So Nassar Served Out About A Pint Of Water And A Little Bread
To Each Man.
Then they asked for more.
None was to be had, so they
cried out that money would do as well. I had determined upon being
generous to the extent of a few pence. Custom, as well as inclination,
was in favour of the act; but when the alms became a demand, and the
demand was backed by fierce looks and a derisive sneer, and a kind of
reference to their knives, gentle Charity took the alarm and fled. My
pistols kept them at bay, for they were only making an attempt to
intimidate, and, though I took the precaution of sitting apart from
them, there was no real danger. The Suez road, by the wise regulations
of Mohammed Ali, has become as safe to European travellers as that
between Hampstead and Highgate; and even Easterns have little to fear
but what their fears create. My Indian servant was full of the dangers
he had run, but I did not believe in them. I afterwards heard that the
place where the Maghrabis attempted to frighten what they thought a
timid Turk was notorious for plunder and murder. Here the spurs of two
opposite hills almost meet upon the plain, a favourable ground for
Badawi ambuscade. Of the Maghrabis
[p.157]I shall have more to say when relating my voyage in the Pilgrim
Ship: they were the only travellers from whom we experienced the least
annoyance. Numerous parties of Turks, Arabs, and Afghans, and a few
East-Indians[FN#29] were on the same errand as ourselves. All, as we
passed them, welcomed us with the friendly salutation that becomes men
engaged in a labour of religion.
About half an hour before sunset, I turned off the road leftwards; and,
under pretext of watering the dromedaries, rode up to inspect the fort
Al-'Ajrudi.[FN#30] It is a quadrangle with round towers at the gateway
and at the corners, newly built of stone and mortar; the material is
already full of crevices, and would not stand before a twelve-pounder.
Without guns or gunners, it is occupied by about a dozen Fellahs, who
act as hereditary "Ghafirs," (guardians); they were expecting at that
time to be reinforced by a party of Bashi Buzuks-Irregulars from Cairo.
The people of the country were determined that an English fleet would
soon appear in the Red Sea, and this fort is by them ridiculously
considered the key of Suez. As usual in these Vauban-lacking
[p.158]lands, the well supplying the stronghold is in a detached and
distant building, which can be approached by an enemy with the greatest
security. Over the gate-way was an ancient inscription reversed; the
water was brackish, and of bad quality.[FN#31]
We resumed our way: Suez now stood near. In the blue distance rose the
castellated peaks of Jabal Rahah and the wide sand-tracts over which
lies the land-route to Al-Hijaz. Before us the sight ever dear to
English eyes,-a strip of sea gloriously azure, with a gallant steamer
walking the waters. On the right-hand side the broad slopes of Jabal
Mukattam, a range of hills which flanks the road all the way from
Cairo. It was at this hour a spectacle not easily to be forgotten. The
near range of chalk and sandstone wore a russet suit, gilt where the
last rays of the sun seamed it with light, and the deep folds were
shaded with the richest purple; whilst the background of the higher
hills, Jabal Tawari, generally known as Abu Daraj (the Father of
Steps), was sky-blue streaked with the lightest plum colour. We drew up
at a small building called Bir Suways (Well of Suez); and, under
pretext of watering the cattle, I sat for half an hour admiring the
charms of the Desert. The eye never tires of such loveliness of hue,
and the memory of the hideousness of this range, when a sun in front
exposed each gaunt and barren feature, supplied the evening view with
another element of attraction.
It was already night when we passed through the tumbling six-windowed
gateway of Suez; and still remained the task of finding my servant and
effects. After
[p.159]wandering in and out of every Wakalah in the village, during
which peregrination the boy Mohammed proved himself so useful that I
determined at all risks to make him my companion, we accidentally heard
that a Hindi had taken lodgings at a hostelry bearing the name of
Jirjis al-Zahr.[FN#32] On arriving there our satisfaction was
diminished by the intelligence that the same Hindi, after locking the
door, had gone out with his friends to a ship in the harbour; in fact,
that he had made all preparations for running away. I dismounted, and
tried to persuade the porter to break open the wooden bolt, but he
absolutely refused, and threatened the police. Meanwhile Mohammed had
found a party of friends, men of Al-Madinah, returning to the
pilgrimage after a begging tour through Egypt and Turkey. The meeting
was characterised by vociferous inquiries, loud guffaws and warm
embraces. I was invited to share their supper and their dormitory,-an
uncovered platform projecting from the gallery over the square court
below,-but I had neither appetite nor spirits enough to be sociable.
The porter, after much persuasion, showed me an empty room, in which I
spread my carpet. That was a sad night. My eighty-four mile ride had
made every bone ache; I had lost epidermis, and the sun had seared
every portion of skin exposed to it. So, lamenting my degeneracy and
the ill effects of four years' domicile in Europe, and equally
disquieted in mind about the fate of my goods and chattels, I fell into
an uncomfortable sleep.
[FN#l] The proper hire of a return dromedary from Cairo to Suez is
forty piastres.
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