." The contiguity to the lake Meris, the canal, and barrier mentioned by Savary, Pococke, Clarke, Wilkinson, and other travellers, as proving its site REFLECTIONS ON ITS DESTRUCTION. 385 to be Metraheny, only show that it was in the neighbourhood, without being able to fix an exact locality for this immense metropolis, which, as the country was narrow, must have been a long city. And the testimony as to its being eighteen miles in circumference, it is more than probable meant its length, which will alone accord with the extent occupied by the pyramids, beginning from the southern side of Geza to beyond Metraheny, and the vicinity of the tombs and pyramids is no doubt that alluded to by the prophet Hosea, who, speak ing of the destruction of the Hebrews, says, " Egypt shall fatten them up, and Memphis shall bury them." — Hosea, ix. 6. It was here the Pharaohs reigned ; it was here a Joseph ruled, and an Herodotus was initiated into the Egyptian mysteries. It was here a Sesostris and a Rameses held their court ; here, perhaps within my view, were executed those signs and wonders when the Nile, now glancing in the sunbeams, ran thick and red with blood, as the rod of the Israelitish law-giver was stretched over its dark waters ; here plague and pestilence swept off mil lions, and those very rocks and caves that now surround me once flung back the midnight cry that rose throughout the land, when the flrst-born of Egypt were smitten by the angel of destruction, who breathed his deadly mandate on the host of Pharaoh ; and farther on the mental diorama moves till when Israel's bond-children rose to go, and VOL. I. 2 c .386 RETURN TO THE CAVE. countless numbers crowd the streets, laden with the spoil of their Egyptian lords ; and lastly came in a still more recent age, the King Bokhtnasr, to avenge the wrongs of Judah, and receive the reward of conquest performed in another and a distant land ;* and a small volume which then lay before me, printed in a far distant isle, and in a language then unknown, tells me all this ! But all that was great or grand of Memphis is no more ; the sand rolls its destructive wave along the ground whereon it stood, and Egypt lies beyond, its noble river margined by tall quivering palms ; the hamlet's rustic music, the jackal's evening whine, and the pelican's plaintive note, are the only sounds that wake thes stillness of this sequestered spot. When I re-entered the cave, I found the Arabs had returned with the mummy-pots, several of which I opened — the contents I found in a state of great decay, and lighted a fire with — they burned with a bright flame, and peculiarly aromatic smell. The light created illumined the whole cave, and fell full upon the forms of the Arabs scattered through its gloomy chambers — some stretched in sleep, some in the act of prayerf at a little distance from the * Ezekiel, xxix. 18-20. ¦f It is curious that the Mohammadans practise a deception on themselves similar to that of birds. Every one has remarked the sparrow and other small birds, in dry weather, roll themselves in the dust of the road, and performing with their wings the ac- SCENE IN A TOMB. 387 rest, and others squatted round the fire, and the glare now thrown back from their dark sun-burnt faces, formed altogether a picture such as pencil might depict, but pen is inadequate to describe. Finding I could not dispossess the Arabs, who, to say the truth, seemed to have a much better right to the place than I had, I determined to make the most of them ; some I employed in thinning some hieroglyphic tablets, left by the Frenchman, to make them more easily transportable to Alex andria ; others occasionally entertained us with some wild song; and again an eastern tale was trans lated to me by the Maltese, as we sat smoking our pipes round the fire, composed of the bits of wood that formed the coffins of the people of ancient Egypt.* It was now late, and I settled to rest in a sheltered corner ; some time elapsed, however, ere I could procure sleep ; the peculiar novelty of my situation, the faint glimmering of light from the expiring fire, the group of curious beings I was surrounded by, and the remembrance of the people tion of washing, by throwing the dust upon their backs, and ruffling up their feathers. Here, in like manner, when the Arabs had no water at hand, they used the dry sand and dust in the manner they perform the ablution before and after prayer, sprinkling it over the head, back of the neck, beard, and arms, &c. * It is remarkable how the superstitions and prejudices of countries and people vary. How few English of the lower orders would like to inhabit tombs, surrounded by the mouldering remains of human bodies, as the Arabs of Sackara do. 388 THE MUMMY PITS. and the era that erected this sepulchral hall filled my mind, and long as memory lasts that scene shall never fade ; but bodily exhaustion will overcome even such stirring thoughts ; and I do not think I ever enjoyed a more peaceful slumber, or awoke more refreshed than next morning. At an early hour I set forward to rejoin my friends at Geza, and having sent two of the donkeys round by the plain with the antiquities and baggage, I proceeded with Paulo and the Arab Alee to the mummy pits of the sacred animals. Having arrived at the place so famed in travel and in Egyptian mythology, my mortification was great to find we had forgotten the lights ; never theless my curiosity got the better of my fears, and as I could not see it, I resolved to feel my way into it, and bring away some of the urns containing the embalmed ibises.* An arch cut out of the rock led into a small apartment or shrine, in the centre of the floor of which a square hole, about the size of a large chimney, descended perpendicularly to the sepul chre of the animals. Holes cut in the sides of this passage enabled us to get down to a low, narrow, and perfectly dark vault, the commencement of a series of chambers cut in the rock, about thirty feet below the surface, and extending a great way on all sides. I should say as much as half an acre has been yet opened, and no possible conjecture * Appendix Q. DIFFICULTY OF EXPLORING. 389 can be made of how far it may extend beyond where the ibis pots now commence. I was here exposed to a most extraordinary scene, and such as few explorers of catacombs have gone through, or that I would advise to try. All was utter blackness ; but Alee, who had left all his garments above, took me by the hand, and led me in a stooping posture some way amidst broken pots, sharp stones, and heaps of rubbish, that sunk under us at every step ; then placing me on my face, at a particularly narrow part of the gallery, he assumed a similar snake-like posture himself, and by a vermicular motion, and keeping hold of his legs, I contrived to scramble through a burrow of sand and sharp bits of pottery, fre quently scraping my back against the roof. Some times my guide would leave me, and I could hear him puffing and blowing like a porpoise, as he scratched out the passage, and groped through the sand like a rabbit for my admittance. This con tinued through many windings, for upwards of a quarter of an hour, and again I was on the point of returning, as half suffocated with heat and exertion, and choked with sand, I lay panting in some gloomy corner, while Alee was examining the next turn. I do not think in all my travel I ever felt the same strong sensation of being in an enchanted place, so much as when led by tbis sinewy child of the desert through the dark winding passages, and lonely vaults of this immense mausoleum. 390 URNS OF THE IBIS. At length we arrived at where we could stand upright, and creeping over a vast pile of pots, and sinking in the dust of thousands of animals, we came to where we felt the urns still undis- ,turbed, and piled up in rows with the larger end or lid . pointing outwards. How extensive this hypogeum may be I cannot possibly say, but from the echo it must be very great indeed. Thousands upon thousands of the urns have been re moved and broken, either ixi the cave or outside, where they form an immense heap, yet thousands still remain. With great labour we succeeded in removing six of these, and having them even tually conveyed to England. So fatigued was I, that on reaching the aperture it was with the greatest difficulty I could reach the top, where I lay insensible for some minutes, and on recovering found I had been carried out into the open air. Paulo not seeing me awake so soon as he thought I ought, was on the point of taking vengeance on poor Alee for some injury which he supposed I had received, while so long under ground, but a short rest restored me, aided by the thought that I was setting forward to visit the pyramids of Geza. Numbers of desert partridges* ran in flocks before * Pterocles Alchata — sometimes called pin-tailed sand-grouse. The plumage of this bird is lighter in those I procured in Egypt than the ones figured in most zoological works. DESERT PARTRIDGES. 391 US, and though pursued, seldom or never took wing; they trust more to their exceeding swiftness, and their similarity of colour to the de.sert for escape or pro tection, than to any power of flight. A trivial cir cumstance took place concerning a covey of these birds, that speaks more for the honesty of an Arab than we are willing to assign to them. Seeing a number of birds start from our feet among the tombs. Alee requested the gun and some ammunition to have a shot ; the experiment was a trying one, and Paulo advised me not to give it, but trusting in the poor fellow's face, I gave the gun, and off he darted like an arrow. After some minutes I lost sight of him, and an hour elapsed before I saw any thing of Alee, who I was beginning to have strong suspi cions had decamped, as he easily might, with the gun, but he met us on the way bringing some birds. Hyenas frequently started up from our path, but always out of shot ; they are plenty in this part of the country, particularly about the ruined pyramids of Abouseer ; they sometimes make excursions to the neighbouring villages, and are frequentiy taken in traps by the fellahs, who appear to entertain a parti cular aversion to the animal, probably from its so frequentiy disinterring and devouring the dead bodies, even when in a state of extreme putrefaction. We experienced the usual deception mentioned by travellers approaching the pyramids, of their appearing to recede as we drew towards them ; hour after hour passed and still they were far dis- 392 APPROACH TO THE PYRAMIDS. tant. Persons can have no possible conception ofthe vastness of those monuments without standing be side them, looking from their base to their summits; measuring with the eye of sight their huge dimen sions, and with the eye of mind measuring back the ages upon ages that they have there remained. No noisy rapturous expression of surprise or wonder breaks from the traveller ; no hastening forward to rush into the interior ; with me, at least, it was a calm, subdued, speechless, but elevated and lasting feeling of awe and admiration, which took posses sion of my very soul. Could I embody all the over whelming thoughts that rushed across my mind, I would say the uppermost was that of time — time, standing as a particle of eternity, is written on these ediflces the greatest human industry ever reared, or human pride or vanity can boast of. A PIC-NIC. 393 A line of camels slowly pacing across the dreary waste, on which they stand, or a Bedawee careering his horse beside the base, give, by the comparison, some faint idea of their stupendous size, and an Arab pirouetting his charger on the sphinx* afforded me the desired contrast, at the same time that it showed me what was the magnitude of that emblem of Egyptian reverence and superstition. I found my friends from Cairo had arrived early in the morning, and had just returned from the ascent of the larger pyramid of Cheops, and were now waiting for me to join their pic-nic, one of the pleasantest and most exciting I ever partook of. Our table was spread in the fa§ade of one of the rock-tombs, at the foot of the pyramid, command ing a noble prospect of the lovely verdant country beneath, and shadowed by the mass of masonry some four hundred and fifty feet above us. Se veral foreigners, travellers like ourselves, or residents at Cairo, had accompanied us ; and in the variety of their costumes, and diversity of languages, formed as motiey a group as ever visited the sepulchres of the ancient kings of Egypt, or made these vaults resound with the toasts and songs of their native lands. How time rolls, and spins from its distaff. This sepulchre was once the scene of some priestiy mystery, the habitation of some noble body ; the progenitor of kings in * The sand has again accumulated so much on the back of the sphinx, that it is easy to ride to the top. 394 ASCENT OF THE SECOND PYRAMID. times long, long before the countries its present occupants acknowledged were ever heard of. While my friends remained to rest themselves, I engaged two of the Arabs to conduct me to the summit of the pyramid. My object was ex plained to them by an interpreter ; but whether from not understanding it, or their supposing that I had formed one of the party, which had been already on the top of the more accessible one of Cheops, and wished to attempt the second, I know not, but off we set, the men leading towards the second pyramid, and crying out " hareem Belzoni," at the foot of which, near the eastern corner, we presently stood. This pyramid, sup posed to have been erected by Chephrenes, it will, be recollected, was originally somewhat lower than the neighbouring one of Cheops ; but it is now nearly of the same height, as it stood upon higher ground ; and the coating, or outer layer of stones, is perfect for about one hundred and forty feet below the top, which is nearly as complete now as when it originally ended in an apex of a single stone. I was totally unaware of the diffi culty and danger of this ascent, and of its having been undertaken by but five or six travellers of late years ; the natives themselves never scaling it but for some reward. Had I been acquainted with the difficulties to be encountered, I much doubt whether my enthusiasm would have induced me to venture up. DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING IT. 395 This, like the others, was first built in steps, or courses of enormous stones, each row placed the breadth of itself within the course beneath. Some stones in the base of this pyramid are larger than those of Cheops, and from four to five feet in depth, so that we had to clamber over them on our hands ; but in this, I was assisted by the guides, one an old man, the other about forty, both of a mould, which for combination of strength and agility, I do not think I ever saw surpassed. We soon turned to the north, and finally reached the outer casing on the west side. AU this was very laborious' to be sure, though not very dangerous ; but here was an obstacle that I knew not how they themselves could surmount, much less how I could possibly master ; for above our heads jutted out like an eave, or coping, the lower stones of the coating which still remain, and retain a smooth polished surface. As considerable precaution was necessary, the men made me take off my hat, coat, and shoes, at this place ; the younger then placed his raised and extended hands against the projecting edge of the lower stone, which reached to above his chin ; and the elder, taking me in his arms, as I would a child, placed my feet on the other's shoulder, and my body flat on the smooth surface of the stone; in this position we formed an angle with each other, and here I remained for upwards of two minutes, till the older man went round, and by 396 DANGEROUS POSITION. some other means contrived to get over the pro jection, when creeping along the line of junction of the casing, he took my hands, drew me up to where he was above me, and then letting down his girdle, assisted to mount up the younger, but less active, and less daring climber of the two. We then proceeded much as follows : — One of them got on the shoulders of the other, and so gained the joining of the stone above, which was often five feet asunder ; the upper man then helped me in a similar action, while the lower pushed me up by the feet. Having gained this row, we had often to creep for some way along the joining, to where another opportunity of ascending was afforded. In this way we proceeded to the summit, and some idea may be formed of my feelings, when it is recollected, that all these stones of such a span are highly polished, are set at an angle less than 45', and that the places we had to grip with our hands and feet, were often not two inches wide, and their height above the ground upwards of four hundred feet ; a single slip of the foot, or a slight gust of wind, and, from our position, we must all three have been dashed to atoms, long before reach ing the ground. On gaining the top, my guides gave vent to sundry demonstrations of satisfaction, clapping me on the back, patting my head, kissing my hands, and uttering a low growl, which pre sently rose into the more audible, and to my ears, less musical cry of " buckshese !" From all this THE SUMMIT. 397 I began to suspect that something wonderful had been achieved ; and some idea of my perilous situation broke upon me, as I saw some of my friends beneath waving their hats, and looking up with astonishment, as we sat perched upon the top, which is not more than six feet square ; the apex stone is off, and it now consists of four outer slabs, and one in the centre, which is raised upon its end, and leans to the eastward. I do not think that human hands could have raised it thus from its bed, on account of its size, and the confined space they would have to work on. I am inclined to think the top was struck with lightning, and the position thus altered by it. The three of us had just room to sit upon the place. I saw two or three names scratched upon the central slab, to which of course I added my own, and collected some bones of the jerbil, which lay scattered about, as a memento. At first, I imagined these might have been carried up by hawks, but I soon heard the animals squeeling under where I sat. I could not discover the Arabic inscription mentioned by Wilkinson, on any of the stones ; but I had far more interesting and absorbing objects to meet my attention, for the grandeur and extent of the picture that now presented itself from this giddy height, was almost as intoxicating as the ascent I had just completed. Around me lay the vast plain of interminable sand, that marked the Lybian and African deserts, the scorching, echoless wilderness 398 VIEW FROM THE TOP. which mingled with the clear blue of the atmos phere at the horizon. In a sloping vale, bounded by massive rocks, the unvaried hue of barrenness was enlivened by what appeared to me a narrow silver ribbon, that wound its tortuous course for miles and miles, as it seemed to rise out of the junction of sand and sky above, and was lost to vision as it sunk into it in a similar manner below. Its banks were green and verdant, with the richest foliage, and groves of waving palms were now and then relieved by the gleam of noon-day light, that glanced from the snow-white minaret, or the stately dome of a mar abut. This ribbon was the river Nile — its banks the land of Egypt. The thousand pinnacles of the mosques of Cairo rose to view beyond the goodly land ; the white sail of the Kanghia looked but as a sea bird's wing, and the drove of camels, as a black dotted line upon the plain beneath. The whole of the pyra mids were below me, almost at my feet. What re membrances ; what inexpressible emotions must not the traveller ever feel, while viewing such an exciting picture, where the shadows of the past, and the realities of the present rush together on his senses. Memphis and Heliopolis stood within my view ; but these are gone, as are the people that raised those stupendous sepulchres. Battles have been fought round their base, the storms of above 3000 years have played harmlessly around them ; men, the most renowned the world ever saw, have SKETCH OF THE PYRAMID. 399 come to wonder at their greatness, and the earth itself has changed much of its external form since they were built ; dynasties and kingdoms have passed away ; the very bodies of the persons for whose use they were erected, were most likely ransacked for the bit of gold that may have ornamented them; yet, there they stand, as if waiting for the dawning of another transformation of our planet. The accompanying view of the pyramid of Chephrenes, was taken from the platform on the top of the great pyramid of Cheops— the figures are sitting on the second step. 400 THE OUTER COATING. The heat was most intense, and the stones so hot, that it became unpleasant to sit on them very long, and it would be rather too daring an experi ment to attempt standing. The descent was, as might be expected, much more dangerous, though not so difficult. The guides, however, tied a long sash under my arms, and so let me slide down from course to course of these covering stones, which are of a yellowish lime-stone, somewhat different from the material, of which the steps are composed, and totally distinct from the rock of the base, or the coating of the passages. The elevation of this pyramid is about 450 feet, with a base, according to Belzoni, of 684 feet ; but I am of opinion, as all will be who examine it, that the sand has accumulated to a great height up its sides. The smooth coating on the upper 140 feet, is part of that spoken of by Herodotus, and was what the olden authors styled marble — a term applied by them to all polished stones. The Halicarnassian historian likewise informs us, that these stones were raised by small pieces of wood, and the coating commenced from the top! This has been denied ; but an examination on the spot will, I think, convince any observant inquirer of its truth, and that in fact, it was the easiest and perhaps the only way in which the pyramids could be so finished. The accompanying cut shows the shape of these stones, and how- they were placed, and as the pyramid was completed, except the MANNER OF ITS CONSTRUCTION. 401 \ casing, it explains to us this apparently difficult problem. The upper part ofthe above design shows the coating, and the lower the steps : the upper left-hand figure gives the shape of the casing stones, and the lower that of those used at the corners. It was easy, by the pieces of wood, (which I consider were used as levers, and not pulleys,) to raise each of those stones, from step to step, to the summit, and so carrying it on, as each step was sufficient to support the coping-stone. But had the work been commenced from the bottom, it is plain, either that an enormous scaffolding and apparatus must have been used, or the earth heaped up, as was supposed by Strabo, round each course, and so an inclined plane formed ; to erect and remove which would have been a work little inferior to the construction of the pyramid itself. On my descent I found my party, and we entered the great pyramid, for the improvement of the entrance to which, as well as the clearing away of 2 D VOL. I. 402 PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. much of the sand from its base, we are indebted to the zeal and liberality of Colonel Vyse, and the labours of the enthusiastic and indefatigable Caviglia. The different chambers, wells, and passages of this pyramid have been so frequently and accurately de scribed in works treating expressly of the antiquities of Egypt, that I can do little more than draw a brief outline, and conduct the reader in a few minutes over the ground I spent some hours in examining. The Arab guides, who amounted to about half a dozen for each one of our party, conducted us down the first low narrow and sloping passage, to another which led up to the queen's, and afterwards to that denominated the king's chamber. This is an oblong apartment, the sides of which are formed of enor mous blocks of granite reaching from the floor to the ceiling — similar stones span the whole extent of the latter, and at the distant extremity of it is the sarcophagus, seven feet six inches in length, of po lished granite, which rung loudly when we struck it with any metallic substance. In the walls of this apartment are several small apertures, which pro ceed upwards through the pyramid. These may have been made for the purpose of admitting air from without ; or.to be more Egyptian in our speculations, they may have been used as acoustic tubes during the mysteries that were here enacted. The natives informed me that some time before, water which had been carried up and spilled on the outside, found its way through these channels. In the A PICTURE. 403 ascending gallery are grooves cut in the sides in order to let down a massive stone portcullis, which, in all probability, closed up the passage, (like to that opened by Belzoni, in the second pyramid,) after the body and sarcophagus had been placed within. A pistol having been discharged in the chamber, the echo it produced was deafening, and by its repetition fully verified the conjecture that there were many other yet undiscovered apartments and cavities in this vast pile. The noise of its report was most stunning, and the reverberation that followed tremendous ; in the vaults above, in the wells and depths beneath, and around on all sides of us, it was continued for almost a minute. When the smoke which nearly filled the chamber, had partly escaped, the grouping of our party afforded a picture of great interest — each standing in the attitude of deep attention, listening to catch the echo of the retreating sound as it sped its way into those myste rious recesses, which it alone was permitted to visit. Some eight or ten wild, bearded, and half-naked Arabs holding the lights ; the members of our party in their various costumes, motionless, and with the expression of amazement and anxious curiosity strongly pictured on their countenances, afforded a subject worthy the pencil of a Salvator Rosa. Owing to the industry of Colonel Campbell a ladder has been formed of pieces of wood fitted into the stones that line the passage leading to Davidson's chamber, an apartment of about the same length 404 THE UPPER CHAMBERS. and breadth, but much lower than the king's over which it is placed ; and barely admitting us to stand upright within it. From this chamber the same per pendicular aperture is continued to a second room of a similar kind, occupying the same relation to it that the other does to the king's. A few of us contrived to clamber into a third and fourth in succession ; and indeed it was a work of much toil and difficulty ; for the passage, which greatly resembles a narrow chimney, admitting but one at a time, can only be ascended sweep-wise by pressing the back against one side, and the feet and knees against another- — a slow and very uncomfortable operation, owing to the heat and dust that it creates. The stones forming the floor of each of these apartments roof the one below it ; their upper sur face is slightly convex ; and the whole of them are coated with a remarkable incrustation of a shining white, curly, and crystaline substance, not unlike the moss called ursnea barbata, which I be fore described as covering some of the trees at Ma deira. It is found in little bunches on the roof, more abundant in the upper than the lower chambers, and as it is a substance not, that I am aware of, as yet accurately described, being generally supposed to be nitrate of potash or saltpetre, it has been sub jected to chemical analysis by my friend. Professor Kane, and found to be common salt, {chloride of sodium.) He states to me that " its occurrence in this form is of considerable interest, as it illustrates REMARKABLE SALINE INCRUSTATION. 405 the manner in which some species of the alum family assume the curious fibrous and contorted figure of these specimens." A question of exceed ing interest here presented itself — how did it get into and crystalize on the sides of those chambers ? Three modes of resolving the problem have occurred to me, either that the granite itself was filled with this substance in its original bed, and that it oozed out and crystalized in this curious form afterwards ; or that the atmosphere from the desert where salt is found, (as it is in the neighbourhood,) becoming impregnated with fine and impalpable sahne par ticles getting into the interior of the pyramids, so encrusted it as I have described ; although we know that for centuries there was no apparent inlet for it ; or thirdly, that it was used in some of the mystic rites that were of old practised in the lower cham bers, and being carried up in the form of vapour, cooled and crystalized in the upper apartments. But at the same time I must acknowledge that none of these modes satisfy me as to the way in which this salt was formed. I have never heard of its being hitherto discovered in this very remarkable form, and it is one well worthy the attention of the learned. The three uppermost chambers, recently disco vered by Caviglia and Colonel Vyse, have the names of Wellington, Nelson, and Campbell painted on them. As yet we must bow to the opinion of Co lonel Vyse, that these chambers appear to have been 406 belzoni's PYRAMID. constructed for the purpose of lessening the super incumbent weight on the king's chamber ; the prin cipal cavity to which all the others seem subser vient. But at the same time, as I before stated, they may have served some secondary purpose in the rites observed in this place, which, taking for granted that it was a tomb, (the most general opinion at present,) does not at all lessen the cha racter and importance of such buildings. Certain it is they could not have had any thing to do with the astronomical purposes assigned to the pyramids. Our time not permitting us to descend into the well, we passed out, and proceeded to explore the second pyramid, now rendered much more easy of access since Colonel Vyse has raised up the stone port cullis to the whole height of the passage, which Belzoni had left just high enough for persons to pass under. This passage was sufficiently wide and high for walking in without much inconvenience. We spent some time examining this chamber, and saw the name of its celebrated but ill-treated discoverer, with the date on which it was opened, printed in Italian on the wall opposite the entrance ; and numberless names, in many different characters and languages, have been since scratched upon every square inch of its walls. The roof is different from that of Cheops, as the blocks of which it is formed do not go across but meet at an angle in the centre. No doubt other chambers remain yet to be discovered in the upper part of this monument also. DEPARTURE FROM THE PYRAMIDS. 407 A hasty glance at the third pyramid lately opened by the enterprising and spirited English antiquary I before alluded to, and a peep into some of the tombs in the vicinity brought us at the close of a day of most exciting interest to the chamber from which we had set out some hours before, where a few flasks of Champagne were quaffed, as we parted from our pleasant companions, among whom was my friend, Mr. E. B. Cullen and Mr. Bell, to whose kindness we were much indebted during our stay at Cairo ; and who from their knowledge of the manners of the people saved us from much annoyance and imposition. After filling my case with specimens of the nummulite limestone of the rocks, from which the under part of the pyramids were cut, we remounted our donkeys, and set forward to the Nile, where a boat waited to take us aboard a large Kanghia at Boolack, in which our luggage was already stowed, and every thing ready for our instant departure for Alexandria. Often and anon did we stop, glad of the slightest excuse to linger on the road, and gaze upon the scene we had just quitted, for the sun was setting behind the pyramids, and the radii of his extend ing rays seemed to spring upwards from around the summit of the glory of Egypt ; the dark outline of which was deeply defined on the roseate tint that smiled away the god of day. But were I longer to dwell upon the splendours of Jhat evening I fear the mind of my reader would be as much wearied as 408 RETURN TO ALEXANDRIA. was my own body with the fatigues of this day, the memory of which must for ever form an epoch in my life. Those who visit Egypt, as we did, seeking health as well as amusement, will not be much benefitted by proceeding at this season further into this land of wonders ; and the daily increasing cold and the privations that would necessarily be expe rienced in journeying to Thebes, &c. for the present prohibits my visiting scenes I hope to live to see, and to describe. Arrived at Alexandria on the 4th. All here, both natives and foreign residents, were complaining of cold and damp, and said they never recollected such severe weather. Influenza had just appeared, and as this was its first visit to any part of Eg}rpt, it caused a great sensation among the Mooslims, but although very general in its attacks, few deaths occurred. I suffered from a slight attack, but on the 6th was well enough to visit the last remaining object within my reach — the catacombs, situated on the shore along the S. W. side of the harbour, about two miles from the town. They consist of a vast number of connected chambers, of greater magnitude than any I had yet seen, and all exca vated out of the soft grey sand-stone rock on which the peninsula stands. Paulo made me bring a coil of hne to act as a clue, fearing that we should lose our way in this extensive labyrinth, but the guides VISIT TO THE CATACOMBS. 409 are now too well acquainted with all its windings to require any such assistance. The examination of this necropolis has little in it to gratify the ordi nary traveller, except its extent, and the labour that must have been expended on its construction. To those, however, who are interested in studying the forms of tombs and the modes of burial of diffe rent nations, these have many remarkable peculia rities, and exhibit the type of buildings on a large scale, which will be found in all the rock-carved sepulchres, both throughout Egypt and in all the countries which derived their customs, arts, and architecture from her. In a large outer hall, now used as a donkey stable, and filled with dust and rubbish, we lighted our tapers, and were conducted through chamber after chamber, in most of which the sand and dirt had accumulated to within about two feet of the roof. Some of these apartments are square, others round ; but in all there was a soros or crypt opposite the door, and one on either side, for depositing the bodies ; and several of them had a chimneyr like aperture at the top, communicating with the open air above. In the farthestrecesses of these cham bers, I found holes cut in the sides through the solid stone, and leading upwards, but to what place I had no means of determining. In shape and situation they exactly resemble the air-holes in the cham bers of the pyramids that I before noticed. It is surprising that a knowledge of this circumstance 410 THEIR probable DATE. did not sooner lead by analogy to some reasonable explanation for the apertures in the pyramids. There was one room of great size, which struck me as remarkable ; it was circular, the doorway adorned with Doric pilasters ; the roof slightly domed ; and in its sides were three minor spaces, shaped like crosses, with three niches in each space for bodies, as exhibited in the plans of Dr, Clarke. In one of the distant rooms we were pointed out a narrow hole, which barely admitted the body ; this we were told led into another series of tombs, but Paulo endeavouring to creep through it, stuck fast, and as he could neither proceed nor retreat, we had to pull him out by the feet, which fortunately were within our reach. The absence of hieroglyphics, the comparatively modern appearance of the work, the traces of Grecian architecture upon it, and there being no re mains of bodies, sarcophagi, or mummy cloths, to he found in or about them, leave little doubt that these catacombs are of a more recent date than has been usually assigned to them. They have been most accurately detailed by the enterprising tra veller whom I have already mentioned; but from the fatigue, bruises, and the coating of dirt and mud, with which I had become covered, in en deavouring to find out something new or remark able ; which I did not, (with the exception of the air-holes, and the similarity of the ground plan to other tombs to be mentioned hereafter,) I was, I lake mareoti. 411 must confess, on the whole, disappointed. But with regard to this, as well as all the other subjects of antiquity I had an opportunity of examining in this country, I must say that I am of opinion that, although so much has been done already, fully as much more remains for future explorers. As the lake Mareotis lay but a short way from this place, I spent the remainder of my ride in examin ing it. The shores of this lake are quite flat, pre senting the same appearance all round ; and seeing a raised spot from which to view it, I rode onward for a great distance, momentarily expecting I should come to it, but it still seemed to recede, and ap peared as far off as ever ; thus affording a singular and ocular deception similar to that sometimes seen upon the desert. The ground here affords a good specimen of fossil formation ; thousands of bivalve shells (the cardiacea) are to be seen imbedded in the sand, and coated over with an incrustation of chloride of sodium. Some of these shells are loose in the sand ; others quite har dened, and with difficulty detached, as the sand is yearly consolidating, the greater part of the sea-water having been evaporated or drained off. It is curious, that with few exceptions, the hinges of these shells were turned towards the lake, or the last re tiring wave. Should this fact be found to hold good elsewhere, it might enable us to give some probable opinion as to the direction in which water receded in other formations. Large quan- 412 CAUSE OF OUR DEPARTURE. titles of sand, impregnated with common salt, are dug up here and carried to Alexandria to be reflned; and from it the principal supply of salt in this part of the country is obtained. This substance is also collected in smaller pieces in the form of thin plates, not unlike ice, over the holes where the water has evaporated. The climate was then so cold that, not deeming it prudent to go farther up the country, we deter mined to try the coast of Asia Minor ; but before I leave this place, or conclude this part of my nar rative, I am anxious to condense my scattered notes upon the following most important topic into a more regular form, under the title of An Inquiry into the present state of Egypt, under. Mohammad Alee, which will be considered in the commencement of the next volume. APPENDIX TO VOL. I. A.— Page 93. on a new method of PRESERVING FISH FOR ZOOLOGICAL collections. Being the Substance of a Paper read by the Author before the Natural History Section of the British Association,*— August, 1839. A GOOD method of preparing fish for museums, has been long considered a desideratum to the naturalist, but none of those that I have as yet seen, preserve those two great requisites — colour and contour. This is so obvious in the distorted, faded specimens to be seen in collections, that I need not dwell upon the subject. My mode of preparation is as follows : I make an incision through the scales to the muscles, commencing about where the operculum joins the cranium, aud continue it parallel with the dorsal outUne to the centre of the tail. A similar cut is made from above the pectoral fin, till it also meets in the centre of the tail; by this means, somewhat less than a third of the side is included between the lines. The fish is kept steady on a smooth board, to which it adheres by its own natural gluten; water being poured over it from time to time, so as never to allow the scales to dry. The skin is then dissected back as far as the dorsal margin, where it meets the bony rays which support the fins. These are cut across, as close to the skin as possible, with a strong pair of scissors or a cutting forceps. A similar process is used towards the abdomen, taking care to keep as close to the * See Athenffium of August 31, 1839. 414 APPENDIX. facia to which the scales are attached as possible. The first ver tebra is then divided from the cranium, and the skinning process continued by hfting up the body and leaving the skin adhering to the board; from which it should never be removed, if possible, till the dissection is completed. Difiiculty will be experienced towards the tail, where the muscles become more tendinous, and "are attached to the subcutaneous facia. The rays of the caudal fin are then divided from the last vertebrse, and the body removed entire. The gills are nest taken out, and any remaining portion of the flesh about the head, cheeks, or thorax. It is as well, perhaps, to leave in the scapulae, or a large portion of them. An opening is made into the side of the cranium, where it wUl be found very thin, and the brain taken out. The eye is com pletely removed on the reverse side; a hook, passed down through the orbit, transfixes the back of the sclerotic of- the other eye, in which an opening is made; the finger then pressed on the cornea in front will squeeze out the lens and humours, retaining the iris perfect in its place, and I have lately succeeded in retaining the gills, if necessary. The tongue is left in, and^the fish is then cleansed from all impurities, taking care not to stretch the skin nor to injure the scales. It is then well anointed with arsenical preparation or wet with the spirituous solution of cor rosive sublimate. There is, however, an objection to the use of corrosive subhmate in those fishes possessed of much mucous, for it turns them white upon turpentine being applied afterwards to soften them or remove the varnish; but when the specimens are to be set up immediately, and not damped afterwards there is no ob jection to it. The eye is filled vrith cotton from the opening in the back — care being taken to keep the iris in its natural position. The cranium is also stuffed, and flakes of tow, cotton, or any material of a similar light description, laid along the body till a sufiiciency to give the form of the animal, has been put in. The reflected edges are then returned — the fish removed from the board, and placed with the front up — the tail and fins expanded, are pinned down in their natural position . on cards, supported by little bits of cork ; the fish is given its proper shape, and the inequalities on its surface, smoothened off with a soft brush, — it is then set to dry in a current of cool air, with little light or sun, much in the same tnanner as a dried anatomical APPENDIX. 415 preparation, and should be watched to see that it dries equally, and that no part of the skin shrinks more than another. If it should, a brush, wetted in cold water, touched upon the part, will restore it. It should be varnished the moment it is sufiiciently dry, and the cards, &c. removed from the fins, which will now retain their natural position. I have tried several varnishes, and found the com mon copal, or mastic diluted with turpentine, the best. The cornea now becomes hard, transparent, and continuous with the sur rounding skin — the wadding may be removed through the back of the sclerotic, and a bit of foil introduced in its place, of the colour originally possessed by the animal, in many of which we know the tapetum is very brilhant. Finally, a pin at head and tail will retain the preparation on a board, from which it stands out in bold relief, and preserves its shape and colours better than any other I have yet seen. Much difficulty will be found in skinning those - on which the scales are very small, as in the mackerel tribe, and the thin skin will not, of itself, preserve the contour of the fish ; in those cases, I found that pasting a few layers of common brown paper on the inside of the skin, until it acquired sufficient dryness to retain the position with the stuffing under neath, answered the purpose perfectly. I find this method is not so apphcable to the shark and eel tribes ; the most effectual mode of preserving which will be, by drawing the body through the mouth. Myriads of small red ants swarm in Madeira. These I found so destructive to entomological specimens, that a whole trayful would be eaten up in a night ; yet none of my fish suffered from them. Specimens properly prepared can easily be brought home by being pinned lightly on the boards, and placed in boxes with an interval of a few inches between each. When dry, they do not create the slightest smell, and when brought home they can be afterwards damped, reset, and the position altered by removing the varnish with a little turpentine and damp ing the interior. Should not a second specimen be at hand, or good plates be procured, I have been in the habit of drawing the out line of the fish upon a board before I commenced the dissection. The specimens in my possession have now been tested by a three years' trial, and though they have been subject to much knocldng about, yet they still preserve their forms and much of 416 APPENDIX. their colour. Regarding the above method, in comparison with that by Dr. Pamell and others, my friend, W. Thompson, Esq. of Belfast, our most celebrated Irish zoologist, vrrites to me the following: " For a private collection, portability, occupying httle room, and the rapidity with which specimens can be prepared according to it, I like Dr. P.'s method very much ; but for a public collection, your plan of preserving the fishes according to their natural form is, I conceive in every point of view, incom parably superior;" and a similar opinion has been expressed to me by Mr. Yarrell. It is much to be regretted that, although Ireland possesses facilities for making an icthiological collection, such as few other countries possess, (with the exception of those specimens prepared by pasting the flattened skin of one side of the animal upon pasteboard, in the collection of my friend, Mr. Ball) — we have not even an attempt at a collection in any of our museums. B Page 100. ON TRAVEL, THE EDUCATION SUITABLE FOR TRAVELLERS, AND THE ADVANTAGES THAT WOULD ARISE TO SCIENCE FROM TRAVELLING FELLOWSHIPS IN THE UNIVERSITY O'F DUBLIN. There are two descriptions of modern English travellers; those who travel for instruction, and those who travel for amusement. The latter and more numerous class are generally persons of large fortunes, who, whatever may be their observa tion and their knowledge, seldom give them to the world.* The former are the fewest in number, and seldom possessed of those pecuniary means so necessary to engage in scientific research. To remedy this latter defect, some effort should be made by the different literary and scientific institutions of our country. * To this, however, we have one honourable exception of late years, in the work of Lord Lindsay. APPKNDIX. 417 In almost every land that I have visited, I have met collectors of natural history, antiquaries, botanists, aud other men of similar attainments located, who had been sent out, some by the governments, and others by the different colleges, universities, and learned societies of Europe, particularly of France and Ger many ; but never was it my lot to meet with a single individual sent on such a mission from Ireland. Aware of the value that such persons, properly educated and supplied with requisite means, would be to science, the society of the Dilettanti was formed in London, in the year 1734. One of the resolutions of this society was, " that persons properly qua lified, should be sent, with sufficient appointments, to some parts of the east, in order to collect information, and make observations relative to the ancient state of those countries, and to such monuments of antiquity as were then remaining." In 1764, James, Earl of Charlemont, the first president of the Eoyal Irish Academy, and a name ever dear to Irishmen, as connected with the science, literature, and best interests of this country, particularly patronized the society of the Dilettanti, and was placed at the head of its committee of superintendence. It was under the auspices, and by the assistance of this society, that the celebrated Doctor Chandler travelled, and with the assist ance of Messrs. Revett and Wood, presented the Ionian Antiqui ties, and other eminent works, to the world.* In later times, the university of Cambridge estabhshed travelling fellowships, for a like laudable purpose; of these, I beUeve Dr. E. D. Clarke filled one of the first; and the Rev. Mr. Low in Madeira, and Mr. Smith in Teneriffe, now occupy two of these with so much credit to themselves, and so many advantages to the interests of science and hterature. The value of such men has been duly appreciated by our continental neighbours, and much of their labour is to be seen in the collection of the Jardin des Plantes, and in the hbraries and museums of the different German colleges. Without such persons the hfe-time of a dozen Cuviers would not have sufficed to collect and arrange the Regne Animal. Although much has been done toward the cultivation of natural science, &c. by the universities and institutions of * See also the valuable papers of this Society, published in London, 1769. VOL. I. 2 E 418 APPENDIX. England, both at home and abroad, much still remains to be done ; but I regret to add, that I may almost say, we have yet to commence in the university of Dublin. This being an age of travel, it requires little to be said for the advantages that all derive from such an occupation of time, and the pen of an Addison has already opened up, though not exhausted, the valuable mine of information that may be drawn from it, and the lasting benefits that it gives to the scholar and the gentleman. But it is to be regretted that the youth of this country do not in general receive an education that fits them to become observant or scientific travellers. And from this cause much valuable and interesting information has been lost to science and literature, by travellers not being able to appreciate what they saw, or observe with effect the wonders amidst which they happened to be located; and this is a position in which I have often felt myself placed, and had frequent occasion to regret. I know of no learned profession in this country that gives a ¦pro'per preliminary education to its students. This is a truth that I think few will deny; and it is one felt by all who enter these professions, at some one period of their course through life.* I may be asked, does not the divinity student receive a proper education ? Surely not while he is ignorant of that language in which the volume is written from which he is to give and receive instruction — while the first ten years of his academic life are spent in acquiring a knowledge of tongues, in which he only reads the fabulous accounts of Greek and Latin authors; or in learning the immorality and false doctrines of heathen philosophers. Not that I would in any way depreciate a knowledge of the classic authors, or detract from the value of such ; but I do think that they are overstudied, while Hebrew and other languages of more enduring account are, with some few exceptions, either comparatively or completely neglected. Surely that education cannot be complete while the student is in total ignftrance of those wonders of the animal and vegetable creation to which in after life he daily calls his hearers to look as evidences of design, or as displaying the * So much was this deficiency felt by the legal profession, that a school of law has been established in this city within the last few months. It was much wanting. It promises well, and I wish it every success. APPENDIX. 419 power and magnificence of their Maker. " On this subject," says INIr. Swainson, in his " Pi-eliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural History," " it cannot be concealed, however, that this exclusion of zoology as a ' part and parcel ' of our academic studies, is a national stigma; that it has repeatedly been advert ed to, in terms of regret and of censure, by our own writers; and that it calls forth the astonishment and reproach of every enlightened foreigner. A stranger, ignorant of our national pecuUarities, would almost imagine, from the rigour with which their study is enforced, that the writings of the heathen poets were peculiarly adapted to purify the heart, and curb the licen tiousness of the youthful imagination; or that they formed, in some inexplicable way, a string of commentaries upon our reli gious creed. And he might be further led to suppose that those wonders of the visible creation, which, when considered, will bring home conviction to the philosophic sceptic, were unworthy of study or regard, as if they were things of mere chance — pro duced by a congregation of fortuitous atoms, alike incapable of demonstrating the being of a God, or the care He bestows upon his creatures." But it is not to the clerical profession alone that this ap plies, the preliminary education of which has been so much im proved in our university of late years; it is not to the ill-recom pensed, hard-working clergy, alone, that this refers ; in the medical profession affairs are still worse. In it, there is no pre liminary education ; I know it from experience, and state it with regret. Such, it is true, may be, and is by some possessed; but so long as it is not required by our Licensing Institutions, it will never be possessed by the generality of students. Here, on the other hand, the classic authors are comparatively unknown, and modern languages are never thought of. Of mathematics, me chanics, and natural philosophy, our medical student knows little or nothing — nothing of zoology, of comparative anatomy, and httle of either botany or chemistry. How long is this to continue ? Not only would the professional man, but the country gentleman, or the statesman, derive profit from this early cultivation of the natural sciences; not only would they, and all who interest themselves in such pursuits, have an entertaining and useful store of knowledge laid up for after years, but all 420 APPENDIX. would be better fitted to form observant travellers in their own or other countries. The government of this countiy is not, and never has been, a patron of science. There is little or no emolument to be at tained by those who spend their lives in the pursuit of scientific subjects. It is, therefore, the "bounden duty" of our chartered bodies, and particularly of our University, to assist the cause of science, and to further its advance by following the bright exam ples of the English Colleges, in creating Travelling Fellowships. It would be presumptuous in me to point out the best method of carrying this into effect; but of the value of such Fellowships, and of the researches and discoveries that men educated like those who grace our College would make, little doubt can be entertained, and the works that would then issue from our press would soon wipe off the long, too long-continued motto of the " Silent Sister." Another defect in our national education is the want of instruction in eastern languages, particularly Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. In a diplomatic point of view the study of these tongues is particularly requisite. It is a weU-known fact that in the countries in which these languages are spoken, aU diplomatic' conferences must be carried on through the medium of an inter preter. This should if possible be avoided ; for many of the necessary secrets of an embassy are thus entrusted to natives of the country in which it is placed. It is a curious, but I beUeve an undeniable fact, that at Constantinople the chief Dragomen to the English, French, and Russian ministers, were brothers ! ! In concluding this hint upon the education suitable. to travellers, and the advantages of Travelhng Fellowships, I trust that the University wiU overlook the insignificance of the proposer, in the importance of the proposition. C— Page 139. THE GUANCHES. There are few of the extinct races of man that have elicited more inquiry, or of whom there is less known than the Giianches. Al'l'EXDIX. 421 Their history is so wrapped in obscurity, and their vestiges so rare, that our speculations as to their origin and manners are principaUy derived from their embalmed remains, or the ques tionable authority of ancient writers and travellers. As the work of Dr. Prichard contains a collection of the greater portion of the history of this singular people, I shall here take the liberty of quoting some of the most important information that he has been able to procure. " It is supposed that the Guanehes, the ancient inhabitants of the Canary Islands, were a branch of the great Lybian or Atlantic stock. It has been often conjectured that the Canary Islands were the vrjffoi MuKupiov of the ancients, and the site of the fabulous gardens of the Hesperides. They seem to be obscurely indicated in the traditions of the early Grecian mythology ; but the first occasion in which they are mentioned in history, or in any account that approaches to authenticity, is in the report which was given by Sertorius, on the credit of which we are told by Plutarch, that the Roman general was seized with a desire to return to them, and live in peace and repose. It is said that, when flying from the arms of SyUa, Sertorius met with some seamen but newly arrived from the Atlantic islands, which were said to be distant 10,000 furlongs from the coast of Africa. 'They are called,' says Plutarch, 'the Fortunate Isles.' Rain only falls there, as it is said, in moderate showers ; the seasons of the year are temperate ; and gentle breezes abound, bringing with them soft dews, which so enrich the soil, that it bears untilled, plenty of dehcious fruits, and supports its inhabitants, who enjoy an immunity from toil." — Lyon's Travels. These islands were described by Juba, an African prince, and one of the oldest traveUers aud geographers. According to him, one of the islands was called Canaria, (now Grand Canary,) from its containing a number of dogs of a great size. In his time the islands seem to have been but very partially inhabited. During a long lapse of time, that is, from the period when Juba wrote, in Ciesar's time, to the 14th century, history is silent as to the state of the Fortunate Isles. In the 15th century, Cada- mosto, the Spanish navigator, and discoverer of the Cape de Verd Islands, waged war against the Guanehes; at that period the population of Grand Canary amounted to 9,000, and Tene- 422 APPENDIX. riffe to , 5,000. " The natives of the latter island are said to have been of great, and even gigantic stature." This assertion is certainly not verified by the remains of Guanehes found at the present day. " They were a people of very simple habits, and possessed of very few arts ; were ignorant of the use of metals, and are said to have plowed the land by means of the boms of bullocks. They believed in a future state, and worshipped a Supreme Being, whom they termed Achuharahan, the author and preserver of all good things. They also believed in a malig nant being, termed Guayotta, and placed the abode of the wicked in the burning crater of Teneriffe." " What remained of the Guanehes," says Hmnboldt, " perished mostly in 1494, in the terrible pestilence called the Modorra, which was attributed to the quantity of dead bodies left exposed to the air by the Spaniards, after' the battle of La Laguna. The nation of the Guanehes was therefore extinct at the beginning of the sixteenth century. A few only were found at Candelaria and Guimar." " The practice of embalming bodies and laying them up in mummy-caves or catacombs in the sides of mountains, is the most curious circumstance in the history of the Guanehes; it is at least that which has attracted the greatest attention. The mummies were placed erect upon their xfeet against the sides of the caves; chiefs had a staff placed in their hands, and a vessel of milk standing by them." The vessels that were shown me in the museum at Santa Cruz, as those found along with the mummy, were rude wooden bowls. A similar practice was observed by the ancient Peruvians. " Nicol, an English traveUer, states, tbat he had seen 300 of these corpses together, of which he says, that the flesh was dried up, and the bodies as light as parchment. Scorey was assured that in the sepulchre of the kings of Guimar there was to be seen a skeleton measuring fifteen feet, the skull of which contained eighty teeth." As this, however, is but parole or hearsay e^ddence, little reliance can be placed upon it. " The bodies were imbued with a sort of turpentine, and dried before a slow fire, or in tbe sun. This dessication was so complete that the whole mummies were found to be remarkably light; and Blumeubacli informs us, that he possesses one which, with its integuments entire, weighs only seven and a-half pounds, which APITNDIX. 423 is nearly one-thii-d less than the weight of an entire skeleton of the same stature, recently stripped of the skin and muscular flesh. The corpses are decorated vyith small laces, on which are hung little disks of baked earth." In the Guanche mummy that I had au opportunity of examining, and to which I before re ferred the thongs or laces with which the coverings are deco rated, and which were part of the skin in which it was enveloped were knotted in a very peculiar manner, and evidently with some design. It was not unlike the knotted thongs or Quippoe writing found among the ancient Mexicans. As to the little disks of baked clay to which Dr. Prichard refers, and those pieces of bone which I mentioned in the text, and concerning which the tradition current in the Canaries is, that they were used as money, a remarkable circumstance has come under my obser vation since the -first part of this volume was printed. In a most singular and extensive bone-heap, lately discovered in the county of Meath, and which I have had an opportunity of examining, there were found, along with some human remains, and a vast collection of antiquities, several circular bone disks, and some cut out of bits of slate, precisely similar to those at Teneriffe. •Their use is supposed to have been for spinning thread like tee totums; may not those have been used for a like purpose? I am much indebted to Mr. Barnwell, on whose ground they were found, for hberty to examine these curious relics, as well as for the bones found in the same situation. I may also remark, that the form of the cranium of this Teneriffe mummy coincided in many respects with the forms of those curious Celtic heads lately found in the Phoenix Park, to which I have referred at page 450 of the second volume; one instance, however, can possess but little weight. " Mr. Golberry took much pains to collect information re specting the mode used by the Guanehes in preparing their mummies, and he has described a mummy in his possession which he selected from among many others still remaining ui his time in the mummy-caves at Teneriffe. Of this, he says, the hair was long and black; the skin dry and flexible, of a dark brown colour, the back and breast covered with hair, the belly and breast filled with a grain resembling rice; the body wrapped in bandages of goat's skin." Colonel Bory de St. Vincent, in his celebrated and elaborate 424 APPENDIX. work upon the Canary Archipelago, {Essais sur les Isles Fortu- nees,) has laboured to prove their Egyptian origin, and Blumen- bach is inclined to a like opinion; while Dr. Prichard states that there is not sufficient proof to establish identity of origin, or any connexion between the Guanehes and the Egyptians. He says — "there seems to be a sufficient evidence in what remains of the languages of the Guanehes, to prove their descent from the Berbers of Atlantica. It is difficult to imagine how such a people as the Berbers of Shviluh, who are not known to have practised navigation, could find their way from Africa to the Canaries; but many seas have been traversed by rude, and even by savage people, under circumstances apparently still more unfavourable ; and the first population of many countries, not withstanding all that has been said to the contrary by some writers,, has certainly been spread along the sea-coasts, and across seas, for traversing which the races of men thus dispersed appear to have been in general but ill-provided." The Frenchman, ¦to whose work I have already referred, seemed to have antici pated this objection of a distant voyage, and has ventured an opinion that the Canary Archipelago once formed part of a vast Atlantic continent, separated from that of Africa by a narrow strait, (not broader than that of Gibraltar,) called Cape Bojador; and that the elevated portion of these islands was a continuation of the Atlas mountains, which remained standing during some powerful convulsion that rent the surrounding portion of the Atlantic continent from them. But it requires no such plausible but unproved assertions to account for, the peopling of an island not more than 200 miles from the main land — a gale of wind would have sent the simplest boat or raft across in forty-eight hours. Glass, in his history of the Canaries, gives us a description of the mode of embalming of the Guanehes, taken from au old Spanish JIS. " First they carried it (the body) to a flat stone, where they opened it, and took out the bowels; then twice a-day they washed the porous parts of the body, viz. the arm-pits, behind the ears, the groins, between the fingers, and the neck, with cold water. After washing it sufficiently, they anointed those parts with sheep's butter, and sprinkled them with a pow der made of the dust of decayed pine-trees, and a sort of brush- APPENDIX. 425 wood, which the Spaniards call Bressos, together with the powder of pumice-stone; then they let the body remain till it was perfectly dry, when the relations of the deceased came and swaddled it in sheep or goat-skins dressed, girding all tight with long leathern thongs; they put it in the cave which had been set apart by the deceased for his bur}'ing-place, without any cover ing. The king could be buried only in the cave of his ancestors, in which the bodies were so disposed as to be known again. There were particular persons set apart for this ofiice of embalm ing; each sex performing it for those of their own. During the process they watched the bodies very strictly, to prevent the ravens from devouring them ; the wife or husband of the deceased bringing them victuals, and waiting on them during the time of their watching.'' This account bears a strong resem blance to the mode of preservation used by the Egyptians. Another point of similitude between the two nations is, that the incisor teeth of both were ground down, either by their parti cular food, or, what is mpre probable, by some artificial process. Blumenbach gives a representation of the skull of a Guanche, in the 5th Decade of his collection; and this has many points in common with the white Egyptian race. At the same time it has also some resemblance to the Celtic races to which I before referred, in the flattened crown, the projecting occiput, and the great length in its antero-posterior diameter. In a Guanche mummy in the museum of Cambridge, each of the toes and fingers is bound separately by a strip of leather, the same as we find in the higher class of Egyptians. Mr. Marsden has given a table of affinities between the Berber or Numidian, and the Guanche tongues, which in many respects is synonymous with that of the Tuariks near Egypt, as shown by the vocabu lary of Mr. Norneman. On the whole, there seem to be many points of resemblance between the Guanehes of the Canaries, and one of the races of the ancient Egyptians. 426 APPENDIX. D.— Page 159. ANALYSIS OF CRYSTALIZED SULPHUR FROM THE CRATER OF TENERIFFE. I am indebted to Professor Kane for the following note on this subject: — " I have examined the mineral which you sent me, from Tene riffe, which, it appears to me, is of a very interesting species. In chemical nature it is identical with the form of gelatinous quartz which has been found cementing the sandstones in some parts of the south of France, and which differs from the opal only in possessing some traces of crystaline structure, which is absent in the real opal. It is amazingly porous; its specific gravity, when freed from air by exposure for several hours under water, in vacuo, is 2,014. Its chemical composition I found to be— Silica . . . 91,0 Water ... 9,0 100,0 Lime a mere trace. Its formula is, therefore, 2 Si. s+H. 0, which gives Silica . . . 91,13 Water . . . 8,87 100,00 The crystals ou it were pure octohedral sulphur." E.— Page 187. LANCELETS. As I obtained several of these animals during our stay at Algiers, I may be permitted to offer some observations on them. APPENDIX. 427 There were two descriptions : —the first aud most common about an inch and a-half long — the Amphioxus Lanceolatus of Yarrell; and the Limax of Pallas, who first noticed it. The body is diaphanous, and enclosed in a thin flexible envelope, not circular, but preserving a five, and in some instances a seven-sided figure. This in every respect resembles the calamus or pen of some of the Molusca, especiaUy that in the common cuttle-fish. These Uttle animals had a power of attaching themselves to each other in a remarkable manner, sometimes clustering together, and at others, forming a string six or eight inches long ; the whole mass seemed to swim in unison, and with great rapidity, going round the vessel in a snake-hke form and motion. They ad hered to one another by their flat sides ; when in line tbe head of one coming up about one-third on the body of the one before it; no doubt those sides are of use in forming this attachment. The other variety was thinner, and from two and a-half to three inches long, having a large dorsal fin, which moved continually in an extraordinary manner, describ ing a circle by rotating upon its narrow base. The mouth was a circular disc, surrounded by ciliee that continued in constant motion. ^Tien put into a tumbler of water it moved round the glass, and although no eyes were perceptible, it carefully avoided the finger, or any substance put in its way, stopping suddenly, or turning aside from it. Both these animals when taken out of the water kept up a strong pulsatory motion for some time. The smaU one, (the Amphioxus Lanceolatus,) by this means pumped out of its interior a quantity of air and water ; and they could be seen coming to the surface to inhale, and a globule of air was observed fioating through the internal cavity. In the larger species the internal tube was perfectly distinct, and of a blue colour. When put into spirits and water it died almost im mediately, and turned opaque. A number of circular bands also appeared on it. Mr. Yarrell, in his beautiful work on British fishes, has placed this singular little animal among the finny tribe. With all due deference to that learned naturaUst, I would suggest the following reasons for it belonging to the moUusca: — The absence of vertebral column, the transparency, and the thin flexible skeleton of the animal being external. 428 APPENDIX. F.— Page 192. REMARKS ON THE LINEN OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. The great antiquity of the manufacture of linen, and the nu merous uses to which it has been applied by the ancients and moderns, gives this subject a degree of interest, almost greater, perhaps, than any other connected with the arts and manufac tures, which is increased by the difference of opinion that exists at present amongst professed antiquaries ; those of the conti nent, in many cases, maintaining that all the specimens, except ing those made of silk and wool, of woven fabrics found by them in Egypt, or brought home from that country, were com posed of cotton, while the British antiquarians, with few excep tions, maintain, that all similar articles found by them in Egypt, when examined by a microscope of sufficient power, are evi dently made of flax. My friend, Mr. Edward Clibborn, to whom I am indebted for these remarks, and who has been connected with the Irish linen trade, has carefully examined the specimens that I brought home, as well as numerous others lately introduced by travellers into this country. He entertains the opuiion, that though he has not found a single specimen of cotton in many hundred specimens of mummy cloths, and other woven fabrics from Egypt, yet he thinks it more than probable, that some specimens of cotton have found their way from that country to the continent of Europe. " The probabiUty is decidedly in favour of the Egyptians having had this substance, which they may have, with silk, obtained from India; or the plant, or some varieties of it, may have been cultivated in Egypt or Arabia, or other neighbouring countries, or the cotton may have been imported in a raw or manufactured state into Egypt. Yet there appear to be several reasons against our admitting the assertion that the Egyptians had cotton up to a certain period, for we find fabrics of flax so very fine, and so very like Indian musUn, that we are led to infer, that they would not have wasted APPENDIX. 429 flax, and the enormous labour necessary to bring it to this degree of fineness if they had had cotton. It may, however, be urged, that these fabrics may have been made in imitation of Indian cotton goods* which they imported; in this case, the inference would be against the Egyptians having the cotton plant at a very early period, but the chances would be in favour of their intro ducing it in the course of time, and also it would be in favour of our finding some specimens of cotton in their tombs, &c. In May, 1838, when discussing the subject of the material of the Egyptian mummy bandages, a gentleman from Manchester pre sent, stated that he actually manufactured a peculiar kind of caUco, which was readily sold in Egypt, and there applied to the purpose of mummy bandages by certain Arabs, &c., who made a trade of manufacturing mummies; now it is possible that some of this American cotton, manufactured in Manchester and sold in Egypt, may have been the cause of the difference of opinion between our British and continental antiquarians. The data on which the following remarks are chiefly founded, were coUected from different sources. The specimens were ob tained by different travellers, and found frequently under different circumstances. They may be arranged under the following denominations: — The material in every instance is flax. 1 . Simple or single thread, called yarn, used in sewing, and also as the material of the woven fabrics. 2. Doubled and twisted yarn, used for thread. In one speci- * It is just possible that the Indians may have copied the fine flax fabrics in cotton, which is the substance the Hindoo or Bramminical thread, the emblem of that system, is composed of. There is a chance that this thread was com posed of flax, before their migration into India. Long and fine gold co loured flax, like the hair of a young and beautiful Scythian blue-eyed lass, and not a short white curled fibre, like the hair of a negro become white with age, appears to have been the substance sacred to Vesta, or Siva, or Venus. The long locks of Harpocrates or Adonis is a male personification of the same idea. The curly-headed Buddhas of India point to cotton, whose hair their poets may have compared to or called cotton. Flaxen-haired is the term the northerns use. Flax itself is a substitute for hair, and cotton appears to have been a substitute for flax— not only in England, but Egypt, Arabia, and India. 430 APPENDIX. men the warp is composed of this thread. This piece appears to have been very broad, above six feet, and how much more cannot now be told. Tbe rolling of the edge and overcasting to prevent ravelhng, is a curious specimen of needle-work. The quality is very coarse. It appears to have been used for a sheet, and came to this country about twenty years since. 3. Fabrics made of (No. 1,) simple yam, of equal and diffe rent degrees of fineness, which may be divided into two classes; those which have nearly an equal number of threads in the same measured surface of warp and weft, and, 4. Those which have a considerable difference in the numbers of the threads, the difference being always in favour of the warp, in a superficial inch, of which we always find more threads than in one of the weft. This difference is so great in some specimens, that the threads of the weft are completely hid by the others, which gives the linen manufactured on this principle, a verv siUvv or shining sur face like satin. There are other considerations which lead to the supposition that this is the kind of linen known by the epithet Dt», appUed to the Egyptian Unen of the superior kind, which this certainly is, for it contains more flax yam than the other kind. It must have been the more valuable, on account of the great quantity of labour consumed in its manufacture. There are specimens of this linen which are of different degrees of fineness, vaiying from the finest duck to the coarsest sail-cloth. It is quite opaque, that is, it cannot be seen through; it is stiff like the Egyptian dresses represented in ancient pictures, and was probably used for clothing men, when the form of the per son imderneath was not intended to be seen. On the contrary, the open linen, in which the threads of both warp and weft ap peared, was probably used by women when the person was exhi bited. Linen of this kind was made of different degrees of fineness and openness, varymg from the coarsest sacking and straming canvas, the material used for working worsted pat terns on, to the finest cambric, and a fabric which comes very near siUc crape in appearance, and used probably for ladies' dresses. This article must have been very dear, on account of the extreme fineness of the threads. It was so very transparent it might have APPENDIX. 431 been used for veils, and other articles of female attire, according to the paintings found on the sides ofthe tombs. There are several specimens of the open linen, embroidered with a double threaded worsted, exactly like modern Berlin worsted. One of these is interesting. — The pattern represents roses, -nith four petals, shaped like hearts, arranged in lozenges composed of buds of different colours, which cross the linen obUquely, and thus present the .-.ppearance of an embroidered net of many colours. There is another specimen in which we have a double pyramid in the centre of the lozenges, and the diagonal lines forming the pattern, like the centre pieces, made of little squares. In this pattern there are only green and orange worsteds, in the former we have three kinds of red, two blues, a white and a yeUow. In both cases the linen ground appears to have been died nankeen colour. One specimen is embroidered with a pattern like a shell, which is of different colours. The helix or whirl is in purple worsted, and as the famous colour of Hellas, or the Tyrian dye, was most probably found in this part of the shell, the chances are in favor of the artist using it, for the purpose of making the spiral, from an ordinary association of ideas, or, as Square would have said, a certain fitness or propriety in devoting the colour to that part of an artificial sheU, in which it exists in the natural shell. Worsted of the same colour, which is decidedly ^iopfe, was found not worked in, as was the case in the specimen already men tioned, but actually wove into the piece, and the pattern of the weaving changed, so that the colour of the thread is boldly and completely thrown out, forming a triple stripe, through which the weft cannot be seen. This pattern strongly resembles some representations of Persepolitan dresses, and is not very unlike some Arabic manufactures, but is much superior to anything now made in the East. The quality of this piece of linen, like that on which the sheU pattern is worked, is so very even both in the number of the threads of warp and weft, in the squareness of the work, and so different from the majority of the other specimens, a suspicion may be entertained that they are not Egyptian, but Asiatic, probably Persian; for the Egyptian perpendicular looms, represented in Wilkinson's and RosseUni's works, could not be used to weave an article of this kind, though they are exactly calculated 432 APPENDIX. to make a fabric with a very loose warp Uke the duck, &c. and with a comparatively tight weft. In Mexico and Peru,* we find a loom of this kind stUl in use, and the article manufactured exactly similar to the Egi.'ptian duck. When the warp and weft are of equal or nearly equal tightness, the piece in the loom must be horizontal, and the thread of the weft thrown by a shuttle, and pressed into its place by a reed or comb — ^two pro cesses which the Egyptians do not appear to have known or prac tised, though probably common in Asia, where linen and its manufacture appear to have commenced; a supposition strength ened by the fact that flax is still found growing native in the mountain defiles of MongoUa, where it is, with hemp, manu factured into linen and other articles, as mats, ropes, &c. The finest specimen of linen was found stitched on to the back of that on which the shell was embroidered. Its texture is even, but there is a perceptible difference in the tightness of the warp and weft. It is evidently a part of what we would caU the fag end of the piece, having the tassels attached to it, and tied exactly as we find them at the end of a piece of modem Irish linen. There are thicker threads crossii^ the piece near its end, a plan stiU in use ; but the ancients appear to have adopted the thick Unes to prevent the piece tearing lengthwise, and for the purpose of ornament. In two of our specimens, we find twelve of these thick threads crossing the piece, and the tassels tied as usual, but the sUpping or unraveUing of the weft is prevented by a curious process, performed by t^-ing the threads of the warp together, so that each is secured to the thread at each side of it. This process forms a sUght ridge at the end of the piece, and is rather omamental.-|- Several specimens of a species of linen have been found with * I witnessed this form of loom- at work both in Barbary and Syria, par ticularly in Jerusalem, difiering from the Egyptian only in Ihe greater breadth of the piece, and in being worked by one person instead of two. f This fringe appears to be alluded to in Numbers xv. 38, where the Israelites were directed to make " fringes in the borders of their garments — and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a riband of blue." I have seen species of mummy-cloth in Egypt corresponding to this description precisely. Such was likely the " hem of the garment" spoken of in the New Testament. APPENDIX. 433 double, though not twisted threads, in both warp and weft. We might apply the epithet diaper to this pattern, though it is not exactly like that fabric, which is now manufactured. This Unen resembles matting, and in the finer specimens is really very handsome. It probably wore very well on account of its soft ness. It is worthy of notice, that the weavers saved themselves exactly one-half their labour, by weaving with a double weft, as the thread had to be inserted only half the number of times. Though there are numerous specimens of this kind of Unen, no selvage was found to any of them, so we cannot tell how the second thread was passed. This Unen is very flat, and the num ber of the threads, in warp and weft, in a superficial uich, nearly equal. We may be sure that this manufacture had its specific name, which distinguished it from the other two, which are essentially different. The Indians manufacture a cotton article with double warp and weft ; it finds its way to Europe, as a wrapper to fine silk and cotton goods. A quantity of twine was also found, and used with the greater proportion of our specimens, in bandaging up a half-dozen of sacred crocodiles, which Mr. Knox took, with his own hands, out of a catacomb in Egypt, so full of snakes and reptiles, that no Arab could be induced to enter into it. On removing the parcel to the open air, a large snake, of a venomous nature, ac tually escaped from it ; frightening the Arabs so much, that they would not touch the bundle, which, being lapped up in a mat of date leaves and ropes, was boxed up without their scrutiny, and not opened until its arrival in London. The ropes were com posed of two yams, very nicely made, and though very dry, were, in many places, very sound, and capable of Ufting a load of upwards of 50 lbs. The ropes formed a weft to a warp of date leaves, which formed a coarse kind of mat, round which the rope was also bound. Underneath the leaves, the envelope was composed of a great number of rags of all kinds of Unen, from which our collection was chiefly made. The rags were sewed to gether so as to make a bandage, which enveloped the six animals, independently of the wrapping which was on each, and which was wound round with thread. The large bandage was secured by a piece of twuie, made of ten threads of yam, in two sets of five each, twisted very sUghtly together, and forming a very VOL. I. 2 F 434 APPENDIX. strong kind of twine — ^not that probably used for common pur poses. The labour of making it must have been enormous, com pared with that necessary to spin a piece of common twine out of plain flax, and not out of yarns already spun. It may be here noticed, that all the thick lines or ornamental ribs made on Egyptian linens are composed of the same thread, repeated or doubled, once or oftener, and in this way, they may have been able to produce many pleasing stripes and plaids. From certain simiUtudes in the names of the standing or long part of the piece of linen in the Egyptian loom, and a well-known mythological story, it was suspected that this story might have been originally an allegory or riddle, descriptive of the rise and progress of an article of dress made of flax. Some ideagraphic and phonetic hieroglyphs also favoured the supposition, which, however, could not be proved ; nor was any evidence of the fact considered extant, when it was found, on opening a piece of mummy cloth, discovered by Dr. WUde, under the head of a mummy at Sackara, that the threads of the warp of a piece of ancient Egjrptian linen, are double ; that is, they pass from the tassel end of the piece down to the other end, and turn round the first thread of the warp, which is compounded of five in our example. This compound thread is the radix or root of the piece, its foundation, as it were, and properly, is not woven, for all the threads of the warp pass round and cover it. Though our piece is only a span wide, and has neither of the selvages, it is quite clear that this compound radix thread must have been secured to the loom, as it was stretched from side to side, to take the warp, as it was set in the loom, at the top of which it was arranged, by being passed through a looped cord, which distributed the threads; an operation effectually per formed below by the first two or three threads of the warp, when first passed. The hollowing or bending up of the first thread of an Egyptian piece of linen, is a serious defect in that manufacture ; it de creases rapidly as the piece advances, and a more general strain can be obtained by means of the roller, on which the work may be wound. Another great defect of the linen arises from the great length of the loom, and the looseness of the warp, which is consequently drawn in and crowded at the selvages, which are APPENDIX. 435 generally very good. The picture of the loom in Wilkinson's book, representing females weaving, is sufficiently explicit ; and though it only presents them passing the weft, by means of a long ruler, with a bent end ; yet, we may, from an attentive ex amination of the linen, imagine the whole process from the be ginning, when the yam is in one or more balls, up to the time when it is cut out of the loom, a perfect piece of linen, with one tassel. We may even imagine a thrifty spinster of old, cutting or separating her thread for the first time, at the moment the piece is finished ; under such circumstances, the piece would ex hibit no knots, and be nearly faultless, and, beyond a doubt, must have been considered worthy of being constituted the stand ard of beauty, industry, economy, and perseverance, worthy of Venus, Vesta, and Minerva, &c. Many curious speculations concerning these personages, pre sent themselves ; but here they would be out of place. We can not conclude these remarks' on Egyptian weaving without taking some notice of their spinning process. On several ancient Greek vases, we find representations of women spinning flax, exactly by the same process still practised in Spain, Madeira, and elsewhere, and which was common in Ireland, before the introduction of the spinning wheel.* The instrument consisted of a spindle, with a round disk at tached to it, which the spinster spins with her finger and thumb, allowing the instrument to escape into the air, when it contmued spinning for a certain time, twisting the fibres of flax together, supplied by the moistened flngers of the other hand, from the rock, which consisted of a pole, on the top of which was a slight frame for securing the flax. The Greeks and Romans have left us many designs representing this process, which appear to have been common to all long-haired people ; yet, no representation of an Egyptian woman spinning in this way has been published ; on the contrary, the pictures pubUshed by RosseUini represent women twisting and doubling a thread already spun, and with • While in Algiers, my attention was often attracted to a spindle of this description hanging down by the sides of the houses, and twisting rapidly. On looking up, I observed some of the female Moors on the housetop, spin ning as my friend describes. And in that country, among the Kabyles, the loom is still the same as it was in ancient Egypt. 436 APPENDIX. spindles so very long and heavy, that twine, probably intended for bird and fish nets, and not linen yarn, is the article manufac tured. The spiral motion is given in a different way altogether to that commonly used for fine yarn, and the spindle is differently made, for it ends in a long tail, which is rubbed by the palm of the hand against a strap fastened on the woman's leg, by which means a rapid spiral motion is given to the bobbin, by an act not un hke that of the shoemaker, when twisting his wax-end. Coarse woollens and linen yarns could certainly be manufac tured by this process ; but it is quite monstrous to suppose, for a moment, that these figures, if correctly drawn, represent the spinning process ofthe finer Egyptian yarns.* Making allowances for the false proportions of the women, and the spindles they are using, we might suspect that they were employed in untwisting coarse Chinese silk thread ; drawing it out and twisting it again, a process known to the ancients ; or, we might suppose that they had a process not unlike a modern improvement in power spinning, of making a thread rather coarse, and then untwisting and drawing it out, and twisting it again. For such an operation, their flax appears to have been well adapted ; for it is very fine, and the staple very short, apparently from its mode of preparation, performed chiefly by pounding it with a wooden beetle on a stone, and twisting the flax into a rope at the same time ; by this plan, the blow being oblique, it split the fibres, though it broke them at the same time, giving them very much the look and feel of cotton. Many of our specimens are so like cotton, that the best judges have been deceived by their unassisted sight ; but when we have submitted the ultimate fibre to the microscope, we found it always to be exactly like the fibre of Irish flax, and altogether different to any kind of cotton, whether North or South Ame rican, Indian, Arabian, or Egyptian, with aU of which it has been carefully and repeatedly compared. •< * We have heard such statements of the doings of the Commission, of which RosseUini was a member, in Egypt, that we can place no dependance whatever on his publication, unless, indeed, other witnesses confirm his state ments. In this instance, Wilkinson is deficient. APPENDIX. 437 G.—Page 200. physical history of the kabyles. Of the many different nations inhabiting the northern division of the African Continent, or that portion denominated by writers Atlantica, few have caused more discussion, or become, in later years, a subject of stricter investigation than the Kabyles or Berbers. These rude aud primitive people, who form a part of one great nation divided into several distinct tribes, but stiU pre- serring a sufficiency of analogies in language, manners, customs, and physical conformation, to prove their common origin, are by some supposed to be of Punic or Phoenician descent; while others, look upon them as the aborigines of the country, who, by inter mixture with, or contiguity to, the Phcenicians who settled on these coasts, adopted some of those traits and characters that have given rise to the former opinion. Africa, as known to the ancients, was divided into four parts — ^Barbary, Numidia, Lybia, and Negroland. Barbary included all that district lying between the Atlas mountains and the Mediterranean, and extended from the point of the Atlas, near Messa, to Gibraltar; on the west to Mount Meies, situate about 300 mUes from Alexandria. Numidia, called by the Arabians Beledulgerid, or the Land of Dates; its boundaries were the city of Eloacat, about 100 miles distant from Egypt on the east; on the west, the town of Non; on the north, the southern side of the Atlas; and on the south, the sandy deserts of Lybia. Lybia lay still ftirther south, having the ocean on the west; 'the Nile on the east; and the adjoining territory of Negroland forming its southern border. Negroland was still more remote, but parallel with the former; its western extremity was Gualata; and its eastern Gaoga. Its southern boundary was unknown. Thus there were four great bands of country lying nearly parallel to each other; and beyond that it v,as a terra incognita. This is the description of John Leo Africanus. Marmol and Ptolemy have given a more complex subdivision. 438 APPENDIX. John Leo gives the following account of the inhabitants of Africa: — "In ancient times, Negroland was the only inhabited country of Africa; at least Barbary and Numidia were for many years destitute of inhabitants, till the Tawny people settled in that country, who were called by the name of Barbar, an Arabic word, probably derived from Barbara, i. e. to murmur; because the Arabians looked upon the African language as an articulate sound of beasts. Others vrill have the Barbar to be only the repetition of Bar, i. e. Desert ; supposing Bar-Bar ' to the Desert, to the Desert,' to have been the word among Ifiicus's followers when they fled out of Arabia Felix. "These Tawny Moors are divided into flve tribes — namely, the Zanhagi, inhabiting the western and southern part of Mount Atlas ; the Musmudi, inhabiting the provinces of Hea, Sus, Guzula, and the territory of Morocco ; the Gumeri, possessing the Barbary mountains upon the Mediterranean Sea, and the river Rif, which takes its rise near the Straits of Gibraltar, and runs eastward to Tremeson, or Mauritania Csesariensis ; the Haoari and Zeneti, who were dispersed aU over Africa. These tribes are distinguished from one another by certain marks ; and wage continual war among themselves. In former times, they had their habitations and tents in the field; every one favouring those of his own tribe, and labouring for their interest and common benefit. The governors of the country attended their droves and flocks, and the citizens followed husbandry, or some manual art. Ibnu Racco, who writes of the genealogies of the Africans, divides these people into 500 several famihes. Though their posterity is run out into innumerable branches, and at that great distance from one another, yet they retain one language, called by them Aquel Amarig, i. e. the Noble Tongue, which is the true African language, and branded by the barbarians for a barbarous tongue." Marmol says that " Barbary is so called either from Ber, a name given to that country before it was peopled, whence the inhabitants were afterwards called Bereberes, and are still pos sessed of a city called Barbara, and a large tract of lands in Genehoa and Zinque; or, as some will have it, this name must be derived from the Romans, who christened it so by reason of the barbarity of their language." This seems to be also the opinion APPENDIX. 439 of Dr. Prichard. In another place the same old writer states that " the African authors assure us that Barbary and Numidia have been long inhabited, but they are not agreed upon the first inhabitants. Some say an Asiatic people, expeUed their own country, and finding no security in Greece, went and peopled Barbary. Others allege that the people of Phoenicia, in Pales tine, being expelled their own country by the Assyrians, and coldly received by the Egyptians, passed on to the Deserts of Africa, where they settled. " But the African authors of the best note assure us that the first inhabitants of Barbary and Numidia, now called Barbarians, were five colonies or tribes of Sabeans that came thither along with Melee Ifrique, a prince of Arabia Felix mentioned above, to which 600 famihes of Berebers, and the greatest lines of all Africa, owe their original. These tribes did first people the eastem parts of Barbary, and from whence they dispersed them selves over most of Africa, retaining the name of Berebers from Barbary, their first habitation; whereas the former inhabi tants of Tingitana, Numidia, and Lybia, were called Chilohes. Though these five tribes lived first of all in tents of the fields, yet when they came to war with one another, those who were defeated and robbed of their flocks fled from the plains, where the conquerors remained, to the mountains, where, mixing with the ancient Africans, and Getulians, they built houses to screen themselves from the weather. "This occasioned the difference between the Berebers that hve in the fields, and those that dwell in houses; the former of which have the preference for riches and power; though both of them are equally zealous in keeping their ancient customs, and celebrating the honour of their original." This division can be seen even at the present day, in the Kabyles who live in tents or mud houses in the open country, and rear cattle, while the Moors reside in towns, and follow trade, or are engaged in traffic or merchandize. " Besides these there was," says Marmol, " a noted people in Africa, caUed Azuagues, who are now scattered up and down the provinces of Barbary and Numidia, and most of them are shep herds, though they have some artizans among them that make Unen and cloth," (in a manner similar to that in use among the 440 APPENDIX. ancient Eg3rptians.) " They live upon mountains and hiUs, and nestle in little holes and chinks ; and, notwithstanding their extreme poverty, are commonly tributary to the kings, or Ara bians. The African authors say they are Phcenicians, expeUed by Joshua, the son of Nun; who, being denied admission by the Egyptians, passed on to Lybia, where they built Carthage, 1268 years before Christ. And a long time after that, if we credit Ibni- Abraquyq, a great stone was found there, with these words engraven upon it in the Punic language — ' We fled hither from the presence of that notorious robber, Joshua, the son of Nun.' Before the arrival of this people, Asclepius and Hercules had reigned in Africa; but after the destruction of Carthage, before it was rebuilt by Dido, this people retired to the west part of Barbary, under Hermon, their leader, and then built Liby-Phee- nician cities, in which they still continued, when the Romans invaded Africa.'' Dr. Prichard gives the following solution of the term Barbar: — "The only way of explaining, with any degree of probability, so extensive a diffusion of the term Barbarii or Barbari, and, at the same time, its local application to the country and the people of the African coast, is the conjecture that Barbar was originally an Egyptian term or name given by the Egyptians to the mari time country on the Red Sea, or its inhabitants. The word might be derived, as Leo derives it, from Bar, a desert, were it not improbable that an Arabian name could have been adopted by the Egyptians — the people so named not being Arabians. Ihe Coptic word 'Bepeftep, signifying hot, may be the etymon of the name, if it originally belonged to the country. 'Bop^ep, as well as 1 epPwp means to cast out. Could the people be hence termed ' Outcasts ?' These southern borderers on Egypt, pro bably ferocious Nomades, as are the Beshari at present, being dreaded and hated by the Egyptians, and their name being equi valent to that of Savages, it is possible that it may have been bor rowed by the Greeks from the Egyptians in this sense. The Hindoos used, as it sems, the same name in both of its mean ings — both as a national appellation, which was extended, how ever, from the natives of the Barbary coast to other crisp-haired Africans, and likewise in the sense of outcasts or barbaiians." This was also the opinion of Gibbon. APPENDIX. 441 Dr. Shaw published a catalogue of Berber words ; and, in later years, IMr. Hodgson has given the most accurate account of the language of these people that has yet appeared. " The more," says he, " I investigate the subject, the more I am satisfied that the idiom of the Berbers is not the the remains of the ancient Punic, but that it is the same language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the northern coast of Africa, at the time of the foundation of Carthage, much corrupted, however, by the introduction of Arabic, and, perhaps, in this district at least, of Punic words and forms. The former are indeed so visible, that it is easy to perceive that they do not belong to the original language, from the pecuhar structure of which they essentially differ. The latter — ^if any there be, it is not so easy to observe, as there are no remains of the Punic languEige sufficient to assist us in the inquiry. We may, perhaps, discover hereafter some traces of it, by comparing the Berber of what was called Africa Proper, with the dialects of those parts where Carthagenian co lonization did not extend. If the Punic idiom was ever incor porated to any extent with the language of the Numidians, in the vicinity of Carthage, or in the countries under her dominion, it must have produced a marked difference between their dialects and those of the more distant tribes, which cannot escape the inquisitive eye of philologists." Speaking of the Berber lan guage, Mr. H. continues, "If these significant names extended east and west, from one end of the African continent to the other, and from its northern coast, south, even to the Desert of Saara, where no Phoenician colony can be supposed to have existed, it would be clear, independently of the infereaces that may be drawn from the different structure of the two languages, that our Berber could not be the Punic, as Marsden and others have supposed, but was the language of the Autochthones, or the ancient inhabi tants of the country, which the Phoenicians, who founded Car thage, and their descendants, were obUged to learn and to speak in common with their own, and which procured for them the ap- peUation of Tyrii bilingues." And he concludes his most inte resting memoir on this subject, by drawing a parallel between it and the ancient Egyptian. "At every step," says he, "of my investigations, new proofs accumulate in favour of my hypothesis, that the Berber is the original language of all North Africa, in- 442 APPENDIX. including Egypt and Abyssinia ; for, with the Coptic, it has a positive "affinity." — Trarisactions of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. IV. 1834. This has opened a new and most inviting field for future inves tigation, which, it is to be hoped, wiU not be lost sight of, more particularly as the word Berber is found written in the hiero glyphic character on some of the very early Egyptian monuments; and we have every reason to beUeve that this people are one of the races figured on the ancient Egyptian Paintings. The osteo- logical characters of the skuUs belonging to the Berber race, are but very imperfectly known. I do not think that the cha racter and appearance of this people, as related by M. M. De Spix and Martins, who made their observations at Gibraltar apph cable. For, although many Moors and natives of Tangiers came across the straits daily to market, very few of the Kabyles or Berbers ever leave their own country. In colour, these people vary from a dark brown to a tawny yellow ; have thin Ups, long oval faces, straight black hair, narrow, but not very retreatii^ foreheads, and scanty beards. Those of this race I had an op portunity of observing, were particularly lean and bony, dirty and ill clad. H.— Page 23S. REMARKS UPON THE MODE OF SUCKING IN CETACEA. Like aU mammaUa, the Cetacea suckle their young at the breast; but, by this latter term, we are not to suppose that they have mammary glands upon the pectoral portion of the body. These long thin flat substances are placed on the inferior and lateral parts of the abdomen, in order, as Himter weU described, that they may not vary the shape, nor interfere with the motions of the animal, and for other reasons to be explained hereafter. The lactiferous ducts are simple ccEcal tubes, as in the ornithorhynchus, opening into a long duct or receptacle, which proceeds through the gland to the nipple, and bears a striking analogy to the pancreatic duct in APPENDIX. 443 man. Some years ago, Mulier published a beautiful plate of this gland, in the Balaenoptera Rostrata, and it was accurately described by Hunter, in 1 787. The form and position of the nipples, how ever, require attention. They are two in number— not protu berant from the animal, like the teats of other mammiferse— but lodged in the bottom of deep sulci or fissures, which, when closed, and the organs are not called upon to exercise their pecuhar functions, completely hide them. Thus far we are acquainted with the anatomy of the parts, (at least sufficiently acquainted for the object of this inquiry, or the bearing of a work like this) ; but a very serious and interesting question here presents itself, viz. : — In what manner do the young Cetacea suck ? Do they respire during that process, and if so, how are these two ftmc- tions performed under water ? On this subject, John Hunter made the foUowing observa tions : — " The mode in which these animals must suck, would appear to be very inconvenient for respiration, as either the mother or young one will be prevented from breathing at the time, then- nostrils being in opposite directions, therefore the nose of one must be under water, and the time of sucking can only be be tween each respiration. The act of sucking must likewise be dif ferent from that of land animals ; as in them it is performed by the lungs drawing the air from the mouth backwards into them selves, which the fluid follows, by being forced into the mouth, from the pressure of the external air on its surface ; but, in this tribe, the lungs having no connection with the mouth, sucking must be performed by some action of the mouth itself, and by its having the power of expansion." Ever since Hunter's day, the mode of sucking has been a stumbUng-block to zoologists. A short time ago, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, a celebrated French naturalist, endeavoured to explain it by asserting that he had discovered a certain sac or reservoir into which aU the lactiferous tubes poured their contents, and that a quantity of milk being already contained in this, the young animal had only to apply its mouth to the teat, and imme diately, certain muscles in the neighbourhood acted both on the gland and on the receptacle, and poured a quantity of milk (often several gallons in the larger species,) into the young ani- 444 APPENDIX. mal's mouth. This theory seemed plausible, and was generally adopted at the time. At the meeting of the British Association in DubUn, in 1835, Dr. Jacob, one of the best comparative anatomists of this city, and particularly well versed in the anatomy and physiology of the whale tribe, read a paper, caUing in question the views promul gated by the French physiologist ; and since then, Frederick Cuvier, in his article on the Cetacea, in the Cyclopaedia of Ana tomy and Physiology, has laboured to refute them. In the first place, as to the sac or reservoir, it was long ago described by Hunter. He says, " The trunk of this tube is large, and ap pears to serve as a reservoir for the milk." Again, concerning the muscle said to act upon the reservoir, a mistake seems to have crept in among the anatomists of this country, who have con founded with it the sub-cutaneous muscle that envelopes, the ani mal. This latter is a kind of dartos, or collection of muscular fibres, mixed with a dense fibro-ceUular -texture, and spread gene raUy beneath the blubber of the animal — in fact, a panniculus car- nosus. I can perfectly agree with those who deny that this acts in circumscribed portions, and beheve that it can exercise but little power over the mammary gland. But that the muscle described by St. Hilaire does exist, there can be no doubt. I have dissected it in the Delphinus Bephis andPhoceena Communis', several of which I had an opportunity of examining in the Mediterranean, and I have the authority of several eminent anatomists, who have like wise satisfied themselves upon the point. It is attached to the pelvic bone, and spreads over the gland in an oblique direction, backwards and upwards towards the spine. But that it exercises this pecuhar power of compressing, at vrill, the gland and its re ceptacle, I cannot take upon me to say. Independent of it, or any other muscular mechanism, the great pressure of the surrounding medium on the gland, would, as soon as the nipple was grasped, force out the fluid contained within ; and the very great extent of this gland in Cetacea may be to forward so useful and beautiful a purpose. In order to explain the subject more fully, it would be neces sary to enter somewhat into the beautiful mechanism ofthe parts connected with sucking in the human infant, an office that may be termed the birth of instinct, and one of the very first efforts at APPENDIX. 44.'> voluntary motion ; but as this sketch is intended more for those already acquainted with such subjects, it would be unnecessary. In Cetacea, the mouth, when opened, presents a purse-like cavity, similar to that of a crocodile, with this difference, that the mouth in the Cetaceans has no connection with the respiratory function, which is exclusively confined to the blow-hole, on the fore-part of the head. The glottis stands above the level of the roof of the mouth and soft palate. It rises up iiito the cavity connected with the blow-hole, and being slung by the hyoid bone and a complicated muscular apparatus, from the base of the skull, can be drawn up, during the act of respiration, into the blow-hole ; and the soft palate being horizontal, surrounds the larynx like a collar, in order more completely to insulate it from the cavity of the mouth. The food passes into the oesopha gus by deep channels on either side of the larynx. While dis secting these parts lately, I found, on the anterior margin of the soft palate, where it is touched by the larynx, what at first appeared a uvula, but, on examination, turned out to be a con siderable glandular body — a collection of mucous follicles, not unUke the tonsil, and serving, by their secretion, to lubricate the top of the larynx, as it passed by it, in each act of respira tion. From this mechanism of the mouth and throat, we learn that in those animals sucking cannot be performed on the prin ciple of exhaustion of the mouth by inspiration, as (according to some physiologists,) it is in infants. It appears to depend more on the mechanical adaptation of the muscles of the mouth and tongue acting directly on the nipple, and few animals pos sess this apparatus in greater perfection than the dolphins and por . ses, and several of the larger whales — principally owing to the mouth being perfectly unconnected with respiration. Indeed, it may be doubted whether, if the blow-hole was closed, the ani mal could respire. Dr. Jacob enumerates three modes by which the animal sucks under water : — First, By exhausting the cavity of mouth closed by the soft palate behind, by depressing the tongue. Secondly, By exhausting the mouth by the diaphragm ; and tMrdly, by the squeezing and pulling of the nipple, by the gums of the young animal. The second of these, I confess, I do not understand. How the descent of the diaphragm in an 446 APPENDIX. animal, whose mouth is not at aU connected with the respiratory apparatus, could assist sucking, it is difficult to conceive. The last appears to me to afford the desired explanation. But although Dr. Jacob and Geoffrey St. Hillaire have told us how the animal may, and, in aU probabiUty, does suck under water, neither they, or any other observers, have told us how the young Cetacean breathed aU this time ; and the question of John Hunter stiU remains to be explained; unless we beUeve that sucking is merely carried on between the periods of respiration, which wiU occupy generaUy from two to five mmutes — an opmion, to my mind, very improbable. During our sojourn in the Mediterranean, I had several oppor tunities of dissectmg small Cetacea, and almost daily opportu nities of observing the motions of hundreds of these animals; and to this motion, during the act of respiration, I would caU the attention of physiologists, as it may offer some explanation of the mode of sucking. When the animal comes up to breathe, it protrudes the blow-hole above the water-line, and then making a graceful curve, by describing a semicircle, or, at least, the seg ment of a very large circle, it raises the extremity of its body and tail completely out of the water in its descent, so as to cany that portion of its under or abdominal surface, in which the nip ples are placed, fairly out of the water into the air. In this way, shoals of them proceed at a rapid pace, never, however, raising the entire body out of the water, but cutting the water-line with their pectoral region, which is generally half emerged. This ex act motion cannot be seen in rough weather, when the surface is much disturbed, and when Cetaceans are on the alert, as those in the Mediterranean generally are ; nor could it be weU seen from the high deck of a vessel. But I have observed it so often in perfect calms, when in a boat amongst a shoal of them, and having applied my eye as nearly on a level with the surface as I could, that I am convinced on the subject. Now, it appears to me, that the young one, when it lays hold on the teat, need not necessarily relinquish it each time either it or the mother comes up to breathe. And I am informed by ex perienced whalers, that they have constantly seen the young ones attached to the mothers for a considerable time, and remaining so while the latter rose to blow. These men had no object in de- APPENDIX. 447 ceptioD, nor any theory to favour and advance ; and the excel lent work of Scoresby, on the Whale Fishery and Arctic Regions, would lead us to suppose such to be the case with the large Cetacea there. We know of other animals which suckle whUe they progress; such as the marsupial — the monkey tribe skip from tree to tree with the young ones attached to the teats — those animals denominated flying squirrels, and the cheiroptera; viz. the vam pire bat, and even the common one of that species, will fly about with the young ones adherent. Nay, we know of Indians and Hottentots who carry their children slung on their backs, and attached to their enormous breasts. And why should not a whale be capable of a similar privilege ? Closet zoologists, supposing that both mother and young could not breathe at the same time, have gone so far as to state that the old one turned on her back to allow the young one to draw the breast; others, that they lie on the side for a similar purpose. But this being a position they could not long maintain, would be rather too much of natural affection, even in a whale ; as though it might be very convenient for the young one, inevitable drowning would be the consequence to the old, if that position were long sustained. It appears then, if I am correct, that the young remain attached to the mother during a certain period, as other mammiferse, and that each time the animal rises to the surface, it lifts the breasts, and consequently the young one, above the water, so that, in fact, all the young one has to do is to hold on, and it is both suckled and assisted to respire at the same time. Perhaps the sulcus in which the nipple is lodged may exert some power of retaining the Ups of the animal in situ, by its margin grasp ing the extremity of the young one's mouth. Perhaps the reason for the parts being placed so low in the abdomen is, that she may lift the young one above the water. The original communication upon this subject, of which this is but a brief, and from the nature of these volumes an imperfect sketch, was made to the Obstetrical Society of this city; a society that continues to increase the long and weU-earaed reputation that has for more than half a century been accorded to that par- 448 APPENDIX. ticular branch of science in Ireland, and that reflects upon its talented and enterprizing founder. Dr. Evory Kennedy, a lustre that he so well deserves. Since then, some of our most enligh tened physiologists have taken up the topic in their public lec tures, and approved of the explanation that I have offered upon this hitherto undecided question; and these considerations have induced me to give it in a popular form, unconnected with ana tomical details, a place in this Appendix. There is one other subject naturally arising out of any investigation of the Cetacea of the Mediterranean — that is, the story of Jonah; and on this I would suggest the following expla nation of what sceptics have long been in the habit of dweUing upon as one of the fallacies of inspired writ. That Jonah could be preserved for three days and three nights, in the beUy of a whale, was in itself a miracle, and as such we are bound to believe it— even as the old woman said who answered a casuist, that were she informed by the same Divine authority that Jonah swallowed the whale, she would believe it. Now, although it be a miracle, yet the Almighty generally works his wonders by natural means. First, it is said that the gullet or oesophagus of even the largest Cetacea could not admit a man's body ;- — this is answered by the very expression used in Scripture, that "the Lord prepared a great fish." Secondly, the whale although an aquatic animal, yet breathing air by means of lungs, it would be naturally obliged to come to the surface to respire, nearly as often as man is compelled to perform that function, and so, were Jonah placed behind the enormous cavity of the posterior nates, beneath the blow-hole, he could, even by natural means, be supplied with air. Thirdly, the whole story has by some been described as an allegory; and these persons have particu larly dwelt upon the account of the sea-weeds surroimding his head, to show that it must have been on the shore that Jonah was thrown, alleging that, the whale feeding on small mollusca, it was impossible for sea-weed to entangle round the prophet's head ; — in contradiction of this, it is particularly worthy of remark, that some of the very largest whales that inhabit the Mediterranean, are graminiverous ruminating animals, conse quently feeding on Algae and other marine plants. APPENDIX. 449 I Page 253. ON THE REMOVAL OP CLEOPATRa's NEEDLE. It has been long incumbent on tl)e British government to bring one or other of the Alexandrian obelisks, called Cleopatra's Needles, to England, especially from the number of accounts, and diversity of opinions promulgated by travellers and writers, many of whom, from the commencement of the present century, have attributed the prostration of the fallen obelisk to a different nation or individual. The cause of the obeUsk not having been brought home after the Egyptian campaign, may be learned by the following extracts, with which I have been favoured by Captain Larcom, B.N., from papers of his father, who then commanded H.M.S. Hind, and the present Admiral Hollis, then commanding H. M. S. Thames. " H. M. S. Hind, Egypt, 1802. "The French had partially cleared away the rubbish from around the prostrate obeUsk called Cleopatra's Needle, and it was determined to attempt the transport of this obelisk to England, as a lasting memorial of the triumphs of the British army in Egypt. Subscriptions were entered into by the officers of the army, and the naval squadron then at Alexandria, for this purpose. On the part of the army, the obelisk was completely cleared from the surrounding ruins, a road commenced to the port, and a pier in progress to the deeper water, and all prepa rations in forwardness for embarkation, while the navy had weighed the hull of a small Venetian frigate, the ' Leobon,' that had been sunk by the French during the siege, in the old harbour, calked and rendered her sea-worthy for the voyage. The weight had been estimated, and the position it ought to occupy in the hold of the vessel; it being intended that when firmly placed at the proper height from the keel, and there secured by shores, &c. that the vacant spaces should be filled up with bags of cotton, and to those who had seen the stowage of vessels in the cotton trade, not a doubt remained of the feasibi- Uty of the plan proposed to be adopted; but at this stage of the proceedings, in March, 1802, an order arrived from General VOL. I. 2 G 450 appendix. Fox, the commander of the forces in the Mediterranean, and Lord Keith, the naval commander-in-chief on the station, for bidding the removal of the obelisk, on the plea that it would give offence to the Turkish government ; thus was lost to England the honour of having erected in her capital a trophy pecuUarly appropriate to the conquerors at the NUe and at Alexandria." " H. M. S. Thames, Egypt, 1802. " It was the intention of the heads of the army and navy, who were left in Egypt after the peace had taken place with France, in 1801, to have taken the fallen obeUsk to England, as a trophy of the very gallant achievements of those brave men who were employed in the reduction of Egypt, and for which purpose a subscription was raised, and one of the French frigates which had been sunk during the siege of Alexandria, was got up, aud fitted to embark it on board; but most unfortu nately, from some secret and unaccountable cause, the scheme met the positive disapprobation of the two commanders-in-chief of the army and navy, who were at !Malta, and the two com manding oiBcers at Alexandria were ordered to desist in their plan of sending the obelisk to England. I carried the orders to Egypt. The only public reason given for it, was a supposition that it might give offence to the Turks, but this was not the case, as it had been previously guarded against, by a formal per mission being asked, which was most readily granted by the Aga who commanded in Egypt, observing at the same time that the Turks cared not if we took every stone in the country; but he very sarcastically asked us if we had no stone-quarries in England, that we were taking so much trouble to carry such a useless mass there as the obeUsk appeared to him to be. This order to discontinue our scheme was a great disappointment to every one, as it had become quite an amusement, and both the sailors and soldiers were volunteers for the work. As we had then nothing to do, it was proposed to raise the base of the fallen obelisk, which was an immense square mass of granite; and it was accordingly done, so as to introduce under it a flat marble slab of about five feet square, with an inscription on it in Freuch, Italian, Latin, and English — describing the battle of Aboukir — the landing of the French in Egypt under Buonaparte — the subsequent reduction of Egypt by the EngUsh array. appendix. 451 under their gaUant chief, Abercrombie — the lamented death of that brave general, and restoring the country again to the Turks — all of which was very carefully executed; an excavation was then made in the mass of granite under the base, sufficiently large to contain the slab without injury, and after throwing in some coins of our good old sovereign, the base was lowered carefully down on it, where from its very great weight, it will, in all probability, remain unmoved for as many ages to come, as these monuments of antiquity are supposed to have already existed; and if these four languages are then in existence, what a tale wiU the removing of it again unfold. The faUen obeUsk was also turned over, but nothing of value or consequence was found under it." A vessel belonging to Mohammad Alee Basha, having pro ceeded to England, and requiring some repairs, government deeming this a good opportunity of cultivating the friendship of this then rising man, had the vessel conducted into the royal dock-yard at Woolwich, where she was thoroughly repaired, fitted out like a British man-of-war, and returned to the Basha with some valuable presents from the Prince Regent; and from that period may be dated the friendly intercourse that has since existed and been cultivated by his Highness the Basha. In ad dition to many other evidences of that good feeling, during the time of the Peninsular war, he, in 1820, presented the obelisks, caUed Cleopatra's Needles, to the Prince Regent, "as a mark of gratitude and esteem for favours received." The offer was made at the suggestion of Mr. Briggs, then our consul- general at Cairo. The Prince Regent, who had in the mean time ascended the throne, was pleased to accept the offered gift, and Major Wright, of the Royal Engineers, was sent from Malta, to form a plan, and estimate the expense of removing it. Major W. thus writes to a friend: — "The only hitch against our project was the expense — the feasibUity never was doubted. I think the cost in round numbers would have been about ^£5000. The means were simply a copy of those adopted by Carburi for the removal of the granite rock on which was afterwards placed the statue of Peter the Great." The reasons generally assigned for the non-removal of this piece of antiquity were the expense and the spoliation of the 452 appendix. ancient land of its. most interesting relics. As to the latter, it might, perhaps, be an insuperable objection, in any other country; but in Egypt it is not so — for there, what by a happy constitution of atmosphere, time has spared, the gross ignorance and religious prejudices of the people make them delight to destroy, and where, says Mr. St. John, " the most extraordinary monu ments of antiquity are daily liable to be converted into materials for building cotton-mills and other factories, as we see in the case of the Temple of Dendera, the false pyramid, and the superb portico of Ashmouneim, it seems excusable to endeavour, by conveying them to some more civilized land, to rescue such relics from destruction." And I myself can vouch for the fact of these very obelisks being daily subjected to the most wanton attempts at mutilation by every donkey boy who guides a traveller to their site. Some years afterwards the Basha, seeing that his present was not removed, although presented as a mark of "gratitude and esteem,," stated that as his intention of making a present of some fine pieces of antiquity to his majesty had been known to the world, and had appeared in many of the public papers — " that in consequence he wished tbe gift should be one of the greatest possible value in general estimation — that he regretted the mutilated state of the Alexandrian obelisk, and offeired in its stead one of the finest of Upper Egypt, or any other piece of antiquity in his territories which could be deemed a pre sent more worthy of his majesty's acceptance;" adding, in conclu sion, that, nevertheless, should the Alexandrian be the one lilti- mately selected, he begged it to be fully understood that it was his wish to defray every expense attending its removal until it was placed close to the very stern of the vessel appointed to convey it to England. Captain T. C. Head, who in 1833 brought this matter strongly before the public, adds, " that twelve years had elapsed since the notification was made, and the Needle of Cleopatra remains in its neglected state." There seems to be a disregard of courtesy, as well as of policy, in not accepting the offer of a grateful prince. The subject has been frequently discussed; and some years ago the master-builder at Chatham was directed to fit out the Mast hulk of that place for the purpose, and £12,000 was mentioned as the amount of expense. Afterwards the subject was discussed appendix. 453 in the House of Commons, and the sum of £15,000 proposed to be granted; but it was again abandoned on the objection of its robbing the country of its relics. We have thus seen that although three obelisks are now in possession of Great Britain, (that at Luxor being presented some years ago,) a system of over-stretched economy has prevented us from placing them in any of our capitals — although the French, ashing theirs from the Basha as a boon, no sooner had permission granted them than a vessel was fitted out, the obeUsk removed from its site at Luxor, conducted 500 miles down the Nile, carried into the heart of the French capital, and now decorates the Place de la Concorde. " Trente ans se sont ecoules depuis la prise de possession de cette terre celebre; et rien de grand ne serait reste de cette expedition, si I'idee n'etait venue enfin de transporter en France une des obelisques." And another author, when speaking of this obelisk, says — " The column of the French to be conveyed to France, and become a characteristic trophy of conquest." And, long before, Denon, speaking in reference to our obelisks at Alexandria, says, " They might be conveyed to France without difficulty, and would there become a trophy of conquest, and a characteristic one, as they are in themselves a monument; and as the hieroglyphics with which they are covered render them preferable to Pompey's Pillar, which is merely a column, somewhat larger, indeed, than is any where to be found." What this possession, and what this conquest was, thus vaunted by Parisian savans, and emblazoned in the French capital, let those brave men who fought and bled in Egypt tell. I should prefer the prostrate one at Alexandria to that at Luxor, on account of its vicinity to the scenes of British conquest, and the feasibiUty of its removal, and on account of the hiero glyphics on it being in much better preservation than those upon the one stUl standing beside it, which many persons might think a pity to remove, as, owing to the increase of civUization in that country, a hope may be entertained of its preservation where it stands, and the associations so pleasing to the traveller thus be continued. Should it, however, be deemed advisable to do so, the plan adopted by the French for the removal of theirs, which, as well as that at Rome, is smaller than either of the Alexandrian 454 appendix. ones, might be put in operation. See " Description des Obe lisques de Luxor, et precis des operations relatives au transport d'.un de ces monumens dans la capital. Par M. Alexandre Dela- borde."* As regards "the removing of the prostrate obelisk at Alexandria, it would be a slur upon our many scientific engineers for me to propose a plan — but of its possibility no doubt can exist. In 1 824, Admiral Donally, in a letter pubUshed in the Appendix to W. Rae Wilson's Travels, submitted a plan for its removal. This consisted in fitting out the frame of a flat-bottomed vessel in England, and sending her to Alexandria, " and what in ship- bmlding are called ' ways,' laid on an inclined plane from the needle to the harbour ; an excavation should then be made under one end of the obelisk, and a shore or prop placed under it. At a certain distance from that, (depending upon the stabiUty of the substratum,) let another excavation be made, and a second shore placed, and so on according to circumstances — ^I think one at each end, and one in the centre would answer. Thus the obeUsk would be suspended upon three points. The frame of the flat vessel might then be easily placed under it, and strongly fastened together, and then planked and calked, taking care that the ' ways' or inclined plane be properly placed. The shores then cut away, one by one, and the hole they make in the bottom closed, and the vessel, which wiU draw very little water, launched into the harbour ; temporary masts placed in her, and attended or towed by another ship, she might, I think, arrive safely in the Thames." Objections have been made to launching it at all upon the new harbour, on account of its rocky and unsafe character ; and it has been suggested by a distinguished officer, Major-General Sir John Burgoyne, who, to a knowledge of the country, adds en gineering talents of the highest order, now happily employed for * It is worthy of being known to those who may engage in this work, that there are two sphinxes which were taken by our troops from the French at the capture of Alexandria, still remaining there, and now built up in the wall of the custom-house, near the principal wharf or landing place. I have no doubt that, if asked for by the French, Mohammed Alee would give permis sion for their removal, when they would be placed without loss of time in Paris AS another " characteristic of conquest." It is likewise interesting to notice the fact of this obelisk's construction in the reign of Thothmes III., the Pharaoh supposed to have been destroyed in the Red Sea. APPENDIX. 455 the benefit of Ireland, that it would be better "to roll and drag the monster across the isthmus, on which the present town is built, to the good harbour, and then embark it by means of a sufficient jetty." This jetty might, I think, be easily constructed near the Mahtnoudie canal, where the water is sufficiently deep, and without rocks ; perhaps, the construction of a mere raft of timber, or coating it in a case of timber with air-tight boxes, would be sufficient, and then towing it away, during calm wea ther, with a steamer to England. Although the proposal which I made in April last, of having the obelisk erectedas the "Nelson Testimonial," has not been attended to ; yet, I do not despair of seeing it one day ornamenting the capital of Great Britain. Se veral gaUant officers have expressed a desire to see it standing in the square of Greenwich Hospital ; and, certainly, it would not only be an appropriate site, but one that affords many faciUties for its erection. In those days of rejoicings upon the nuptials of our youthfiil sovereign, it would form a lasting and a splendid monument of that event. A penny subscription from all the in habitants of London would place it in England. K.— Page 255. P0MPE"V'S PILLAR. It is interesting to trace back the exact state of such monuments as this for a series of years, as described to us by the early tra veUers and historians. Such inquiries materially assist the efforts ofthe antiquary in arriving at any well-grounded supposition as to their use and origin ; and it also enables us to form a just opinion as to the merits and discoveries of subsequent chroniclers. It is in the recoUection of most persons versed in Egyptian antiquities, that the base of Pompey's piUar stands upon a block of marble, of about four feet square, round which there is a band of solid masonry, equal in circumference to the size of the base. This masonry was composed of fragments of obehsks and broken ornaments, containing hieroglyphics and inscriptions on their sides— collected, in aU probabiUty, from the ruins of the ancient city of Alexandria. Denon, the French savan, and a celebrated English traveUer of the same period, adduce these fragments of the ancient city, and the hieroglyphics they contain 456 APPENDIX. as a proof of the modemness of the column. With due deference to these learned authors, I do not think that this is a sufficient proof against its antiquity; for it appears that, in 1610, the whole mass was supported or balanced upon the centre square stone, and not surrounded by those hieroglyphic tablets. "Without the waUs," says Sandys, "on the south-west side of the city, on a Uttle hill, stands a column of the same, {i. e. Cleopatra's Needle,) all of one stone, sixty-eight palms high, and thirty-six in compass — set upon a square cube, (and, which is to be wondered at,) not half so large as the foot of the pillar, called by the Arabians, Hemadesleor, which is the column of the Arabians." From time to time, this surrounding masonry has been removed in search of treasure. It was restored after the date of Sandys' visit. It was in a dilapidated state when Pococke first saw it. He then says, " When I returned a second time to Alexandria, this part was repaired in such a manner, that the lower is made a seat for the people to sit on ; and so it is {i. e. the central sup porting stone,) no more to be seen in its ' ancient state.' " At the date of the British expedition to Egypt, it was again in a ruined state, and has been twice renewed since ; so that the stones forming the support of the basement can offer no decided proof as to what date this monument, called Pompey's Pillar, was erected. L.— Page 268. the binny of BRUCE. Among the many inaccuracies attributed to the celebrated and ill-treated Abyssinian traveller, I find the foUovring note in the 1 0th Volume of Griffith's translation of Cuvier' s Animal King dom, page 378: — "Bruce, after giving the history of the trae Binny, refers to it, by mistake, the figure and description of a Polynemus, which he had designed in the .Red Sea, from which has originated the imaginary species of the Polyn. Niloticus." In answer to this statement, I can say, that I saw several spe cimens of the fish he has figured, in my voyage up the Nile, that corresponded to the plate given in Bruce's Travels. APPENDIX. 4.')7 ON THE MEMBRAne OF THE CAMEL's MOUTH. The peculiarity that this beast possesses of protruding a large inflated bladder-like substance from his mouth, when irritated, or over driven, as I mentioned in the text, is very remarkable, and has but very lately been satisfactorily accounted for. In the "Nuovo Giornale de Litterati," No. XIV., Dr. Paolo Sari, Professor of Natural History in the University of Pisa, pubUshed a most interesting memoir on this subject. His observations were made upon some of the animals of the Camelus Dromedarius, be longing to the celebrated breed of San Rossore, in that neighbour hood. He has discovered that this " guttural bladder" is nothing else than an extraordinary development of the uvula, which is usuaUy fourteen or fifteen inches in length, and attached not to the free margin of the soft palate, as in other mammalia, but to its anterior or adherent edge, and also to the arches of the palate; so that, hanging like a curtain in front of the velum pendulum palati, it appears to shut up the opening into the fauces. It is united to the posterior or free margin of the soft palate by a kind of fraenaculum, divided longtitudinally into two portions. There is also a semilunar reduplication of mucous membrane, that can occasionaUy close the opening of the posterior nares; "this kind of partition is so placed as to cover the larynx by its inclination ; and consequently, it forms with that part and the superior wall of the nasal canal, a cul de sac." "When the animal wishes to project the sac, it raises the soft palate, and with it, and the semi lunar partition, closes the posterior nares, expiring at the same time with great force. The air not finding a ready egress by the mouth, owing to the isthmus faucium being closed by the enlarged and distended uvula, forces it forwards, and inflates it into the form of an elongated bladder, owing to its flaccid sides, &c. being attached to the palatine arches by means of the reduplica tion of membrane before mentioned. In this manner it is pro- traded from the side of the mouth, and retracted by the azygos muscle, and some of the fibres of the levatores palati mollis. — See Jameson's Philos. Journal, Vol. XII. 1825. My friend. Dr. Houston, informs me, that in the dissection of 458 APPENDIX. the mouth and fauces of the camel now in the collection of the CoUege of Surgeons, he was struck with the very great flaccidity of the folds of membrane lining the arches of the palate, uvula, and all the adjacent parts ; and that the sub-mucous cellular tissue beneath this was particularly lax, aUowing the membrane to be drawn out to a great extent. From the appearance that the parts present, it seems to me to partake more of the nature of erectile tissues ; and, in aU probabiUty, the whole lining mem brane of the jaws, palate, and pharynx partake of this flaccid, and, under certain circumstances, and at particular seasons, erectUe nature. N.— Page 290. OBSERVATIONS ON THE TROCHILUS OF EGYPT. That the ancient Egyptians paid particular attention to the habits of the lower animals, there can now be Uttle doubt, and that this knowledge of natural history was turned to account in their my thology, there is every reason to beUeve. Among the many fabulous'accounts related of the animals of Egypt, there is a curious story told by Herodotus and PUny, about a Uttie bird of the plover kind, the Charadrius Spinosus, of Latham, and caUed by those ancient writers, TrochUus. Speaking of the crocodile, the former says, " Beasts and birds universally avoid it — ^the trochUus alone excepted — ^which, firom a sense of gratitude, it treats with kindness. When the crocodile leaves the water, it reclines itself on the sand, and generaUy towards the west, with its mouth open ; the trochilus, entering its throat destroys the leeches ; in acknowledgment for which service, it never does the trochUus injury." — Herod. Euterpe, LXVIII. The recital of Phny is still more extravagant. The foUowing quaint translation of it may offer an apolog^• for its insertion verbatim. "When he (the crocodUe) hath fiUed his beUy with fishes, he Ueth to sleep upon the sands in the shore ; and for that he is a great and greedy devourer, somewhat of the meat sticketh evermore between his teeth. In regard thereof, cometh the wren — a Uttle bird, caUed there Trochilos, and the king of the birds ui Italy — and shee, for her victual's sake, hoppeth first about his mouth ; faUeth to pecking or picking it with her Uttle APPENDIX. 459 neb or bUl, and so, forward to the teeth, which she cleanseth ; and all to make him gap. Then getteth shee within his mouth, which he openeth the wider, by reason that he taketh so great deUght in this her scraping and scouring of his teeth and chaws." —Pliny, B. VIII. chap. 25. Should the crocodile by chance close his mouth, it is again re lated by other authorities, how the Uttle picktooth expands its wings, which, being provided with spurs, prick the monster, to remind him of the confinement of his benefactor. This little bird is still very common in Egypt, and called by the natives, sicsac. Foolish as this legend may appear, there is some founda tion for it ; and although we cannot credit the polite understand ing and friendly footing between these animals, yet, it is a very remarkable fact, that the great difficulty at present attending the shooting, or near approach to the reptile, is owing to the inva riable presence of the sicsac. As soon as the crocodile comes ashore to sleep, it is sure to be attended by the plover, who re mains near it, either seated on the same bank, or wheeling above it in the air; and hence, in all probability, its name of Trochilus, from the Greek word, TpoKoa. Its note is pecuUarly wild and startling, particularly on the approach of man ; and, by this means, giring warning to the sleeping monster. Its remaining in the vicinity of the crocodUe, may be to procure food either fi-om its exuvies or the great number of ffies and other insects that haunt and annoy it, the moment it appears on land ; and this apparent sym pathy between them may have given rise to the tales of Hero dotus and Phny. 0.— Page 369. the scarab.«;us Offers another and stUl more striking example of the interest taken by the Egyptian priests in zoology. No animal formed a more important part, not only in the mysteries of their rehgion, but in their hieroglyphic and phonetic writings, than did this. There is scarcely a monument in that country on which it is not either carved or painted. Seals, rings, necklaces, and amulets, formed of amethyst, green stone, corneUan, agate, and numberiess other 460 APPENDIX. stones, were carved into the form of this insect, as weU as porce lain and common blue pottery ware. The animals that I have figured in the text, are a male and female Copris, one of the species of the Scarabeides, and which, I am inclined to believe is the insect represented more frequently upon the Egyptian paintings than the Scarabceus Sacer. The male Copris differs from the female by the prominences in the form of horns of the head and corslet in the former. The Scar. Sa-:er is somewhat smaller, and without these horns, and both it and the Ateuchus — another beetle of the Scarabeides, are very common in that country — much more so than the Copris. The best proof, however, that can be offered as to this latter insect being the true mythological or symbolic beetle of the ancients is, that an embalmed Scarabee was found at Thebes, which LatreiUe pronounced to be the Copris Sabceus of Fabricius. To enumerate the various surmises and conflicting opinions that have been set forth, accounting for the worship of this ani mal, would form a volume in itself. Like most of the other ani mals, it had in all likelihood many mystical meanings, the in terpretations of which are to us stUl a secret. The most gene rally received opinions are, that it was emblematic of the sun, and also of the great reproductive power of the universe. It holds a conspicuous place in the representation of the zodiac at Dendera, where it is supposed to mean the sign Cancer; or at least that the Greek sign of that creature was derived from it. Clemens Alexandrinus says — " The oblique course of the hea venly bodies is represented by a snake, but that of the sun by a scarabee ; because, shaping a piece of dung into a circular form, he rolls it backwards, his face being turned in a contrary direc tion to his course." Plutarch says — " the scarabee depositing his seed in a piece of dung made into a circular form, rolls it backwards, as the sun appears to turn the heavens round in a contrary direction, himself being home from west to east." Porphry gives a Uke statement. That it does roU its ball backwards I have no doubt, and in that way it may be emblema tical of the supposed annual course of the sun, from west to east, contrary to his diurnal course from east to west, as here stated ; but I have seen them much more frequently in the posi tion I have described at page 369, of which more hereafter. APPENDIX. 4G1 As Mr. Mure seems to have collected most of the opinions upon this topic, I here quote the foUowing from his " Disserta tion on the Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt:" — Paoni (Cancer.) " The month of the sun by pre-eminence, that is, of the greatest height and brilliancy of the luminary, corresponding to our July ; which season, the rapid approach of the NUe to its full tide, and the rise of the dog-star, rendered the most important and joyous of the year; hence, its dedication by preference to the splendid orb itself, which influenced, and reigned supreme over their calendar, as weU as their mythology. "The sign of this season on the Greek zodiac is a crab; an unmeaning emblem as referred to Egyptian mythology. But on the greater number of Egyptio-Greek astronomical monuments, we find the scarabee, instead of the crab, as the emblem of the solsticial month; and it is hardly necessary to observe that the scarabee is the symbol of the Sun, or On, in his noblest capa city, as Lord of the universe, first source and origin, and continual preserver of the created world. In this respect the scarabee was a representative not only of the solar orb itself, but, by analogy, of certain deities of distinguished rank, whose loftier attributes comprehended those of the brilliant Lord of the physical world; as of Phtha, the Demiurgus or creative power, whom the Greeks identified with their Hephaestus or Vulcan, probably as combining with his other properties that of God of fire. In the ancient astronomical picture of the tomb of the kings, the scarabee, vrith the red disk of the sun in his claws, occupies a conspicuous place among the zodiacal emblems. The same insect also occurs in an astrological gem of Count Pahlens' collection, accompanying Libra and Scorpio ; and we seem to have ftirther curious evidence that it was the original symbol of this division of the ancient Egyptian zodiac, in the circumstance, that the cypher of the same division, still in vulgar use, is apparently but an abbreviated form of the hieroglyphic ' Sca rabee;' the hieratic contraction of which contains precisely the same elements, under trifling varieties of arrangement, as the modem sign — namely, two curves or hooks placed transversely. The Greeks, in adopting the zodiac, may either have mistaken the insect for a crab, to which, on some of the m.onuments, it bears a close enough resemblance; and on the gems of Abraxas, 462 APPENDIX. the scarabee, crab, and other sheU-fish, are frequently con founded; or possibly as they did not attach the same veneration as the Egyptians to its symbolic character, they may have converted the reptile of the land into the reptUe of the sea, as a figure more congenial to their ideas and taste, as a maritime people. There is, however, in one respect, a remarkable enough analogy between the two symbols, which may tend stUl ftirther to show that the one is the Egyptian original; the other the Greek copy. Classical authors have asserted that the crab was chosen to represent the solstice, because of the correspondence of its pro verbially retrograde motion to the sun's course about the tropic; an interpretation which has been adopted by the greater number of modem expositors." In the ruins of the temple marking the site of the Ombite nome, Hamilton describes a sun as worshipped under the mysterious emblems of the crocodUe and the beetle. Dr. Young conceives that the scarabaei represented in the zodiac at Denderah, have more of a mythological than an astronomical interpretation ; and this brings us to the second type under which this curious creature was adored — that of reproduction. But in this character it may likewise have reference to that under which we first considered it, for its rolling the baU con taining its eggs, where after a time they are hatched, may be symbolic of the vivifying or generative power of the luminary. Another cause assigned for this reproductive symbol is, that it is said to be one of the first animals that appear on the subsi dence of the inundation; but the very extraordinary instinct and apparent foresight of the animal, in providing for the continu ance of the species, and the marveUous care and soUcitude that it exhibits in the formation of the nidus or womb that it con structs, in which to deposit its eggs, and then to assist in their incubation in the manner that I have described, were all no doubt attended to in the days of its deUlcation, and formed the grounds of its sacred character. According to De Peau, it would appear that the scarabaeus was held sacred in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa even before Egypt was peopled, if we are able to draw the line of distinction between the date of the inhabiting these two countries. In the holy cricket of Madagascar, we can perceive traces of the beetle-worship of Egypt; and a simUar reverence for some of this tribe of insects is evinced by the Hottentots, and other southern Africans. APPENDIX. 463 p.— Page 371. HUMERUS OP A DEFORMED MUMMY. The drawmg beneath represents the left humerus or arm-bone of a most remarkably deformed human subject found in the catacombs of Sackara. The person from whose thorax I removed the upper extremi ties, and of one of which this is a bone, appeared to be a man of about twenty-five years of age, and from the adornment of the sarcophagus, and the care exhibited in the bandages and mummy-cloths, was evidently a person above the lower class, and the fore-arms were crossed upon the breast ; but as the body had been very much mutilated by the Arabs and some Frenchmen, before I saw it, I was unable to discover whether the lower extremities were Ukewise affected. The bone is about six inches long, or not quite double the size of the engraving and so completely different from the natural appearance that it has a very great resemblance to a corresponding bone in some of the lower animals. The trochlea, or inferior arti culating surface, is bent so much forward that the radius and ulna could not have been brought into the same line when the arm was extended, as in the normal condition; the radius could have enjoyed but very little fiexion or extension, as the articula tion surface for it on the humerus is not one-third the" natural size — both it and the ulna are much less altered than the humerus, and are also larger. The bones are light, but hard, and it appears to be more the effect of original malformation, than rickets, or any disease subsequent to birth. Both arms. 464 APPENDIX. which are precisely similar in every respect, are in my posses sion, and the hand of one of them; this latter is smaU but weU- formed. The shaft of this bone is not much altered from its natural line, but around the upper portion of it a number of unusual rugged protuberances are thrown out, and the attachment of the latissimus dorsi muscle is marked by a large projecting elevation. Being an anomalous form of congenital malformation, it may not be uninteresting to the pathologist. WUkinson gives the figure of a dwarf and a deformed person, from the sculptures at Beni Has san; the former is remarkable for the shortness of the arms, and is one of the date of Osirtasen ; now more than 3500 years ago. Q.— Page 388. THE SACRED IBIS. So very much has been written upon the sacred attributes and natural history of this bird, that I have Uttle to add to the de scription of others ; and to attempt the history of it, either rehgious, fabulous, or authentic, would form a chapter in itself. Bruce has confirmed the account of Herodotus by estabhshing the fact that the Abou Hannes of Ethiopia, and the sacred Ibis, are the same. In the museum of the school of medicine at Cairo, I had an opportunity of seeing and comparing both the black and the white ibis with the bones of those found in the mummy-pits at Sackara, and can add my testimony as to their identity; but as far as I have been able to discover, the blaek ibis is the one found most frequently embalmed. Great heat must have been employed in the preparation of these mummies, as the majority of them are so much roasted, as to crum ble to dust on being opened. The black ibis sometimes risits Greece in company with the tantalus. There is one preserved in the collection at Athens that was shot near Nj,poU di Romania. For a particular description of the embalmed sacred ibis, see Pettigrew on Egyptian Mummies. END OF VOL. I. Duiilin . Printed by John S. Folds, S, Bachelor's Walk. YALE UNIVERSITY 3 9002 0731 1 3640 ^'^'¦^ -i^