Whilst These Passport Difficulties Were Being Solved, The Rest Of The
Party Was As Busy In Settling About Passage And Passage-Money.
The
peculiar rules of the port of Suez require a few words of
explanation.[FN#10] "About thirty-five years ago" (i.e. about 1818
A.D.), "the ship-owners proposed to the then government, with the view
of keeping up freight, a Farzah, or system of rotation.
It might be
supposed that the Pasha, whose object notoriously was to retain all
monoplies in his own hands, would have refused his sanction to such a
measure. But it so happened in those days that all the court had ships
at Suez: Ibrahim Pasha alone owned four or five. Consequently, they
expected to share profits with the merchants, and thus to be
compensated for the want of port-dues. From that time forward all the
vessels in the harbour were registered, and ordered to sail in
rotation. This arrangement benefits the owner of the craft ‘en depart,'
giving him in his turn a temporary monopoly, with the advantage of a
full market; and freight is so high that a single trip often clears off
the expense of building and the risk of losing the ship-a sensible
succedaneum for insurance companies. On the contrary, the public must
always be a loser by the ‘Farzah.' Two of a trade do not agree
elsewhere; but at Suez even the Christian and the Moslem shipowner are
bound by a fraternal tie, in the shape of this rotation system. It
injures the general merchant and the Red Sea trader, not only by
[p.171] perpetuating high freight,[FN#11] but also by causing at one
period of the year a break in the routine of sales and in the supplies
of goods for the great Jeddah market.[FN#12] At this moment (Nov.
1853), the vessel to which the turn belongs happens to be a large one;
there is a deficiency of export to Al-Hijaz,-her owner will of course
wait any length of time for a full cargo; consequently no vessel with
merchandise has left Suez for the last seventy-two days. Those who have
bought goods for the Jeddah market at three months' credit will
therefore have to meet their acceptances for merchandise still
warehoused at the Egyptian port. This strange contrast to free-trade
principle is another proof that protection benefits only one party, the
protected, while it is detrimental to the interests of the other party,
the public." To these remarks of Mr. Levick's, I have only to add that
the government supports the Farzah with all the energy of
protectionists. A letter from Mr. (now Sir) John Drummond Hay was
insufficient to induce the Bey of Suez to break through the rule of
rotation in favour of certain princes from Morocco. The recommendations
of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe met with no better fate; and all Mr.
West's good will could not procure
[p.172]me a vessel out of her turn.[FN#13] We were forced to rely upon
our own exertions, and the activity of Sa'ad the Demon. This worthy,
after sundry delays and differences, mostly caused by his own
determination to travel gratis, and to make us pay too much, finally
closed with the owner of the "Golden Thread.[FN#14]" He took places for
us upon the poop,-the most eligible part of the vessel at this season
of the year; he premised that we should not be very comfortable, as we
were to be crowded with Maghrabi pilgrims, but that "Allah makes all
things easy!" Though not penetrated with the conviction that this would
happen in our case, I paid for two deck passages eighteen Riyals[FN#15]
(dollars), and my companions seven each, whilst Sa'ad secretly entered
himself as an able seaman. Mohammed Shiklibha we were obliged to leave
behind, as he could not, or might not afford the expense, and none of
us might afford it for him. Had I known him to be the honest,
true-hearted fellow he was-his kindness at Meccah quite won my heart-I
should not have grudged the small charity.
[p.173]Nothing more comfortless than our days and nights in the
"George" Inn. The ragged walls of our rooms were clammy with dirt, the
smoky rafters foul with cobwebs, and the floor, bestrewed with kit, in
terrible confusion, was black with hosts of cockroaches, ants, and
flies. Pigeons nestled on the shelf, cooing amatory ditties the
live-long day, and cats like tigers crawled through a hole in the door,
making night hideous with their caterwaulings. Now a curious goat, then
an inquisitive jackass, would walk stealthily into the room, remark
that it was tenanted, and retreat with dignified demeanour, and the
mosquitos sang Io Paeans over our prostrate forms throughout the
twenty-four hours. I spare the reader the enumeration of the other
Egyptian plagues that infested the place. After the first day's trial,
we determined to spend the hours of light in the passages, lying upon
our boxes or rugs, smoking, wrangling, and inspecting one another's
chests. The latter occupation was a fertile source of disputes, for
nothing was more common than for a friend to seize an article belonging
to another, and to swear by the Apostle's beard that he admired it,
and, therefore, would not return it. The boy Mohammed and Shaykh Nur,
who had been intimates the first day, differed in opinion on the
second, and on the third came to pushing each other against the wall.
Sometimes we went into the Bazar, a shady street flanked with poor
little shops, or we sat in the coffee-house,[FN#16] drinking hot
saltish water tinged with burnt bean, or we prayed in one of three
tumble-down old Mosques, or we squatted upon the pier, lamenting the
want of Hammams, and bathing in the tepid sea.[FN#17] I presently came
to the conclusion that
[p.174]Suez as a "watering-place" is duller even than Dover.
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